Roger Clemens had a decade-long relationship with country star Mindy McCready that began when she was a 15-year-old aspiring singer and the pitcher was a Boston Red Sox ace, the Daily News reported.
Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed a long-term relationship but told the newspaper it was not sexual.
“He flatly denies having had any kind of an inappropriate relationship with her,” Hardin said. “He’s considered her a close family friend. … He has never had a sexual relationship with her.”
Clemens was 28 and a married father of two when he first met McCready, the newspaper reported.
The story, which appeared on the newspaper’s Web site Sunday night and in editions Monday, quoted several people who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation. It said Clemens sent cash to McCready to help her with legal issues and reached out to her when she was in jail last year in Tennessee for violating probation after allegedly hitting her mother.
The revelation could undermine Clemens’ reputation, which is central to the defamation suit the former pitcher has filed against former personal trainer Brian McNamee. McNamee contends Clemens used performance-enhancing substances during his major league career.
Hardin and McNamee’s attorney, Richard Emery, did not respond immediately to e-mails from The Associated Press.
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