Rita Coolidge heaps praise on ex-husband Kris Kristofferson’s wife

Singer Rita Coolidge has the utmost respect for her ex-husband Kris Kristofferson’s wife, because she knows the star is tough to live with.
The Words hitmaker was married to Kris from 1973 to 1980 and admits the last years of the union were some of her most miserable – and she was glad when it was over.
Ironically, Rita and her ex have become good friends – and she has heaped praise on her successor, Lisa Kristofferson, for putting up with her old man for 36 years.
“The second he got married again we were best friends,” Rita tells WENN. “I consider Kris’ wife now, under the circumstances, to be the most tolerant, patient, saintly woman on the planet. I don’t know if I could do what she does. She’s truly a blessing for him and he should be so grateful.”
Coolidge admits she used to cry all the time when she realised her marriage was over: “I was doing the dishes and the song Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher came on the radio. It dawned on me that our relationship had reached a place where he was not happy.
“I was staying with him because we had a child together (daughter Casey) and I thought a child should have two parents that live together. I didn’t realise the mistake until I left and didn’t cry every day, like I had been crying every day for a year!
“I told Kris so many times, in tears, that this is not a revolving door. I said, ‘When I’m gone, I’m gone, so if you’re gonna do anything, do it now. Go to marriage counselling and go to a therapist with me, anything’. He would say, ‘You’re the crazy one, you go!’ Which I did.”
“But I never laughed with anybody in my life like I do with Kris,” Rita adds. “That still happens when we’re together. We just laugh ’til we cry.”