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Nancy Grace
Alleged Mistress Says Tiger Claimed his Marriage Was a Facade
Aired December 18, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: We begin tonight with breaking news in the case of golf superstar Tiger Woods. After a late-night crash outside of his Florida mansion, a string of alleged mistresses come out of the woodwork, at least 14 women allegedly linked to Woods, some claiming the affairs lasted for years. And that number could be climbing to 16.
Major developments tonight. Was Tiger Woods`s marriage just a facade, a facade to boost his own multi-million-dollar career? Reports are surfacing Tiger Woods confiding to an alleged mistress that he got married only to maintain his public image. As a global golf legend and dedicated family man, Woods becomes the first athlete to top $1 billion in earnings, much of that from multi-million-dollar endorsement deals.
But in the last hours, yet another sponsor has dropped Tiger Woods -- that`s right, this time a luxury Swiss watchmaker that had Woods that forefront of its U.S. advertising, Woods even helping the company develop a high-end golf watch. And it`s all as sources confirm Woods`s wife, Elin Nordegren, will file for divorce, Nordegren contacting divorce lawyers, including a high-profile Los Angeles attorney to the stars. She has already been out in public with no wedding ring, reportedly packing up the children for Christmas holidays in Sweden without Tiger Woods.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tiger isn`t out of the Woods yet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Radaronline reporting Tiger Woods supposedly told an alleged mistress he only got married to boost his public image.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "People" magazine reporting this. Tiger Woods`s wife, Elin, wants out. She`s planning to leave him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think that Tiger`s a sex addict?
JAMIE GRUBBS, TIGER`S ALLEGED MISTRESS: The man that I knew, the Tiger that I knew, I would never think that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you holding up, Elin?
GRUBBS: He never mentioned her. I never -- you know, I never thought about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breaking news. As reports of divorce between Tiger Woods and wife Elin Nordegren intensify, "The New York Daily News" reports Woods`s wife, Elin, is consulting Hollywood divorce guru Sorrell Trope.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think of his 15 mistresses?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is definitely mad about everything that`s going on.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: A lot of these women are claiming two and three- year relationships with him, some in the family home. How difficult will that be for a divorce lawyer to prove?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not going to be difficult. We`ve got text messages. We`ve get voicemails.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it`s -- it`s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not going to be hard at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As reports of alleged mistresses continue to swirl, more troubling news for Tiger Woods. Yet another major sponsor drops Tiger Woods, Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer the latest pillar to crumble around the golf superstar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Good evening. I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network In Session, in for Nancy Grace tonight. Thank you so much for joining us. Was Tiger Woods`s marriage just a facade, a facade to boost his own multi- million-dollar career? Was it all a fraud? As sources confirm his wife will file for divorce, another sponsor drops the golf superstar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just in. TMZ reporting Tiger Woods is doing everything he can to save his marriage and convince wife Elin Nordegren not to walk. But will it work? Reports surface that wife Elin has consulted divorce lawyer to the rich and famous Sorrell Trope.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can`t get any more definite than that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, this is a hard-hitting divorce attorney based out of LA.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Legal eagles say he`s the best in the business, getting the most money and best custody deals out of divorces.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you know, there are millions of dollars at stake, as well as the custody of their children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Enquirer" claims team Tiger is working hard to silence alleged mistresses.
GRACE: Alleged monthly payments to these various women, some up to $20,000 a month.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She recently was photographed without her wedding ring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s not very happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s decided at this point to take off her ring and it`s time to move on.
GRACE: Elin Nordegren has closed on a family mansion in her homeland, on an island off the coast. Reports are surfacing that he is very afraid that Elin Nordegren is going to divorce him and take the children to Sweden.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has the countdown to divorce already begin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This very well could be the beginning of the end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: We are taking your calls live tonight. Let`s go straight out to Alexis Tereszcuk, reporter for Radaronline. You are reporting that one of these alleged mistresses has come forward saying that Tiger Woods explained to her why he even got married at all.
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: He did. He absolutely told her that he only did it for publicity, that it was a sham, he was only doing it to maintain his family man image and that that was not the real reason that he got married. It wasn`t for love, it was because he had an image to portray. And as you can see, he has not maintained that image by having affairs with all these other women. He definitely does not have that solid reputation any longer.
