Will Elin Nordegren divorce Tiger Woods?
We interview Jasper P, a professional golfer who has been in exactly the same situation as Tiger Woods: a string of affairs; a distraught wife; collapsing finances; and friends jumping ship. Is there a way back from the brink for Tiger?
Elin Nordegren, betrayed wife of golfing philanderer Tiger Woods
What's going on in Tiger Woods' mind right now?
A cheat always regrets the hurt he has caused when he is found out. Strange as it might sound to some, Tiger adores his wife, he loves his family, but at the same time he could not say no to all the sexual temptation that was placed in front of him. You have to know, Tiger's wife is a fantastic woman and great mom. She has done nothing wrong to deserve this treatment.
You are saying Tiger did not have sex with 11 or more women because he was unhappily married?
That's right. In his own mind, Tiger loves his wife. He is able to separate his marriage and his feelings for his wife from the casual sex he has with waitresses, reality show starlets, and porn actresses. On the one hand is the serious busness of marriage, on the other is entertainment, fun, having a good time. It's about finding an outlet for tension and frustration, a way of escaping expectations, the pressure and control of professional sport and corporate sponsorship.
Rachel Uchitel, identified as a Tiger Woods lover, but more liking to be a fixer who found Tiger the women he wanted.
Is his behavior common in professional sport?
It is the rule, rather than the exception. Everyone wants a slice of Tiger Woods. There are people offering him women, casual sex with total anonymity and no strings attached. He can have anything he wants to have. He has the money to have it all and to be protected from the press, at least for a while. He kept his goldenboy image for a long time before it came crashing down around his dropped drawers.
Why would he risk his financial empire and his marriage for the sake of sex with women he has no intention of staying with?
You are coming at it all wrong. A man like Tiger is not looking for love. He found that already with Elin Nordegren. What he wants is something different, the thrill of being in a world where he is not under scrutiny, where he doesn't have to pretend, where he can indulge his urges. Which normal guy can say no to sex with gorgeous women if it is offered to him on a plate?
These women were not exactly gorgeous. They were ordinary: waitresses and aspiring actresses, starstruck young women.
Jaimee Grubbs, with whom Tiger Woods exchanged sexually charged text messages behind his wife's back
Yeah, they were in awe of meeting this superstar living legend. They gave Tiger exactly what he wanted: sex, flattery, and attention with no strings attached.
Yes, but some of them seem to have fallen in love with him.
Then they are incredibly naive and stupid. Tiger is married to a beautiful woman, the daughter of a prominent Swedish politician. He is not going to leave her to hook up with a waitress at Perkins Family Restaurant. He wanted sex, he wanted thrills, that's all. It's not very complicated. You don't seem to get it.
Why is there such shock about this?
I don't think there is much shock. Let's get some perspective here. What separates Tiger Woods from the rest of us is that he is better than we are at hitting a little ball with a stick. That is his only skill. He hasn't cured cancer. He has no deep insights into the origin of the universe. He hits a ball with a stick, and the business community has decided that skill is worth millions and millions of dollars. But Tiger is a human just like the rest of us.
There is the question of control. Why couldn't he control himself?
He is under control the whole damn time, on the golf course, in business meetings, and sponsorship events. It's the sponsors who want stars to pretend to be perfect, to be role models. We all know that's bs, but you have to play by their rules to get the megabucks. It's a game with simple rules. His mistake was that he was found out. He'd have been fine if he hadn't gotten himself caught. He was sloppy and careless.
And now he is paying the price. Does he regret what he has done?
Jamie Jungers, yet another of Tiger Woods' alleged lovers
Of course he does. He knows how stupid he has been. He is going to lose millions of dollars. He has lost respect. He will lose friends. He will probably lose his wife, and he will lose some access to his kids. He might not even come back to the game as number 1. He might go under.
Do you think his wife Elin Nordegren will leave him?
She is rich enough to do what she wants. She can hang on, give him a second chance, bank some more money, or she could leave now and still be rich. She's a great mom. She'll want her kids to be brought up with their father around. But she'll also be thinking that her husband has not just been unfaithful once or twice, he's had sex with handfuls of women, none of them very classy. She is in mental turmoil right now. She's angry and she's hurting. There will be a lot of people recommending her to leave him.
What about Tiger? Where is he at right now?
He'll be begging and pleading, trying to explain himself. He'll be trying to persuade people he is not well, that he had an addiction he couldn't control. He will not want a divorce.
What does this sad story tell us? What are the lessons?
It tells us nothing new. It says that men will risk anything, I mean anything at all, for pu-sy. Empires have fallen because powerful men needed access to unlimited supplies of p-sy. And that in essence is what this is all about. It also tells us there is no shortage of women willing to give a powerful man pu-sy.
And it surely tells us there is no shortage of women willing to trap a powerful man and cash in?
It's beautiful, isn't it? It's free enterprise, the American way. We all want to cash in. If a woman is dealt a good hand, for example Tiger Woods between your legs, your instinct is to cash in, isn't it?