Former Girlfriend Bashes Edwards In Memoir

Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard has written a new memoir, called “In the Water They Can’t See You Cry.” Her thoughts on her former boyfriend, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards, may bring a tear to the eyes of his fans.

Beard, Edwards in happier times.

Edwards and Beard dated for less than a year in 2005 and 2006. At the time of their split, Beard said Edwards was simply, “too intense” for her liking. Half a decade later, however, the former Olympic gold medalist said the relationship ended “severely and permanently,” describing Edwards as domineering, intolerant and self-absorbed.

The Roush Fenway Racing driver was “adamant that his way was the only right one,” said Beard, adding that their relationship centered around Edwards’ likes and needs. “He never asked me what I might like to do,” she wrote. “He only wanted to be on Carl time. He couldn’t imagine any other kind of time.”

Edwards is little more than a sidebar to the story, appearing on just 16 of the book’s 349 pages. In that brief time, however, Beard says she became disenchanted with both Edwards and the NASCAR community. She claims Edwards would not allow her to socialize with male friends, particularly his fellow NASCAR drivers. He also requested that she stop posing in revealing swimwear in men’s magazines such as Maxim, FHM and Sports Illustrated. She spares little venom in describing NASCAR wives, as well, writing “their entire existence revolved around their significant others. Three beers and a thousand predictions later, I wanted to scream, ‘don’t you guys have lives?' They were very sweet, but I didn’t have anything in common with the rest of the women.”

Beard, who admits past issues with drugs, said the straight-shooting Edwards was horrified when she revealed her past cocaine use, saying he would never associate with someone who used drugs. “(He) didn’t even want me to have a glass of wine,” she wrote. “In that moment, I decided that I wasn’t going to tell him anything more about myself, and I never did.

“It was easy, since he never asked.”

Edwards has not commented on the book. He married Dr. Kate Downey in 2009, and they have two children; two-year old Anne and Michael, 11 months.