CASAREZ: Where is Elin Nordegren tonight? Where do we know she is?
TERESZCUK: She is still in the family home in Florida. She`s been out a few times recently, always without her wedding ring. We saw her recently with the children. But she is getting ready to -- we have heard reports that she is going to go on vacation with the children for the holidays, and after the holidays is planning on filing for divorce from Tiger.
CASAREZ: And where is Tiger Woods tonight? Do we know? Is he in Florida?
TERESZCUK: We have not seen Tiger since before the accident. You know, he had the accident on Thanksgiving and he hasn`t been seen since. So we think he`s in Florida, but we do not really know where he is.
CASAREZ: To Kim Serafin, senior editor of "In Touch Weekly." You are out in Los Angeles, and the reports are that Elin Nordegren is shopping for an attorney and may have an attorney, a California attorney. What do you know about that?
KIM SERAFIN, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes. That`s right. A lot of reports are saying that divorce is 100 percent for Elin, though she wants to take her time. She wants to wait to make sure all the dirty laundry is on the table. But the reports are also linking her to the very high-profile divorce attorney Sorrell Trope, who`s been around for a long time, a veteran divorce attorney who apparently has had clients -- everyone from Cary Grant to Britney Spears, apparently. This tells you she is very serious, if she`s talking to him, if these reports are true.
CASAREZ: That`s right. Sorrell Trope, Trope & Trope, established lawyer in California -- Britney Spears, Nicole Kidman, Nicolas Cage, Cary Grant, even Rod Steiger. He is the attorney to the stars.
To Ellie Jostad, NANCY GRACE producer. Brand-new report today. It is from "The Wall Street Journal" assessing (ph) that there was a story that was about to come out in 2007 about Tiger Woods, but it didn`t. Explain.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. Right. OK, so this is what "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting. And we haven`t been able to confirm this ourselves. They say that in 2007, "The National Enquirer" had a photographer snap pictures of Tiger Woods with a woman who was not his wife, Mindy Lawton, that woman that`s been linked to him. She`s the pancake waitress. Apparently, they shot a couple of photographs of him with this alleged mistress in a parking lot.
Even though the pictures were very dark and you couldn`t see what was going on, "The Enquirer" went to Woods`s people, said, We have this story, we`re going to run with it. Now, they never saw the photos, as far as we know and as far as "The Journal" knows, but apparently, Woods`s people then came back to "The Enquirer" and said, Listen, how about this. If you guys kill that story, Tiger Woods will sit down for a lengthy interview and a cover shoot with "Men`s Fitness," which is another publication that is owned by the same parent company that owns "The Enquirer." Now, I should point out that American media, that parent company, denies that this is what happened. They say there was no quid pro quo.
CASAREZ: OK. So a story may have been stopped in 2007 about his alleged infidelity. To Alexis Tereszcuk -- I want to go back to you -- with Radaronline.com. One of these alleged mistresses -- at least one -- has said that she had an affair before the marriage, Tiger Woods`s marriage, and then continued it after he got married. One of those, right? Is this the one that has just come out talking about what Tiger Woods told her?
TERESZCUK: It is. This is Theresa Rogers. And she is a woman who is in her late 40s, very attractive. But she and Tiger have had a long-term relationship. They started having their relationship while he was engaged, and in fact, continued it after he was married. And they`ve been in constant contact. They were very intimate with each other in different locations. And they had a very serious relationship, according to many sources.
CASAREZ: All right. Let`s go to the lawyers. We`ve got legal issues tonight. First of all, Susan Moss, family law attorney out of the New York jurisdiction, John Burris, defense attorney out of California, and Penny Douglas Furr, defense attorney out of Atlanta, Georgia.
First of all, Susan Moss, this marriage was a fraud. Respond to that one, Susan.
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, now that Tiger has shown his true stripes, we`re learning a whole lot. And this is going to cost him a lot of greens fees to get out of it. If, in fact, this was a fraud from the very beginning, hopefully, they did a good job in drafting his prenup. I assume they did and that will not affect the validity of the prenup. But the fact that his whole marriage was a fraud, she`s going to have at least an argument that`s going to pass the laugh test of trying to set it aside.
