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Kenny Chesney

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NASHVILLE — Kenny Chesney tells Playboy magazine that he's definitely not gay and has well over 100 women who could attest to that.

"Man, I was over 100 several years ago," he tells the men's magazine for its March issue out Friday. "There were years when I had a better summer than A-Rod, buddy. You know? I got on the boards quite often."

In the Q&A interview, the singer also discusses his 2005 marriage to actress Renee Zellweger, which was annulled after four months.

He said he "didn't have any clue as to what true marriage meant. I was so used to committing to one thing — music — and then I had to totally commit to a second thing, marriage. I didn't know how to commit to both of them."

He also told the magazine that the paparazzi and attention became too intense. "I mean, I panicked, there's no doubt about it. I just totally panicked," he said, adding that he did "the only thing I knew to do: I ran. I pushed her away."

Chesney said he called for an end to the marriage, but she filed the annulment papers. "It was a pretty mutual thing, to be honest with you," he said.

After the breakup, he was depressed and didn't leave the house or get out of bed for a week. He said he spoke with Zellweger on the phone briefly about a year ago but admits, "I still think about her every day. Every day I wonder if she's OK."

To have the marriage annulled, Chesney said the legal papers could claim either physical abuse, mental abuse or three or four other things that weren't true.

"The best thing we could put in there was fraud. So I said 'All right, do it. Whatever,'" he recalled.

But the fraud claim fueled speculation that he is gay.

"What guy who loves girls wouldn't be angry about that ...? I didn't sign up for that. I think people need to live their lives the way they want to, but I'm pretty confident in the fact that I love girls (laughs). I've got a long line of girls who could testify that I am not gay."

When pressed about the number of women, whether it's more than 100, Chesney said he probably reached 100 in 2001. "My first five years on the road were intense because I was the guy in college who never got laid until I started playing guitar," he said.

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