25 August 2010

The divorce between world number-one golfer Tiger Woods of the United States and his Swedish-born wife Elin Nordegren became official on Monday, and two days later comments from both became public.

The divorce came nine months after Tiger Woods' early morning car crash late last November led to revelations that he had been cheating on his wife of six years with multiple partners.

Before Wednesday, Elin Nordegren had remained silent about the massive sex scandal that embroiled their lives and led to Woods dropping off the golf circuit for several months.

But at Elin's request, she agreed to an interview with People magazine for no payment. In excerpts from a cover article to be published Friday, the 30-year-old Nordegren told the magazine she has "been through hell."

She said she felt "absolute shock and disbelief" when she learned about her husband's multiple extramarital affairs. She said she felt stupid as more details came out, asking herself, "How could I not have known anything?"

Nordegren went on to say that the word "betrayal' was not strong enough to describe what she felt, and that the stress of the scandal caused her to have insomnia, lose weight, and even start to lose her hair before the divorce was finalized.

The magazine said its interview took place over four days, and took 19 hours. Nordegren added that she had loved Tiger and that they had "so much fun" together. She also labeled reports that she hit her ex-husband with a golf club, "truly ridiculous."

Later Wednesday, Woods held a news conference, the day before he was to play in The Barclays tournament in Paramus, New Jersey, near New York.

He took full responsibility for the breakup of his marriage.

"My actions certainly led us to this decision," he said. "And you know I've certainly made a lot of errors in my life and that's something I'm going to have to live with."

Tiger added it's a sad situation.

"You don't ever go into a marriage looking to get divorced," he said. "You know, that's the thing. That's why it is sad."

Woods said he hoped Elin can recover from the heartbreak.

"I wish her the best in everything. You know it's a sad time in our lives," he said. "And you know we're looking forward to [things] in our lives and how we can help our kids the best we possibly can, and that's the most important thing."

Tiger Woods married Elin Nordegren in October 2004 in Barbados and the couple have a three-year-old daughter, Sam, and a 19-month-old son, Charlie. Details of their divorce settlement were not released, but they will share the parenting of the children.