CASAREZ: To John Burris, defense attorney out of San Francisco, California. Before you tell me this can`t be done, let me tell you it has been done. There`s a very famous divorce attorney on the East Coast. His name is John Post. He represented the wife of New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey. In addition to a divorce suit, they filed a civil action of fraud.
Let`s look at the facts of this case. Elin Nordegren believed promises that Tiger Woods made to her, and married him in reliance upon those promises. And if there was an affair while he was dating Elin and after he was married, along with other things, couldn`t this constitute a civil action of fraud in California?
JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I don`t think so. I know it may have been done there, but in that case in New Jersey, that was really a question of one`s sexual orientation...
CASAREZ: It was done in California.
BURRIS: But I don`t think it can be done. I would doubt that it can be done here in this particular case. Look, the conversations he`s had with these ladies, we don`t know that those are just hustles, those are just lines that he`s making (INAUDIBLE). When they got married, she knew all about his particular relationships and stuff. I mean, is it reasonable for her to rely necessarily upon that?
I don`t want to bespeech (ph) her. I mean, she obviously has a right and she`s a woman and she`s been -- certainly been done wrong. But whether it rises to a level that takes it out of traditional marriages -- people have bad marriages all the time. People get married for the wrong reasons. Ultimately, she had a prenuptial agreement. She`s going to get a lot of money, no matter what. Now, the question, can she then have a separate agreement that will get her more money? I tend to doubt it.
CASAREZ: All right, to Jeff Gardere, psychologist and author of "Love Prescription." Very quickly, for once and for all, define a sex addict for us.
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: A sex addict person who has to have sex under any circumstance, especially if they have tolerance where they need more, withdrawal where they can`t stop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, what we know at this point is that Elin has pretty much had enough. You know, one woman -- when that first came out, she had decided that she was going to stay with Tiger, they were going to work through it. But every day, it seems like there`s another woman coming out -- forward. And since that`s been happening, she`s just been getting angry and she`s decided at this point to take off her ring and it`s time to move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it`s -- it`s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The investigation has determined that Mr. Woods is at fault in the crash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you please take your name off your phone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were reports that there was a domestic dispute before Tiger Woods left his house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife went through my phone and may be calling you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elin had found Tiger`s phone, and on it she had seen text messages.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because she can, please take your name off that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn`t one woman. It wasn`t two. You know, we think the number has been up to 13.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just have it as a number on the voicemail, just have it as your telephone number. That`s it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not for one second believe he had real relationships with these women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ve got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. All right, `bye.
GRUBBS: I did put a lot of, you know, emotions into this and I did care very much for him. And when we were together, I mean, he did make me feel like I was the only girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network In Session, in for Nancy Grace tonight. well, as one alleged mistress is saying that Tiger Woods told her he got married solely to be that family man for his career, another sponsor is dropping him. Tonight we can report that Tag Heuer, you know, the Swiss watchmaker -- you see all the pictures in the magazine -- well, they are dropping him, along with Accenture, consulting firm, and Gillette is saying that they are going back on the marketing programs for Tiger Woods.
Let`s go out to a caller. We`re taking your calls live. Sheeba in Illinois. Good evening, Sheeba.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jean.
CASAREZ: Hi, Sheeba.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, did Elin know about any of these mistresses? Because I can understand her, OK, we`ll work through the first one. But all of these are coming up, and it`s, like, My gosh. You know, what is this poor woman supposed to do?
CASAREZ: Right. Great question...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how -- and how much will he have to pay in child support? Because I think they will move to her homeland.
CASAREZ: Oh, OK. To Kim Serafin, senior editor of "In Touch Weekly." First of all, what do we know about the knowledge -- and that`s so important in the legal arena -- the knowledge of Elin in regard to these women? We do know that that night that she was looking at his cell phone for a number because we heard his own voice, Tiger Woods`s own voice, talking about that to the alleged mistress.
SERAFIN: Exactly. You have that voicemail where Tiger is saying to this alleged mistress, My wife found my phone. Can you take your name off your phone? And of course, the reports have surfaced -- these are unconfirmed, but the reports have been that Tiger and Elin had a fight that night and that`s what prompted Tiger to get in his car, pull out of the driveway at 2:00 in the morning, and that`s what sort of started everything.
