The wife of Tiger Woods is to stick with her cheating husband for the sake of their two young children. Friends of Elin Nordegren, 29, say she is devastated by the extent of his alleged infidelities but plans to stay married.
The couple, who wed in 2004, have a daughter Sam, two, and son Charlie, ten months.
'She is a child of divorce and that's not something she's likely going to want to do to Sam and Charlie,' an unnamed friend told American magazine People.
'She really believes in the importance of parents staying together.’
The friends say that Woods, 33, has finally come clean and told Elin, a former nanny, the full extent of his alleged womanising.
Elin's decision came as one of Woods' former mistresses apologised to her for the heartbreak she helped cause.
'I couldn't describe how remorseful that I am to have hurt her family,' cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs told U.S. showbiz news programme Extra. Racy text messages between Grubbs, 24, and Woods were published in the U.S. yesterday.
She claimed that she was not with Woods for 'superficial reasons', but stopped short of saying she loved him.
She hinted at understanding some of the pain that Elin must be going through when she described the revelation that Woods had a string of alleged mistresses other than her as 'devastating'.
And she claimed that she would not know what to do if Woods and his wife split.
'I can't say that I would ever go back to him,' she said.
'I would definitely have a relationship with him whether it was friends or just to have him in my life. But as far as going back to him emotionally like I was – I don't know if I can put myself through that again.'
The last time she was with Woods, she claimed, was October 18 - nearly a month before his astonishing fall from grace.
'I've learned from everything that I did,' she said. 'Had I not acted on emotion, I probably would have taken a second to think of how it was going to affect my family and the impact it was going to have not on my life, but on everybody that's been involved in this.' But she defended herself by saying: ‘If it wasn't me, it was going to be the other girls.’
So far, nine women have claimed affairs with the golf legend, and other revelations, including a fling with a British TV presenter, are expected. The friends say that Elin heard whispers about Woods' active sex life before they married but he promised to reform.
'Elin had talked to other golfers and their wives about Tiger's wild parties. When she asked Tiger about it, he said he would stop doing it. And she believed him. But he never did,' one friend said.
The friends say the couple have been having problems for two years and have had several public arguments in Stockholm, where they own an apartment.
Their marital woes exploded into headlines two weeks ago when Elin, whose Swedish parents divorced when she was six, chased Woods from their Orlando home and allegedly attacked his car with a golf club. He crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree.
Since then, the scandal has erupted and has placed the golfer's lucrative sponsorship deals in doubt.
Woods is sport's first dollar billionaire, accruing a fortune of more than £600million. He gets an estimated 90 per cent of his income from endorsements. But the 15 TV advertisements currently featuring him have vanished.
According to media research company Nielsen, the last prime-time commercial in the U.S. featuring Woods, a 30-second spot for Gillette, aired on November 29. That was two days after he crashed his car.
The latest allegations yesterday linked the golfer to an affair with an 10th mistress and second porn star, Veronica Siwik-Daniels. The actress, 39, also uses the name Joslyn James.
Yesterday it was claimed that Woods has avoided the public gaze because his wife broke his tooth in their row before the crash
Star magazine in the U.S. reported that Elin threw a mobile phone at him after she caught him texting one of his alleged mistresses, club promoter Rachel Uchitel.
In a statement last week, Woods dismissed claims that Elin attacked him and praised her courage for helping him in the aftermath of the accident. But public relations guru Howard Rubenstein said of Woods: 'He is beyond PR redemption.'
Adult film actress Holly Sampson star talked openly on an adult website called Naughty America about having a fling with Woods.She claimed she was invited to a stag night for Woods because a friend knew one of his assistants.
'Me and my girlfriends, we did a bachelor party for Tiger and it was amazing,' she said.
In an interview at a kitchen table - wearing a red dress with her breasts exposed - she added: 'He picked me to go in the room and have some whatever. I have to say he was really good. I have got some juice.
'He's like the whitest black boy you've ever met. His teeth are perfect and he is the perfect gentleman. He has beautiful everything, beautiful.'
When told she looked like Woods' Swedish wife, Elin, the porn star said: 'I know! I think he likes blondes, obviously.
'I am sure he would probably die to know that I was telling this on the Internet, but that's okay. I don't care. It's not like it was any big mystery.'
Although she boasted about her relationship with Woods nearly seven months ago, the tape didn't surface until yesterday, when it featured on the website TMZ.
Sampson, 36, who has starred in a string of films with titles like Lingerie Of Bust and Diary Of A Horny Housewife, didn't give any indication when the alleged tryst happened. She hasn't made any additional comment since being named as one of Woods alleged sexual conquests on Monday.
Meanwhile, two of the women at the centre of the allegations spoke today about their alleged roles in the drama surrounding Woods' private life.
Ms Uchitel told OK! magazine in an interview about to hit news stands that she had been demonised by the media.She said: ‘In every story you need a villain and a hero. I've been characterised as a villain.
‘People have called me homewrecker, gold digger, tramp, whore.
‘I made mistakes, but I'm not those things. I have good qualities.’
The nightclub hostess added: ‘When you're judged by the nation, it's really difficult. It's horrible.
A new poll has also revealed that Woods' popularity has slumped in the U.S. since details started emerging about his tangled sex life.
A survey by respected pollster Rasmussen Reports shows only 38 per cent of Americans now have a favourable opinion of Woods, compared to 56 per cent a week ago, soon after his extra-marital dalliances started leaking out.
Two years ago, Woods was enjoying an 83 per cent approval rating.
The backlash against Woods has even spread to his own website, TigerWoods.com, where fans have reacted with anger to reports of his sexual exploits.
The site, once a virtual shrine to Woods, now carries comments such as: 'Tiger this website is a joke - we now know that the image you put forward here is not who you really are. You should take this site down and hide yourself in shame. One affair can be explained but if what we're hearing now in the press is even close to the truth, your actions are inexcusable.'
Another critic wrote: 'What a phony!!! Anything you say from now on will make me puke. You don't deserve the family you have brought so much pain and suffering to. Did you never stop to think how this will affect your children when they grow up? Shame Shame Shame. Never again will I support you.'
source: dailymail.co.uk