‘It’s horrible, what they’ve done’ – Chris Evert’s ex

THE fallout from Greg Norman’s split with tennis great Chris Evert has deepened, with her former husband branding the failed relationship “destructive”. Ex-Olympic skier Andy Mill also said the sports couple’s crumbling union had hurt two loving families.

“I just feel really badly for these two families, thinking about the destruction in the wake of what they’ve done,” Mill said.

“It’s horrible, what they’ve done.”

Evert and Norman, who was once Mill’s best mate, this weekend announced they had separated, 15 months after their lavish wedding in the Bahamas.

It is Norman’s second marriage and Evert’s third.

Mill, 56, said he and Evert, 55, remain in touch for the sake of their children, Alex, 17, Nicky, 15, and Colton, 13.

“It’s all about the kids now and at this point, we’re working together for the kids,” he said.

Mill, a two-time winter Olympian turned sports broadcaster, has a home in Florida not far from the family’s sprawling estate where Evert now lives with the children.

Tension between Evert and the Shark’s kids is said to have contributed to the split.

Norman’s former mother-in-law revealed yesterday his adult children and his new wife Chris Evert were not close, making family life tough.

“They didn’t like her at all,” Laura Andrassy Sr said.

Ms Andrassy Sr, the mother of Norman’s first wife of the same name, remains close to her grandchildren Morgan 26, and Greg, 23, whom she babysat as kids for more than 15 years.

She said Norman was a devoted dad, and good to her.

“He is very close to Morgan _ he’s very sensitive with his children and he loves her very much,” she said.

“Morgan was very unhappy with the whole thing. She did not want to be part of that family so she moved to California.”

The children told their grandmother that they were having trouble warming to Evert, who has three children of her own aged 13 to 17 with her former husband Andy Mill.

“My daughter is very warm _ they were used to that,” Ms Andrassy Sr said. “That could have had a little to do with it but there must have been more to it than that.”

Norman and Evert, who has been married twice before, announced on the weekend they were separating.

“We will remain friends and supportive of one another’s family,” the couple said in a joint statement.

They have not yet decided whether they would also divorce.

The separation shocked the sports world because the couple, who are in business together, have been openly affectionate since they tied the knot in the Bahamas 15 months ago.

Evert felt no friction within her new, extended family two months after the wedding.

“They all mesh pretty well,” Evert said of the children at the time.

“His two kids are older, they live away from home. He lives with me and my three sons in Boca.”

The couple offered no explanation for the split and would not comment yesterday.

Norman and his first wife had been married 25 years before their separation in 2007.

Friends claimed that the couple struggled to agree on basic issues including where to live. Evert and Norman had planned to return to the Norman family mansion.

The home is undergoing a renovation that includes tennis courts.

Evert retained the sprawling home she had shared with her ex-husband.

According to the friend, neither of them was willing to sell up. “That was a huge issue for them,” she said.

“Chris hated the idea of living in the place Greg shared with Laura.”