But there really is no indication that before that she had any knowledge. And of course, the reports now are coming out and saying that she wants this divorce, again, 100 percent. And she made it very clear when she did go out not wearing her wedding ring. She knew the photographers were watching her. So I think it`s clear that she knows now. She is, apparently, according to sources, waiting for all the dirty laundry to come out before she signs everything.
CASAREZ: To Ellie Jostad, producer of NANCY GRACE show. Is there any knowledge that Elin knew at the time of the marriage the behavior of her husband?
JOSTAD: Well, it depends on which reports you read, but I would say that most of them say that it does sound like Elin Nordegren was not aware of this, or that if she knew he liked to, you know, have a good time before they got married, she was under the impression that it stopped once they were married.
CASAREZ: Right, and maybe promises were made. To Susan Moss, family law attorney out of New York. Let`s talk child support. And can she just take the kids to Sweden? They`re American citizens. They were born in the United States and they are citizens of this country.
MOSS: Well, it doesn`t really matter about citizenship. What does matter is the home state of the children. The children have lived in the United States, and in Florida particularly, for the last six months. Accordingly, it is the United States that should have jurisdiction with regard to children`s issues, where the children should reside. In the event she takes the children to Sweden, he could -- he could force the return of those children back to the United States. And that`s when we`re going to be off and running with some legal battles. I`ll tell you something, golf has never been this exciting!
CASAREZ: Well, and golf may never have lost so much money, also. To Ellie Jostad, producer of NANCY GRACE. How much money is the industry losing because of this?
JOSTAD: Well, Bloomberg News actually crunched the numbers, and if Tiger Woods takes an indefinite break from golf, as he says he`s going to, it could cost the entire industry. For example, the PGA tour could lose as much as $192 million if he sits out the golf season. They estimate that the crowds will be a lot smaller if he`s not playing. TV ads for tournaments he`s not playing in could drop as much as 40 percent. And even Nike could lose 5 percent of their revenue, which may not sound like much, except that 5 percent for Nike is $32 million.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s behaving like a 13-year-old boy. This isn`t serial cheating, this is concurrent cheating. I think he splits off his wife, who`s the mother, and his sexual relationships with other women, and one has nothing to do with the other in his head. And therefore, it`s OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tiger Woods, the battered brand, the fallen superstar. While his alleged mistresses continue to speak out and continue to pop up, his self-imposed seclusion continues. He`s on an indefinite leave from professional golf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His wife and his two little children -- they`re the real victims in all of this.
GRACE: Elin Nordegren has closed on a family mansion in her homeland. Now we see boxes being loaded on to Woods`s multi-million-dollar yacht.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve seen the wife out without him and without her wedding ring on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network In Session, in for Nancy Grace tonight. Let`s go straight out to the caller Judy in Canada. Good evening, Judy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, there.
CASAREZ: Hi. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought I was going to be speaking to Nancy. And I just wanted to say...
CASAREZ: I`m sorry!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s OK. No problem. But I wanted to say we`re both mothers, and I was wondering, where is Tiger`s mother in all of this? And how is she handling all of this? We haven`t heard anything about her.
CASAREZ: That`s a very good question. Let`s go to Alexis Tereszcuk with Radaronline.com. Where is Tiger`s mother? His father passed away, but his mother is living and he`s very close with his mother.
TERESZCUK: He is very close with his mother. She, in fact, was in Florida last week there. We had video of her arriving to Florida. And then -- I believe she arrived on Thursday, and on Friday, he released the statement saying that he was apologizing for his infidelities and he wanted to work on being a better man and a father and a husband. And then now she is back in California. But they are very close and she did fly down there and apparently looks like spoke with him and helped him really try to get things back on track and maybe work on the marriage.
CASAREZ: To Chris Serafin (SIC), former NYPD detective, now CEO of Kindershield Agency. You know, there are reports that Tiger Woods is playing golf only at night, that he`s eating cereal and watching cartoons. If you are representing Elin Nordegren, are you going to have investigators at this point monitor his activities to see what he`s doing, with whom?
CHRIS SAFFRAN, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Absolutely. Surveillance is a major part of any divorce litigation proceeding. And unfortunately for Elin, this whole thing exploded and he`s completely aware of, you know, where she`s moving and what -- you know, what she`s planning because it shows up on the news.
