Elin Nordegren, the former wife of golf pro Tiger Woods has won the largest celebrity divorce settlement, ever. The 30-year-old will get $750 million, in addition to the stipulation that Woods never bring a girlfriend near their two children again – unless the two legally marry.
The figure is mind-boggling. But Woods, the number one golfer in the world, has agreed to pay this sum to Elin Nordegren, the sum of $750 million for her silence and also that this settlement bars him from bringing any female nearer to his kids daughter Sam and son Charlie, unless she is his married wife.
Tiger Woods with Elin
Woods had extramarital affairs with Rachel Uchitel, reality star Jaimee Grubbs, porn queen Joslyn James and up to 17 others. His list of conquests includes everyone from pancake waitresses to nightclub hostesses.
Part of the agreement is that Nordegren must remain silent about Woods’ past flings with various ladies.
Nordegren ended up with double the sum she originally sought, after her lawyers proved Woods was worth much more than the $1 billion than what was previously estimated.
The price of the huge sum is her silence: no interviews, tell-all books, or TV appearances about this for the rest of her life — even if Tiger dies first — or she’ll lose the lot.
“Everything’s signed. Elin is ready to file for divorce at Orlando County Court. She expects to in the next seven days,” says a newspaper.
Nordegren gets sole physical custody of the children, but Woods and Nordegren will split legal custody, meaning Woods will share decisions about their future.
Nordegren will not be able to permanently relocate the children to her native Sweden which she has always desired ever since this divorce thing started.
Woods will be able to see his children for up to half of each week. He can renegotiate the custody agreement in five years.
Nordegren will have to pick up pieces of her life again and begin caring for her kids as a single mom. In fact she had been caring for the kids for most part of the year as Woods was always away playing golf.
As Woods prepares for the British open, it’s clear that he has no plans to let his career die and seeks to dominate the world of golf once more.
In February 2010, he confessed his guilt in the presence of family members, few friends and hand-picked members of the media.
He had said sorry to his wife Elin. Wood’s admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife and asked the fans and business partners to forgive him.
Elin had given Wood’s, five best years of her life, sired him two beautiful kids and had taken care of the household and the kids while he was away reaching the pinnacle of golf-glory.
But little did she realise that all along her husband had been cheating on her and had been sample-testing across the globe. A wife may forgive any misdeed of her husband, but not adultery.
Why at all did he go public on a purely private matter? This issue could have best been discussed between Tiger and wife Elin.
Because that confession was more essential for furtherance of his interests in golf and he kept his family life in the second priority.
The number one spot in the world in golf was not easy to achieve and he ruined it with few birdies on the sidelines.
More importantly, there are the million dollars worth of endorsements that he makes per annum. He has to get on with golf to sustain.
He still has a lot to do about rebuilding his lost ground, but it will not be easier.
Ravi Matah.