Tiger Woods Admits Transgressions, Letting Family Down

With more tabloid reports of women claiming to have had affairs with him, golf superstar Tiger Woods posted a message on his website today, admitting, "I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone."

The 33-year-old married father of two adds:

Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week, my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. The stories in particular that physical violence played any role in the car accident were utterly false and malicious. Elin has always done more to support our family and shown more grace than anyone could possibly expect.

But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy. I realize there are some who don't share my view on that. But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family. Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.

What about Chinese news-made CGI interpretations of his car crash (video after the jump)?

While NYC nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel denied any relationship with Woods, yesterday, US Weekly interviewed a LA cocktail waitress (and girlfriend of a reality show contestant), Jaimee Grubbs, who said she had a long affair with Woods—she says they were supposed to see each other earlier this year but his wife went ahead and had their son—and even provided a voicemail purportedly from him, asking her to change her voicemail greeting, "I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you. So if you can, please take your name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye." (Pat Kiernan opined, "I’ve heard enough Tiger Woods interviews to say it sure sounds like him.")

The former editor of Men's Fitness tells the Post that his bosses at American Media, which also owns the National Enquirer, agreed to kill a planned National Enquirer 2007 story about an affair in exchange for a rare Tiger Woods cover story for Men's Fitness. Neal Boulton said, "[American Media CEO] David Pecker knew about Tiger Woods' infidelity a long time ago. [Pecker] traded silence for a Men's Fitness cover... Tiger Woods doesn't do [posed] covers of magazines." American Media claims Boulton is a "disgruntled" former employee.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on December 2, 2009 11:10 AM

Comments [rss]

S.K.

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger Woods, y'all!

Jen S

"But no matter how intense curiosity about public figures can be, there is an important and deep principle at stake which is the right to some simple, human measure of privacy."

True and eloquently stated, but does not apply to the rich/famous.

jaycjay

What does apply to the rich and famous is that you're foolish if you think you can have these kinds of "indiscretions" and keep them secret forever. That's even more true for celebrities than it is for the rest of us.

csk

The big question is will he be prosecuted for providing a false statement to the Police?

jaycjay

What false statement did he make to police?

JenChungsBaby

Yet another trashy white chick revealed today as having done it with Tiger Woods. Black women across the country are heard ripping their own hair out.

NannyState

Correction: hair extensions.

NannyState

Hostesses, coctail waitresses, what is this? 1967? Dude needs to troll strip clubs if he wants some proper skank.

NattyB

oh tiger.

Your wife is so hot. She may forgive you. But she'll never forget. And, oh yah, she'll get her revenge.

She kinda looks like Betty Draper too!

ed_Extinct

If only all young athletes followed the Derek Jeter textbook model: Don't get married and have fun!

TheKlaus

"westerday"

just saying

Holy crap, this is a textbook case of what not to do vis-a-vis damage control. It just gets worse and worse.

Who the hell is advising Tiger? Obviously not one of the big name publicists.

Spirit of 76

Up until he passed away a few years ago, Tiger's father kept him on the straight and narrow. But without that firm hand guiding him, Tiger seems to have lost his way.

Mr. Shankly

Being that rich and young and getting married=FAIL

There was little upside and massive downside for him.

He could have lived a life full of doting hot and cold running poon.

Instead he'll lose 8+ figures and end up a whipped beta.

His wife likely stopped giving it up after squeezing out the kids.

felixthecat2

LMFAO, I love the SIMS reenactment.

Fritzdecat

very well done

jaycjay

I can't wait for that CGI approach to catch on among the US news networks. We'll be able to see how everything happens, even if we don't know!

babyhitler

so tiger who could do all he could to sell you those damn cadillacs is remaining mum now and wants us to respect his privacy? fat chance. You should have thought of that before trying to sell me razors with 5 BLADES!

Armchair_warrior

all the girls have one thing in common all of them look trashy. he likes em trash.

felixthecat2

Did he keep his socks on? That's my question for these ladies.

sidenote

C'mon Elin - you married a professional athlete who travels the world, is practically a billionaire, is about as famous as you can get, and in his physical prime. Did you really not see this coming? Spare us the charade and let him give you a $4 million apology ring or whatever so we can all get on with our lives.

TrippinJoJo

goddamn media. I am not surprised when anyone in the "spotlight" fucks up like this. They're prone to it.

When any of these married high profile people (dudes n dudettes) cheat, they deserve to be drained of every cent possible by their spouses...pre nups should be voided once either of them fuck up or others.

so stupid. why bother getting married AND have kids?

T

...because he's Tiger Woods. After you rise to the pinnacle of your sport and make a fortune as a race-barrier crossing prodigy perhaps you can talk about how stupid he is. He feels entitled because he is entitled and knows that ultimately this incident, as uncomfortable as it may be, won't ruin the Tiger brand.

Would it be best for him to be as awesome a father/husband as he is an athlete? Obviously.

TrippinJoJo

Just because you're successful in your sport and it's history doesn't entitle you to cheat on your wife with skanks. His ego can handle the "embarassment" but what about his wife, CHILDREN! and rest of his family? ANYONE who believes they're entitled to anything is SELFISH and has no regard for the feelings and emotions of his/her loved ones.

He should be grateful for his success and his skill not skeet all over the place and not think about the consequences.

NannyState

What children? ...Oh, those. They're rentals. He can just take them back to the agency and waive his deposit.

Amanda Harletsch

so not all that shines is gold...

more like rusty...

JenChungsBaby

OMG, Robogolfer is human!

hotstepper

god that CGI stuff is awesome, i particularly enjoyed the wife's thought bubbles. that feature would come in handy at home when trying to understand the barely decipherable language of womanspeak.