I've been trying to not write about Tiger Woods but the more it pops up on my CNN news ticker and the more I see it in line at the grocery store, the more the "I can't shut my mouth when I have an opinion" side of me comes rearing its ugly head. So here is my unsolicited opinion on the Tiger situation.
1. The people who think the solution to this debacle is for Tiger's wife Elin to just take the kids, his money and run for the hills haven't really thought this through.
Taking his money: Let's not kid ourselves here. Taking Tiger's money, even $80 million dollars under the allegedly renegotiated prenup, isn't going to hurt him. He's worth a BILLION dollars. Even if she took half, which arguably wouldn't happen since much of his earning capacity was achieved prior to the marriage, he still has $500 MILLION dollars and a very long, likely lucrative career ahead of him. Hitting Tiger in the wallet isn't going to do squat.
Taking the kids: Newsflash people. Even if you are a dirty, rotten scumbag cheater (oh, did I mention I'm not a fan of infidelity?), you still get to be a parent. Even if Elin decides to leave Tiger, he's going to get to see his kids. And they are really young, so Elin and Tiger have a loooooooong road of co-parenting to navigate. And not only will he get to have time with his children, but they are going to have to put all this crazy nastiness aside and be cooperative, able-to-communicate-without-slinging-curse-words-left-and-right parents to their kids. At least, that's what they're gonna have to do if they don't want to end up raising the next LaLohan.
2. The media attention, while intrusive, is not inappropriate and Tiger's silence is only making things worse.
Tiger wants everyone to just shut up about it and leave him alone. Well, duh, wouldn't you?? But really, he has profited immensely from not just his talent as a golfer but his well-calculated and cultivated image of
You think he would've gotten his who-knows-how-many-millions -of-dollars Nike deal if his public image was that of a tail-chasing, cocktail waitress connoisseur? Of course not.
Well guess what Tiger? When you make money off your GOOD image, it's sort of only fair that there be a fascination with that image being shattered like the window of your SUV when your wife was trying to 'save' you with a golf club...uh yeah...But seriously, Tiger owes us an explanation. He can't keep letting the media do his talking for him. (Unless of course you really did have over 10 mistresses, fathered over 35 love children and clubbed baby seals after each rendezvous) And I am not talking about not some lame, bland apology about his "transgressions." He owes us a full-on, Oprah-on-the-couch moment where he sincerely explains the TRUTH and just as sincerely apologizes for it. Believe it or not, the public opinion can be pretty forgiving if you just 'fess up and then clean it up. Don't believe me?
How about Charlie Sheen?
[caught several times with hookers, destroyed marriage to model/actress wife Denise Richards, finally stops prancing around with Heidi Fleiss, now the star of Emmy-awarding winning sitcom and some fairly humorous Fruit of a Loom commercials alongside another gambling, tail-chasing athlete who just never got caught: Michael Jordan]
[incarcerated for drug use on multiple occasions (see mugshots below), cleans up his act (congrats there Rob), wins us over as Ally McBeal's boyfriend and becomes the star of blockbusters like Tropic Thunder and the new Sherlock Holmes movie I can't wait to see - oh, and stops getting arrested]
Susan Boyle maybe?
[skyrocket to fame, loses the competition that made her famous, has very public, total mental breakdown, committed to a hospital, now has #1 best-selling album]
And an oldie but goodie, Mr. Hugh Grant?
[caught with a hooker in his car while in relationship with model/actress Elizabeth Hurley, two Bridget Jones movies and a string of adorable, romantic comedies later (and no more hookers), he's still the utterly delicious English gentlemen we all swoon over].
There you have it Tiger, clear as day. Tell the truth, stop letting the media do your telling (and embellishing) for you, say you're sorry and then lay low, keep it in your pants and work on things with your wife. Which brings me to #3.
3. Yes, I think they should at least try to work on their marriage before deciding that this situation is unsolvable.
You'd think as a divorce attorney, and as a woman, I'd be the first to tell Elin "Once a cheater, always a cheater" or something akin to a Kate Gosselin soundbite "You have to protect the kids" (those rabid mistresses bite you know). But really, marriage means something. And the first thing it means is that you can't just pick up and run when the golf club hits the windshield. Aside from the fact that because they have kids, neither of them can just 'pick up and run,' they should try to work it out because they decided to be each other's husband and wife. Counseling, hard work, amicability, respect, working together to raise their kids and fix each other, that is where the real answer lies. Granted, these things probably weren't occurring when Tiger was running loose in Vegas, but they can start happening now and they can keep happening for the rest of their time together.
If they both commit to that, (and really, both of them, and really, commit) they won't be another celebrity divorce statistic for me to read about in the grocery line. Because honestly, between Brangelina, Suri Cruise, Britney and the Gosselins, I have enough celebrity drama to keep me plenty occupied when standing behind that lady with 35 coupons.
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