Ideally, you would want to try to get some surveillance in place once you have suspicions and try to acquire documented -- document -- documented evidence that you can bring to trial so the trial isn`t a "He said, she said." But that is a lot easier to get before the other party is aware that there -- you know, that he`s being looked at. And I think with his assets, it`s probably not too hard for him to stay out of the public eye as far as, you know, what he`s doing now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are benefits and burdens to being Tiger Woods. The burden? We`re still talking about him and we`re all up in his business. The benefit? Maybe he got that benefit of the doubt that night where at that moment, they didn`t feel that there was enough evidence to say that he was drinking or drunk, you know, anything like that. So unfortunately, it is what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He`s bigger than golf, bigger than sports really. He is a brand. Now Tiger Woods is stepping away from the sport that made him the first billion-dollar athlete.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: He`s admitted to transgressions and infidelity. He`s also asking his business partners for understanding.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Accenture is the first to end its business relationship with Tiger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`re probably thinking we want a pitchman who stands for something we`re proud of. Right now Tiger Woods stands for infidelity, adultery. Can you blame them for dumping him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are people who don`t like to be duped or surprised. And here they are looking at Tiger now. The charade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We really don`t know what the future is going to be for Tiger as a brand, as a golf player, as a husband.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Corporate America world spends about $12 billion on endorsements.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody involved in golf could potentially lose hundreds of millions of dollars from their cash cow being missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the Tiger Woods act, you know, sort of leading for this indefinite, you know, period of time from golf gives them an out. At this point, they don`t have to put Tiger Woods front and center in their advertising campaign, certainly we`re not going to be seeing Tiger Woods in a lot of PSAs any time soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASAREZ, GUEST HOST: I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network "In Session" in for Nancy Grace tonight.
Well, an alleged mistress coming forward saying that Tiger Woods told her -- actually had an affair with him allegedly before the marriage and continuing into the marriage that the only reason he got married was for his career, for his image that was so important.
And on the other plane, Tag Heuer, famous, famous Swiss watchmaker, they have dropped him. They have dropped him saying he is just not right for the brand anymore.
I want to go out to Dr. Titus Duncan, M.D., general surgery, Atlanta Medical Center. You know, we have not seen Tiger Woods since this happened. And he obviously respects his privacy and wants his privacy, but the reports are that he`s playing golf at night, at night he`s playing golf.
Now one can say that it`s all because of privacy, but there were injuries that he sustained either in the accident or with a swinging golf club. How long do injuries to your face take to heal?
DR. TITUS DUNCAN, M.D., GENERAL SURGERY, ATLANTA MEDICAL CENTER: Well, it depends on the amount of severity of the injury, but for the most part, it only takes about four to six weeks before you have a scar that`s healed enough that you`re going to actually sort of see that the healing process of the scar that`s minimal.
So what you want to basically actually see is basically just some scar tissue in that area. And once this sort of gets about six weeks, you don`t see any scar at all. And it`s a nice healing process. So you can come out and actually -- in the public if you have a scar that`s six weeks old.
CASAREZ: Four to six weeks. Now if someone is involved in an accident such as hitting a tree with your vehicle versus swinging golf clubs, where would the injuries be on your face? There would be different injuries, correct?
DUNCAN: Yes, there would be. Again, it sort of depends on how accurate the person is swinging the golf club. When you actually are in an automobile accident, you can have several injuries all over the place, your head, your facial areas, your lips.
And with a golf club injury, you are most likely -- people are most likely to go for the head. And so you`re going to see most of the injuries in your cranial area, around your eyes and things of that nature. So if that golf injury -- if that golf club injury is very, very, very severe, you`re going to have some pretty good-sized bruises and maybe some lacerations. And those -- again, it takes about six weeks and all for those to resolve.
CASAREZ: To Jeff Gardere, psychologist and author of love prescription. The reports are saying that Tiger Woods is secluded, he`s eating cereal, he`s watching cartoons, he`s not talking to anyone. He`s playing golf at night.
Psychologically, where is he at right now?
