Has Tiger been cheating on Elin? That's what the National Enquirer claimed in a story released several days ago. Considering the source, the mainstream media stayed away from the rumor ... until the car crash.
What does the woman alleged to be having an affair with Woods have to say? That woman began speaking out late Friday - and adamantly denying any liaison with Woods.
Rachel Uchitel is her name, and she's the Director of VIP Services for a New York City event planning company. It's a company that apparently handles many celebrity events; Uchitel, at any rate, rubs elbows with many celebs herself. And the Tiger Woods affair rumor is not the first time she had been rumored to be involved with a celebrity.
Important note: Those past episodes are, like the current Tiger Woods affair rumors, exactly that: rumors. We won't repeat any of them here.
The National Enquirer article alleging the Tiger Woods affair claims that Uchitel and Woods have been spotted together in nightclubs; that Uchitel has traveled to several cities while Woods was there playing golf tournaments; that she was in Melbourne, Australia, a few weeks ago when Woods was there for the Australian Masters; and that a "friend" of Uchitel's, Ashley Samson, says Uchitel and Woods are having an affair.
Uchitel told Ryan Ballengee of WaggleRoom.com that the woman who served as the National Enquirer's source for the Tiger Woods affair story "is not her friend" and "may have spoken to the magazine in exchange for a sizable payout."
Uchitel told the Associated Press, "Everyone is assuming I came out and said this. This is not a story I have anything to do with. I resent my reputation is getting completely blasted in the media."
She told US Magazine: "I have not had an affair with him. I understand that there's rumors all over because everybody's talking about it. But I'm telling you, people say rumors about me all the time. People will say a ton of things about me. I did not have an affair with Tiger Woods. The things that were said from the source in the Enquirer are in fact, not true."
US Magazine also related Uchitel's contention that she denied everything to the Enquirer and offered to take a lie-detector test, but the Enquirer claimed it was too late and the story would run as-is.
You get the picture. Uchitel denies it, and does so emphatically.
I know nothing about Uchitel, but what I know about Tiger Woods and the National Enquirer suggests that Woods deserves every benefit of the doubt on this. Innocent unless proven guilty.
Update: Later events obviously proved my "deserves every benefit of the doubt" comment naive, although it still made sense at the time. See Tiger Woods Scandals for all the later updates.
Comments
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Woman at Center of Tiger Woods Cheating Scandal Exposed
Days before Tiger Woods’ mysterious one-car crash, the National Enquirer published a blockbuster cheating scandal linking Rachel Uchitel to the golfing great. Now the Enquirer is revealing details of what she has said about their relationship and exposing the slew of contradictions in her story. Read how Rachel’s denials simply don’t add up and see the photo of the Rachel with the on-the-record source she claimed to barely know! New and shocking details are available here about the Enquirer’s blockbuster Tiger story and new information about the woman in the middle of it all:
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/tiger_woods_cheating_rachel_uchitel_exposed_source/celebrity/67747
get real people and and the sycophant suckups and hero worshipers in the golf and sports world. Tiger wanted some strange panoche—–you people are afraid to say anything cause you might loose your jobs. You treat this man with kid gloves and he is the most conceited and ungracious sports figure out there……get a real life people
this editorial is lame, enquirer has been right on a lot of dirt digging, sounds like the text messages are going to sink el tigre. The editor sounds like he is re-printing tiger’s press releases. Do your job and be a journalist instead of a stenographer.
Pffft…..Who Cares?
The comments above pretty much tell you all you need to hear to presume he’s innocent until proven guilty.
1. Is an ad for the Inquirer, which pays celebrities’ “friends” to make up crap about them so they can put “real quotes” in the rag’s fantasy stories.
2. Someone who doesn’t like what he perceives as Tiger’s flawed personality, so jumps on the rumor bandwagon for good measure.
3. Well, yeah, you dig enough ditches, you will eventually find something. But what about all the empty holes the Inquirer dug, only to be sued and have to pay for it?
You may not like Tiger, but you can’t say he’s dumb. Any celeb (or average Joe) who in 2009 would send an incriminating email or text message is dumb.
I’m not saying Woods is incapable of having an affair. I’m just saying where’s the solid proof?
And why should I care if he did?
Funny that tyhe National Enqurier have shut down their site and refused to take calls from the press. Can anyone spell LAWSUIT!!
Rachel is already suing and I expcet Tiger to sue for Millions. I hope the NE rot in hell!
Here’s the video of CNN’s report on Tiger’s suspicious injuries:
http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2009/11/did-tiger-woods-wife-bash-him-with-golf.html
any morals clauses in Tiger’s endorsement contracts? I won’t completely discredit taloid news as if I remember correctly Clinton and Monica’s blue dress and John Edwards pillar of virtue with his mistress and love child at Beverly Hills Hilton.
Whoa! This is sad. What’s in the dark will come to the light. I hope the children will be okay.
If I had a nickel for every time Jack or Arnie ran over a fire hydrant and tree while fleeing an angry wife, I could retire
Tiger Woods is so rich that he owns lots of expensive cars. Now he has a hole in one.
He, (Tiger Woods) should be left alone, what he does is nobody’s business but his own, it’s unfortunate that these rags like The National Enquirer and The News of the World in the UK just print absolute trash and make up the stories, it’s unfortunate that people actually believe them. Just leave him alone to sort out these problems with his family. David Beckham didn’t get all this publicity it was all hushed up so this should be too.
I can’t believe this at all I mean where the hell do the National Enquire get off putting all this crap in there that Rachel had an affair with Tiger the tabloids were wrong for ever publishing that crap in the first place by even smearing Rachel Uchitel’s name in the first place!