Betsy Andreu 'furious' at Armstrong
Editor's note: Don't miss Betsy Andreu live on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET tonight after the conclusion of Part II of Lance Armstrong's interview.
Betsy Andreu, wife of Lance Armstrongs former teammate Frankie Andreu, reacts immediately after seeing Armstrong's interview with Oprah. She says she is disappointed and furious that he didn't tell the truth.
"You owed it to me Lance, and you dropped the ball. After what you've done to me, what you've done to my family, and you couldn't own up to it. And now we're supposed to believe you? You have one chance at the truth. This is it," said Andreu.
She told Anderson Cooper what angered her most about the interview was his refusal to admit she and her husband were telling the truth about overhearing him tell doctors he was using performance-enhancing drugs in 1996. The couple testified about the incident in 2005.
"If the hospital room didn't happen, just say it didn't happen. But he won't do it because it did happen," said Andreu, visibly upset by what she sees as Armstrong's lack of transparency.
Oprah specifically asked Armstrong about his relationship with Betsy and Frank Andreu and a recent 40 minute phone call they had. He told Oprah he hasn't made peace with them, pausing before saying it's because "they've been hurt too badly."
Armstrong shared one part of the conversation with Betsy, guessing she wouldn't object. "I said listen, I called you crazy. I called you a bitch. I called you all these things. But I never called you fat."
It was a glimpse into what she had been going through for years. "I guess we know why I was...putting up with that. How would you act?" She added, "He shouldn't have done Oprah. This is going to be a long process for him, but he's approaching it the wrong way."
Andreu became increasingly emotional talking about her husband's cycling career, which they believe was ruined because Frankie refused to cheat, as she says Armstrong had wanted him to while on his team. "Frankie rode the 2000 tour clean, the vast majority of his career was clean, what was his reward? He didn't get compensated for that tour win and he lost his job and his career was derailed," she said. "That's going up against Lance Armstrong."
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Post by: Anderson Cooper Filed under: 360° Radar • Lance Armstrong |
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"Frankie rode the 2000 tour clean, the vast majority of his career was clean, what was his reward?"
The vast majority? Get over yourself. If he doped once, he is no better than Armstrong.
Just so ugly. I have a lot of respect for this lady, it isn't easy spilling your guts. Above all else, JUSTICE........Armstrong, just tell the truth. It is never too late to do that. Then, you can rebuild yourself, and perhaps, someday, become a man in full. If you don't, and mark my words, your life won't be worth a damn.
Lance Armstrong belongs in jail! The only reason he did the Oprah show was to try and get people behind him in his quest to be allowed to compete. I wonder if his anabolic steroid use is what caused his cancer in the first place. This man will never change. He enjoys the spot light way too much.
You arespot on Crystal !
I have an opposing point of view about this controversy. I do not think there is reliable evidence that Lance Armstrong doped. No one comments about the fact that Lance did not have the opportunity for due process. He was locked into an arbitration agreement with the USADA. He was not able to have a trial, and he decided that arbitration would not be fair, which it would not have been, so he did not participate in an arbitration hearing. There was never a positive blood test for doping. The entirety of USADA's evidence, as far as I can tell from the news coverage, would seem to consist of the testimony of all of the cyclists against whom Lance competed, saying that Lance was doping, and none of these other cyclists liked him. As they'er interviewed on TV about Lance's alleged doping they all state how much of jerk Lance was supposed to have been. Lance's confession, coming after he's been stripped of his wins, forbidden from further competition in sports generally, and made into an athletic pariah, is a forced confession with no more veracity that his biased accusers. To me, the question of whether Lance doped is still not decided, and will remain undecided until Lance can have his day in court for the jury trial he deserves. USADA opposed Lance's effort to have a jury trial. If USADA's evidence was so strong, there was no reason for USADA to have opposed a trial. Until the evidence is tested in a legitimate adversarial setting I'm not convinced;
Did you seriously just write 2 paragraphs without knowing a single thing about the evidence they have? You just basically assumed, guessed and handwaved away all the evidence they have on him.
I could give you a whole paragraph on the concrete evidence they had on him but it would be a waste of my time. Suffice to say he had failed tests and teammates, not opponents, who testified against him and the schemes he'd employ to cheat testing.
Hey, lets be honest. Lance had the balls to come clean. Look at the baseball players who have doped. They still needed the hand eye coronation to hit the long ball. I bet you could let other bikers dope and they wouldn't even come close to winning that manny titles in a row. Plus the man had cancer. Over he did the the right thing, by coming clean. I have never seen any athlete come clean while they where still in the game. Any who, don't knock a man down for being honest. Sorry people are not god and are not innate.
I have a different take on this. I believe Lance enjoyed withholding the details and not giving Betsy the satisfaction of admitting to the hospital conversation.
He was literally smirking when he admitted to calling her everything BUT fat. It was a joke to him. He enjoyed the word game and being in control of his " apology". Classic sociopathy.
I watched both nights and found the review of the various people a great range of people. (Sports writer, legal spec, etc.) the only one I would question as too much was the wife (Betsy Andreu) of a former team mate. The team mate, of course– the wife seemed to have much info not to be involved deeper than she offered. Why did husband have nothing to say but wife was full of answers. Overall great coverage.
Loved the spunk, passion and insight from Betsy Andreu!!
Not a fan of Lance, no sympathy or respect for him. But not a fan of Betsey either. She'll never get redemption or much of anything she psychologically needs or wants from Lance. Better to be realistic about that and get on with other passions than Lance-bashing. Time to move on, Betsey. Good luck.
Not only is he a liar but it would also appear that he is an idiot. A applaud Betsy for at least giving him the opportunity even if he wasn't smart enough to recognize. I feel very badly for her and her husband.
Lance Armstrong is an obvious sociopath, narcissist and compulsive liar. He shows very little heartfelt remorse – why? Because he actually doesn't know how to feel. He doesn't see fellow humans as real – they are only obstacles to be crushed or helpers to be manipulated. He will need years of counseling to penetrate his iron-clad defenses. I'm not sure he's capable of facing the pain and becoming a human being, I'm sorry to say.
Let's be honest here. Who can blame her?
Armstrong – is worth over 100 million – from a complete lie – same deal as Madoff. He is a scam a cheat and a theif – we are discussing wheather or not not we should forgive him – are u kidding me – he should be sitting in jail next to Bernie.
Could this be a personality disorder? Sociopath? Pathological liar? Narcissist? Maybe there is something terribly wrong with him.....something he cant help. something he has no control over. Can cancer and/or cancer treatments alter a persons brain in a way that makes it function differently than before the diagnosis? Is any of this possible?
He definitely has a character flaw/disorder that is very serious.
He does need help but the focus should be on protecting others and providing a meaningful consequence for him..or he will never learn.