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF "LOVE PRESCRIPTION": Well, I think this is a guy who is in profound shock, embarrassment, feeling a lot of guilt because he`s brought down his own reputation, has destroyed his family, as we can see. He is at the lowest part of his life right now.
And there might be a very simple explanation as to why he`s watching cartoons. It`s not just about the shock. It could be that he doesn`t want to see anything on television that has to do with his life right now because this is yet another thing he cannot take that will be a severe psychological insult to him.
CASAREZ: That`s a good point. Very good point.
Out to Angel in New York, hi, Angel. Good evening.
ANGEL, CALLER FROM NEW YORK: Hi, good evening. I have a comment and a question.
CASAREZ: Mm-hmm.
ANGEL: My comment is when I see all these mistresses on television shedding tears over Tiger Woods, I feel no sympathy because they all knew he was married. You should not mess with a married man.
And my question is, for Jaimee Grubbs, if she was really in love, why would she tape record their conversations and even more, why would she leak it to the press?
CASAREZ: All right, good questions. To Jeff Gardere, once again, you know, sometimes I think this is a male/female issue. Because there are a lot of females out there that have no sympathy for Tiger Woods. No sympathy at all.
And look at the women and wonder why they are coming out publicly with all of this. What promotes them to do that?
GARDERE: It`s very interesting. That old saying when you lay down with dogs, you get flees. The fact is a lot of these women who were with Tiger, they knew that he was married, of course, and they knew that the only thing that they were going to get from him was a good time and some money.
And therefore, they prepared themselves in that particular way. If this thing went south, that they would get paid. They would get the publicity. They wanted him not just because he was Tiger Woods, but because he was also a paycheck. He was someone who was famous and good- looking and that would elevate them.
CASAREZ: To Ellie Jostad, NANCY GRACE producer, go -- run through with us the contracts that Tiger Woods has had with mega-million corporations and who now is leaving him.
ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, we`ve got a bunch of, you know, Tiger Woods makes over $100 million a year in endorsements. So we`ve got Nike at $30 million. You`ve got Gatorade at an estimated $10 million. Also Gillette estimated to be about $20 million.
Now Gillette has since pulled back. They`ve removed him from some of their ads. They say it`s out of respect for his request for privacy. Also this Tag Heuer deal we`re hearing about is estimated to be worth about $2 million.
CASAREZ: To Penny Douglas Furr, defense attorney out of Atlanta, Georgia, if there is a valid contract with all of these companies, there is also something normally in a contract called a morals clause. Define that for everybody.
PENNY DOUGLASS FURR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The morals clause usually says their opinion. If you are conducting yourself in a way that would hurt the company, then you would no longer be under contract and they could cancel that contract at any time.
CASAREZ: To John Burris, out of California, because this is important to companies, thus they have a morals clause, don`t they look into somebody before they sign them or is the almighty dollar and just the notoriety and the fact that they`re going to sell millions of dollars of items for the company, is that all that matters?
JOHN BURRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, obviously the money matters, but I think they do do a check beforehand. The problem, not too much of a problem, but we have to remember there is a long history of Tiger here. We have 13 years where he`s been on the forefront of the national stage, world stage.
And so there`s been plenty of opportunities for people to see what his background is, what he has done. Nothing has come up in the meantime. These contracts are renewed every year or every two or three years. So there`ve been plenty of opportunity for them to evaluate his history and his past.
Make no mistake about it, companies are always making -- trying to protect themselves against some improper conduct, some moral clause, and so as a consequence, they`re almost always in a provision of this kind. But this is really the first time that I think something has surfaced with Tiger despite, you know, even though all this was happening, nothing in his background would have been -- had come forward.
So I`m sure they`re all pretty shocked by this. And it`s understandable that they would leave him rightfully so.
CASAREZ: But to Susan Moss, with 14 alleged women and the number may be growing, people had to know. People had to see. Why didn`t -- or did they just turn a blind eye because so much merchandise was being sold? Nike, for instance.
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY & CHILD ADVOCATE: It`s all about the money, honey. But sponsors don`t like tigers who are lying cheetahs. As soon as this came out and as it grows and grows you`re going to see more sponsors hitting the road.
CASAREZ: And that will be very interesting. To caller Joan in Utah, hi, Joan. Good evening.
