How Tiger Woods and Ex-Wife Elin Nordegren Built an ‘Incredible’ Relationship as Co-Parents After Their Divorce
t’s great when you see people who’ve been married for 20, 30, 40 years and they’re still in love. That’s what I want for us,” Tiger Woods once told PEOPLE about his relationship now-ex-wife Elin Nordegren.
A lifelong love, however, wasn’t in the cards for them: Two days before Thanksgiving 2009, the National Enquirer ran a story that Woods was having an affair with a club hostess, Rachel Uchitel. Woods had Uchitel call Nordegren to shoot down the rumor, but Nordegren found texts and called Uchitel from Woods’ phone–on Thanksgiving Day.
Getting “something like ‘hey babe’” as a greeting cemented what Nordegren suspected. Later that night, around 2:30 a.m., Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade and was found by police on the ground with Nordegren nearby. It’s now believed that Woods had taken sleeping medications and painkillers before getting into the SUV.
“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart,” Woods would say in a statement five days later. “I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.”
In 2021, Woods was involved in another one-car crash that left him, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, “lucky to be alive.” Another reason Woods was lucky: His ex, Nordegren was “incredible” as he recovered. “She has bent over backwards to make sure that he can see the kids while he recovers from his injuries,” a source told PEOPLE.
