Exclusive: Former Nanny Says Sara Evans Suffered 'Breakdown'

Oct. 18, 2006 — -- The woman Sara Evans accuses of having sex with her husband says in an exclusive interview with ABC News Radio that the country star suffered "an exhaustion breakdown" -- and she's offering to take a lie detector test to set the record straight.

"She had had a hard time back in December," said Alison Clinton, who worked as the nanny of Evans' children for five years, and forged a close relationship with the multiplatinum recording artist.

"She kind of had an exhaustion breakdown, and then in January, we started a Bible study together," Clinton said. "She was trying to get back in gear and get more focused and grounded, but, you know, I didn't see this coming. This is all really a big shock."

The singer's music label, SONY BMG, declined to comment on the matter. Other press representatives did not return calls from ABCNEWS.com.

The 35-year-old star dropped out of "Dancing With the Stars" last week after filing divorce papers in which she alleged that her husband of nine years, 43-year-old Craig Schelske, had cheated on her, drank excessively, been verbally and emotionally abusive, and watched pornography in their home.

The singer also says that Schelske had at least 100 nude photographs of himself in a state of arousal on a home computer, and was having an affair with Clinton.

Clinton: 'It Was a Complete 180'

Schelske denies these accusations, and 28-year-old Clinton tells ABC News Radio that she has hired a lawyer to help clear her name, which she says has been sullied by her former friend.

"We have agreed to take a lie detector test to prove that I'm not lying," Clinton said.

Clinton denies any "inappropriate" relationship with Schelske and says she was taken by complete surprise by Evans' accusations.

"I'm totally confused," she said, "because the last time I talked with her, which was on Wednesday [Oct. 11], when she was in hair and makeup getting ready for the show ['Dancing With the Stars'], it was very much, 'I love you. I miss you. Please get out here.'"

"Then, the very next day, these allegations come out, and so it was a complete 180," she said.

"It just doesn't add up."

Clinton says she forged an especially close relationship with Evans over the years.

The former nanny served as co-president of the country singer's fan club, and Evans thanked her on the liner notes of her last album. When Clinton married in July, Evans served as matron of honor, while Schelske was a groomsman.

'It Really Does Feel Like a Death'

"I'm still very much in grief. … It really does feel like a death. … Something that happened so suddenly and just very shocking," Clinton said. "You know, I love her. I miss her. This is a time I'd want to call her and comfort her, or, in my pain, I'd want to call her and cry to her. But, in reality, it's something that has ripped our friendship apart."

Clinton's stint as nanny for the couple's three children ended in 2004, when she developed an eating disorder.

She says Evans helped in her bout with anorexia, and was helping her launch her own country-music career.

"She had talked to me about doing back-up singing for her," Clinton said.

On Tuesday's "Dancing With the Stars," Evans talked about her decision to leave the competition in a six-minute pretaped segment with co-host Tom Bergeron, saying that she made the decision to leave her husband just hours before last Wednesday's show.

"I'm completely against divorce," she said. "My intention was to continue to try everything within my power."

But Evans added that she had no choice but to file for divorce after certain alleged revelations emerged to her, just before the competition.

"It's a blur," she said. "The good thing is that I'm so used to performing, as you know, that as an entertainer, we just have the ability to just try to flip the switch, turn it on, do the dance and make it through the day."

ABCNEWS.com's Buck Wolf contributed to this report.