JOAN, CALLER FROM UTAH: Good evening. Thank you for taking my call.
CASAREZ: You`re welcome.
JOAN: I have a question. Elin -- I don`t know if she can in her state file for alienation of affection to those women that were involved with Tiger, but can she file against Tiger`s little entourage, his little posse that was involved in covering everything up? Can she file alienation of affection against them also?
CASAREZ: You`re so smart. I think that`s a great question. John Burris in California, can she file for alienation of affection in California?
BURRIS: Well, not in California, nor can she do it in Florida as well. So there are a few states that have it, but I don`t think any state has where you can file against a third person who wasn`t involved in the relationship itself. So there are some obscure situations if drugs are involved where a third person could in fact do so, but -- or the spouse could do it against a third person for providing drugs, but not in this case.
CASAREZ: To Penny Douglas Furr, alienation of affection in any state in this country?
DOUGLAS FURR: I know that it`s in North Carolina. That`s the only one I`m personally familiar with but you would be suing most likely the women who had taken the affections of your husband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: How much can a paparazzi, or really anybody, me with my cell phone, can you get for a shot of, say, Tiger Woods with Elin Nordegren right now? Say having a candlelight dinner trying to make up?
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, REPORTER, RADAROLINE.COM: Nancy, the reports are out there that somebody that took his photo could get about $250,000, which is a huge amount of money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAIMEE GRUBBS, TIGER WOODS` ALLEGED MISTRESS: It`s just kind of, you know, this -- this was a man I cared about. This was a man I spent 2 1/2 years with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your husband may have allegedly been with 16 different women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re hearing it from multiple sources.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s all blowing up as we speak.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like a bakery, take a number, next, apparently. I`m sure there are many more. This guy is a playboy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we do know for sure is that the first time that we saw Elin come out just a few days ago after being in hiding for a very long time, she was out pumping gas without her wedding ring on.
TERESZCUK: We`re hearing that she`s, you know, a very tough woman, that she doesn`t, you know, take this kind of thing lying down. That she is very upset and that she is not the kind of woman that would stand for this kind of thing.
GRACE: Sources confirmed that Elin Nordegren is divorcing Tiger Woods. There`s no going back now.
TOM O`NEIL, SENIOR EDITOR IN TOUCH WEEKLY, COVERING STORY: Multiple friends of Elin`s and ABC News is saying this is a 100 percent certainty. The only uncertainty is how will it play out?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ninety-two million in career tournament winnings. Estimated $100 million a year in endorsements. That includes $30 million from Nike, an estimated $10 million from Gatorade.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Women who have come forward are primarily single women. What about the married women or religious women or women who don`t want to be exposed for having cheated with golfers great? There can be more than we really know about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez of the legal network "In Session" in for Nancy Grace tonight.
Straight out to Ellie Jostad, producer of NANCY GRACE. What is this about Jessica Simpson getting her attorneys and possibly a lawsuit in regard to a Tiger Woods issue?
JOSTAD: Right. Well, there was a report in "Star" magazine that there was no affair, but they said that Tiger and Jessica met each other at a golf tournament earlier this year, actually this past summer. She was actually there with her then-boyfriend Tony Romo.
The article said that, you know, they were apparently talking, they exchanged numbers. He said he might give her private golf lessons. Jessica Simpson, you know, came back saying this is all a lie. There was nothing to this. And she is apparently reportedly considering legal action at this point.
CASAREZ: To Kim Serafin, senior editor of "In Touch Weekly," what do we know about Tiger Woods really wanting to stay in this marriage and doing everything he can to stay in this marriage?
KIM SERAFIN, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": Yes. TMZ is reporting that he really wants to save this marriage. You know, all of these rumors about Elin wanting to do this, wanting to get the divorce, consulting divorce attorneys. Apparently according to TMZ, he wants to save it. He wants to do everything in his power to try and save this marriage.
But, of course, as you reported, these reports are coming out that he is isolating himself, that he is, during the day, eating cereal, watching cartoons, playing golf at night. And even his close friends like Charles Barkley have not been able to reach him. He said he`s tried to reach him. Can`t get in touch with Tiger. Made a big statement saying, "Tiger, we`re with you, you know, call us if you need help." But yes, that is the report. We don`t know where Tiger is.
