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Being a gorgeous model who's married to one
of the most successful athletes of all time

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isn't always all it's cracked up to be. Just ask Elin Nordegren.
Imagine how it would feel to have the worst period in your life

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examined and dissected by nearly every publication in existence. Not
only having your world turned upside down by an unfaithful partner

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but trying to shield your children from the
barrage of press and paparazzi chomping at the bit

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to get another scoop for one of the
most scandalous stories of the century

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the story of your life and how it all fell apart. Before
she became widely known as the wife of golfer Tiger Woods

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much of Elin Nordegren's childhood was spent in Sweden, though she also spent some
of her time with her father in Germany after her parents split when she was seven

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Nordegren learned quite a bit from her parents'
divorce, later telling People magazine

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Despite the split, I feel like the base was still there. My mom showed me that
it is possible to be on your own, be a mother, and still pursue your career

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Using what she learned from her parents' divorce, Nordegren wanted to
set a good example for her children after her own marriage fell apart

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I am now going to do my very best to show them
that alone and happy is better than being in a

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relationship where there is no trust. I want to
show my kids what my parents showed me as a child

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But before the heartbreak, there was at least a brief period of happiness.
Nordegren and Woods wed in 2004 in Barbados among athletes and celebrities

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an event which reportedly cost $1.5 million.
Unfortunately, a few years into their marriage

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Woods stepped out by having affairs with multiple
women. His transgressions were somewhat of an open

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secret, and the National Enquirer was allegedly
prepared to print a story exposing Woods' affairs

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in 2007, which Woods' team managed to squash.
But apparently, no one happened to tell Nordegren

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who later shared that she was unaware of the cheating until 2009 She told people so embarrassed that I never suspected Not a one For
the last three and a half years when all this was going on I was home a lot more with pregnancies than the children and my school

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The public first caught wind of trouble after Woods
suffered a single car accident on Thanksgiving

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night that year. Rumors swirled about the events
of that evening, including one claiming that

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Nordegren chased Woods out of their house with a
golf club and caused him physical harm. Nordegren

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later denied that allegation. Days later, it became
public knowledge that Woods had been cheating on

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his wife with multiple women. And days after that,
Woods released a public statement apologizing to

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his family for his sins. I ran straight through
the boundaries that a married couple should live

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by. I thought I could get away with whatever
I wanted to. In 2010, the couple divorced

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Nordegren had lots of emotions to process
after learning of her husband's infidelity

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telling people, I've been through hell. It's hard to think you have this life,
and then all of a sudden, was it a lie? You're struggling because it wasn't real

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but I survived. It was hard, but it didn't kill
me." Despite all they went through at the end of

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their marriage, Woods and Nordegren have managed
to put their past aside in order to be effective

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co-parents. In an interview with People
in 2014, Nordegren said of Woods

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"...I have moved on, and I am in a good place.
Our relationship is centered around our children

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and we are doing really good. We really are. He
is a great father." Still, Woods' personal life

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continues to affect Nordegren. In 2021, he got
into another single-car accident in California

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with the injuries requiring emergency surgery.
Woods had to undergo intense rehabilitation

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therapy to even walk again, let alone golf,
further highlighting how serious the accident was

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According to reports, Nordegren was there for
Woods after his crash, with one source telling

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People, she's been incredible since the crash.
She has bent over backward to make sure that he

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can see the kids while he
recovers from his injuries