Evans Accuses Husband of Abuse, Adultery

Country singer Sara Evans alleges in divorce papers that her husband committed adultery, was verbally and emotionally abusive, drank excessively and frequently watched pornography in their home.

Evans' husband, Craig Schelske, issued a statement Friday denying the allegations.

"Sara and our three children are the most important people in my life. I have made the decision to forgive Sara for the unfortunate campaign that she and her publicity advisors are currently waging. I adamantly deny the allegations that are being made," the statement said.

Lori Genes, a rep for the singer, told the The ShowBuzz in a statement Thursday that Evans' decision to leave the hit show "Dancing With The Stars" was made with her children in mind.

"A mother of three, Ms. Evans felt it was in her children's best interest that she also withdraw from competition on Dancing With the Stars," the statement said, "to give her family her full attention at this difficult time."

The 35-year-old Evans filed for divorce Thursday from Schelske and announced through a spokesman that she was quitting the ABC television competition to give her family full attention.

Evans' attorney, John Hollins Jr., says Evans is "doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances," and is concerned about her children. ABC will do an interview with her that will air on Tuesday night's show.

The couple married in 1993 and have three children ages 7, 3 and 2.

In the filing in state court in Franklin, a Nashville suburb where the couple has a home, Evans alleges that Schelske watches pornography on the couple's computers and has at least 100 nude photographs of himself with an erection.

She also alleges that several photographs show Schelske having sex with other women, and that Schelske maintains "Craigs Lists" on his computers, some of which involve requests for three-party sex and anal sex.

The court filing includes several recent postings from the casual encounters section of craigslist.com, the online advertising site, that it said were stored in Schelske's temporary files of his computers.

According to the court documents, the oldest of the couple's children confronted Schelske when he was watching pornographic material on the television in their home.

Evans further alleges that Schelske frequently threatened her and "told her that she is crazy," threatened to take the children to Oregon and "continually interferes with (Evans') possession of and parenting time" with their children.

Evans requests child custody, possession of the Franklin home and child support.

The 43-year-old Schelske, in his statement, said Evans has become a dramatically different person over the past year.

"As distressing as it is to have to communicate about this matter publicly, Sara has unfortunately become a dramatically different person over the last year and it is something we have struggled to deal with. Sadly, it appears we have failed," the statement said.

"The best I can do at this difficult time is ask that people of faith would pray for her and for my family. My greatest concern is for my children and the irreparable harm they are at risk of facing. As such, I will have no further comment on this matter outside of a courtroom."

Schelske, who is currently unemployed, ran for Congress as a Republican from Oregon's 5th District in 2002. He is a native of Salem, Ore.

Evans was among 11 celebrities who paired with professional dancers to compete on the third season of the popular ABC reality series.

"Ms. Evans hopes that her fans and TV viewers who've supported her in recent weeks and throughout her music career will respect and understand her need for privacy in the face of these recent events," Evans' statement said.

The Missouri native was recently nominated for female vocalist of the year honors by the Country Music Association. She made her recording debut in 1997 and her 2000 album "Born To Fly" went double-platinum. Her hits include "Perfect," "Suds in the Bucket," and "Real Fine Place to Start."