Alex Rodriguez’s Ex-Wife Says She ‘Felt Sorry for Him’

Alex Rodriguez’s ex-wife Cynthia Scurtis says she felt “sorry” for the “stunted” former baseball star during parts of their relationship.

Scurtis, 52, sat down to speak about her marriage with Rodriguez, 50, for HBO’s new docuseries Alex vs ARod. “I felt sorry for him. I did,” she said, describing her ex as a “sweet guy” with a “really big heart” in the first episode, which premiered on Thursday, Nov. 6.

“But he was so stunted when it came to the natural development of a person,” Scurtis continued. “He was so entrenched in baseball. He was told that’s what he was going to do for so long, and it’s all he did.”

Rodriguez, who Scurtis was married to from 2002 until 2008, is a “creature of a habit,” she said. “And baseball was all he did. If he wasn’t hitting, he was throwing. If he wasn’t throwing, he was running. If he wasn’t running, he was watching videos of different pitchers, studying.”

Scurtis said she thinks Rodriguez’s behavior was a result of his upbringing, and his father abandoning the family when the future MLB star was 9 years old.

“There was a lot of his life that he missed and a lot of stages that we go through as children into young adulthood that mold us and shape us, and he didn’t have those experiences,” Scurtis explained, adding, “I could see where his family gave him the position of the head of the family at a very young age.”

And in their private lives, Rodriguez was almost a different person than what the world knew him as, said Scurtis.

“I didn’t really know A-Rod. I know Alex,” she explained, adding, “A-Rod was like a fictitious thing that people created. It was a persona, it was a personality. For me, he was just Alex.”

Rodriguez and Scurtis share two daughters: Natasha, 20, and Ella, 17.

At the premiere of his HBO docuseries, Rodriguez spoke to PEOPLE about his daughters, and praised Scurtis as a “wonderful mother” to the girls.

The former baseball star said there’s “so much” he’s proud of Natasha and Ella for. “I mean, we grew up completely differently, and you would never be able to tell,” Rodriguez said. “They’re very grounded. They’re great, strong young women. They have a wonderful mother, great support system, their dedication, the way they treat people, the way they honor family, on and on and on.”

“It could be another documentary!” the proud dad of two joked.