Vast riches not enough to buy sports stars love

"It's great having the big house, the beautiful blonde, but when the cheques aren't coming anymore, it all becomes more difficult."

Lenny Dykstra, former New York Mets player

US stars are discovering that their vast riches can buy brash jewelry, fairytale homes, A-list invitations and the latest gas-guzzling cars.

But what they can't buy is love.

While New Jersey Nets basketball star Jason Kidd sees the recent split from his wife make national headlines he can take comfort in knowing he is not alone.

A study has shown that in the US, 80 percent of professional athletes see their marriages end in divorce.

The report by the national association of college sports directors (NACDA) points out that this staggering figure compares with a national average of 52 percent.

Even sporting legends can't escape the curse.

Michael Jordan and his wife Juanita filed for divorce last month after 17 years together.

Rifts caused by adultery, pressure associated with the huge demands of professional sport, depression and even financial worries which may set in once a career comes to an end.

The big players of US sport who go through a marriage break-up find little sympathy from the likes of Gena James Pitts, the founder of Sports Wives Magazine, the first publication aimed specifically at the wives of professional sportsmen.

"They are like big kids," Pitts says of the superstars of sport. "Sadly, a lot of them don't grow up."

NACDA that there are 500,000 wives in the US sporting set-up and an estimated 200,000 fiancees.

Pitts that wives and girlfriends, who are collectively known as WAGS in English soccer, play a major role in their husbands' and boyfriends' careers and sometimes don't get the credit they deserve.

"People think they shop all day and have brains the size of a pea, but it's the wives who keep the family together often when the men are on the road for nine or 10 months a year," Pitts said.

Psychologist Diana McNab, who is also the former wife of ice hockey player Peter McNab, believes that this sort of responsibility becomes too heavy a burden for one person to carry.

"My life was hell," she said. "I had to do everything -- keep an eye on the company he kept, manage the money and look after the children. He lived life in a bubble. He was never here. It was too much."

Lenny Dykstra, a former New York Mets baseball player, is standing up for his fellow athletes by founding the Player's Club, an organization to support competitors once they have retired.

"Once they retire, they don't know what to do," Dykstra said.

"At 35 years old, they are incapable of being in charge. It's great having the big house, the beautiful blonde, but when the cheques aren't coming anymore, it all becomes more difficult," he said.

"Very quickly, the money's missing, and they have to work like everyone else. This scares a lot of guys. This sort of anxiety has repercussions on the couple until they split," he added.

For his part, Dykstra has been married 22 years.

"I must be an exception," he smiled.