After days of mounting speculation, Jim Edmonds has publicly addressed his relationship drama with wife Meghan King Edmonds.

The former MLB player, who reportedly filed for divorce last week, issued a statement on Wednesday acknowledging their strained marriage, as well as indirectly addressing the rumor that he had an affair with their former nanny, Carly Wilson. (Both Edmonds and Wilson have denied having a sexual relationship.)

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Edmonds began by calling the last five days “emotionally exhausting” and “sleepless,” “resulting from a combination of anger, embarrassment, trying to understand, sadness to simply flat.”

“The last couple years have been rough on my wife and me for many reasons,” he said in the statement to PEOPLE. “Marriage is difficult but add three small children under three, two adolescent children, two adult children, building a house and two busy, hard-working spouses and the stress of living our lives in the public eye. At times we are exhausted and feel our life has become one of distrust, kids, work, house, sleep and repeat.”

Edmonds, 49, and former Real Housewives of Orange County star King Edmonds, 35, share 16-month-old twin sons Hart and Hayes and daughter Aspen, who turns 3 next month. Edmonds also has children from a previous marriage.

In his statement, Edmonds went on to seemingly reference a widely circulated photo of him and Wilson attending a hockey game together.

“It saddens me tremendously that my wife is hurt,” he said. “After having a few days to digest the situation, I realize that something that occurred in a split second spiraled out of control with no way to stop it. We were both separately surprised to find out that the media had received details of our private situation without our knowledge.”

“We both carry an extremely large load and most of our issues could have been worked out if we had more more time for us,” he said. “With our busy careers and the addition of our son’s medical needs, we were lacking quality time together.” (Their son, Hart, has been diagnosed with a form of irreversible brain damage.)

Edmonds said he would be “removing” himself and his family “from this unnecessary publicity.”

“I have way too much love for my wife and kids for this to happen and it’s time for us to get back to the private life we used to live,” he said. “Meghan is a truly special woman who my kids are so fortunate to have as their mother. Hoping for some peace, normalcy, and the ability to move forward in a healthy, happy direction for every single person involved.”

“I love my family and will make it right again,” he vowed.

Image zoom Carly Wilson (left, with child); Meghan King Edmonds and Jim Edmonds Jim Edmonds/Instagram; Meghan King Edmonds/Instagram

Edmonds’ statement comes one day after King Edmonds publicly addressed the situation herself in a lengthy blog post. The former Bravo star admitted that she doesn’t know if her husband cheated on her, but insisted he lied to her about socializing with Wilson.

“When I learned of a particular outing with a babysitter, this time, to a hockey game, that Jim repeatedly lied about, I asked him to include me on all future texts with this sitter but he said, ‘No.’ Another major red flag,” she said. “To be clear, I don’t know if Jim slept with our babysitter or whether they were just being exceedingly inappropriate by hanging out socially without either of them telling me (and Jim expressly lying to me about it). I’ve gone back and forth with my thoughts for a couple days but as I write this, I don’t think he did. But I still don’t understand why he’d lie. And why would she lie?”

She went on to recount how she then learned from a reporter out of the blue that a story would soon be published about Edmonds filing for divorce. She noted that there is no record of the divorce filing.

“How did this tabloid have so much personal information? How did it know Jim had filed for divorce? Information that — to my knowledge — only Jim and his lawyer were privy to,” she said. “Once again, the tabloids knew more about my marriage than I did.”

King Edmonds said she mostly grieves for the couple’s young children, admitting she is “broken” and “buried in despair” but would put on a brave face for their sake.

Edmonds denied that he had an affair with Wilson, calling the allegations “disgusting and irresponsible” on Instagram Monday and insisting that he views Wilson as one of his children. Wilson has also denied the rumor.

This isn’t the first time the couple’s relationship drama has played out in the public eye. In June, Edmonds admitted that he “engaged in an inappropriate conversation” and exchanged “lewd photos” with another woman — not the nanny — but denied having a physical relationship with her.