The troubled golf star and his cheated wife, Elin, formally split with an official decree of divorce less than a year after one of the biggest scandals in modern sport erupted.
It had barely been signed when Rachel Uchitel, the secret lover who opened the can of worms, announced she’d do ‘‘whatever it takes’’ to win Tiger back. ‘‘I feel horrible for him,’’ the 35-year-old nightclub manager declared. ‘‘He loved Elin but he was in love with me. I hope he remembers what we had was real and reaches out to me.’’
But some of Tiger’s other lovers reacted with more dignity. ‘‘The divorce won’t take away Elin’s humiliation,’’ Jamie Grubbs said.
True – but it will ensure her nest is feathered very comfortably for the rest of her life. The 30-year-old Swede, who was once an au pair, need never work again.
Her divorce settlement amounted to $300 million (about R2,2 billion) – half the $600 million (about R4,5 billion) Tiger earned in their six years of marriage.
Elin made sure she wouldn’t be shortchanged in the divorce: she hired a team of eight lawyers. On Tiger’s side of the courtroom in Florida a lone attorney agreed to everything. It was over in 10 minutes.
Elin’s settlement payment won’t make her happy, she told America’s People magazine, but ‘‘I have to be honest, it is making some things easier. I have the opportunity to be with my children as much as I want to be.’’
She told the mag she’d been through hell after Tiger’s sexual shenanigans were revealed. She suffered hair loss, weight loss and insomnia. ‘‘It’s hard to think you have this life and then all of a sudden – was it a lie? But I survived. It was hard but it didn’t kill me.’’
Read the full article in the YOU of 2 September 2010