CASAREZ: You know, Kim, someone that knew Tiger Woods early on has come out. We don`t know why. But it`s Dina Par. She was the high school girlfriend of Tiger Woods. She`s come out to talk about his behavior way back then. Let`s listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN BAKER, E! EXECUTIVE NEWS DIRECTOR: With all the information that`s come out, people now have this impression of Tiger as a womanizer, with a roving eye. Did he have some of that back then?
DINA PAR, TIGER WOODS` HIGH SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND: I certainly didn`t experience it when we were together. You know, when he was off at Stanford, I had seen a change in him.
BAKER: A change in what way?
PAR: This personality trait that I started to notice in college, this kind of untouchable arrogance. It certainly seems that it`s escalated because when you`re with these kind of women and with that many women, you know, supposedly, you know, you have this untouchable attitude, you know? And I think unfortunately it`s caught up to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And that is Tiger`s high school sweetheart describing how he changed in college.
Let`s go out to a caller in Pennsylvania. Darlene in Pennsylvania, good evening.
DARLENE, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi. Thank you for taking my call.
CASAREZ: Yes.
DARLENE: I have a question. Please answer it. I know he did wrong. But all of these women that are coming forward, to me they`re prostitutes. They got money. Do they claim this money on their income tax?
CASAREZ: Well, very good question. To Susan Moss, family law attorney, I know you deal a lot with finances. Any monies that are being paid to these alleged mistresses? This is reportable income, right?
MOSS: Absolutely. There`s only a limited amount of tax-free gift you can give each person. And a lot of these people are getting hush money or confidentiality agreement money, they`re going to have to report all this.
CASAREZ: To John Burris in California, I`m going to go with you because you`re the California jurisdiction. It is being reported that Elin is getting a very high-profile divorce lawyer in Southern California, Los Angeles, USC graduate, my alma mater. Got to put that in.
But anyway, people are saying that she would have to file for divorce in Florida because that`s where they live. But, John Burris, they have a home in California. Tiger was born in Cyprus, California. His foundation is based in Irvine, California. Any way that nexus could be in California to file for divorce there?
BURRIS: Well, sure. There could be a real fight about this, but I think Tiger should prevail on the notion that the domicile of the marriage is in Florida. There`s a long history of that`s where they are, that`s where he gets a lot of his mail, that`s where everything is.
And the fact that he has other places where he may go from time to time and has business relationships, I don`t think -- against the notion that his domicile is in Florida. It`s a major deal because California is a community property state. And so the -- and Florida is an equal distribution state aside from the prenuptial agreement, so there`s a lot of money on the line.
So I can see why a California lawyer would fight like the Dickens to try to get it here. But I think on bounce, he loses. This case is going to be tried and worked out in under Florida law.
CASAREZ: And Penny Douglas Furr, why is it advantageous to Elin to file in California?
DOUGLAS FURR: Well, because California is a community property state where she would be entitled to 50 percent of anything that was earned during the marriage. Florida is basically a title state, and it also means if that is titled in that person`s name, it`s his. And she would be entitled to something called an equitable distribution, which does not have to be 50/50. It can be 20/80. It can go any way the judge feels it should go.
CASAREZ: So there could be much more money in her pocket from a California divorce.
Once again, out to Pennsylvania, great state. Carla, how are you?
CARLA, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi. I was just calling, I was wondering is there any kind of laws -- because Tiger was out with all of these other women and I`m sure he was, you know, coming home and you know, having intercourse with his wife. Is there any kind of laws that could protect her from something like that?
CASAREZ: You know, I don`t think that`s a legal question. To Dr. Titus Duncan, M.D., out of Georgia, any thoughts on that?
DUNCAN: Well, I`m not really sure about the legality of it. But again when you`re having sex with multiple partners obviously you`re at risk for sexually transmitted diseases. And if you pass that back on to your wife -- again, I`m not sure about the legality of it, but you can pass disease. And to me, disease is a lot more than money.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those reports from last week saying that they were trying to change the prenup, that he was offering Elin $5 million to stay right away and then increasing it from $20 million over 10 years to something like up to $85 million over the next seven years. So clearly there were reports that they were changing this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CASAREZ: And now a look back at the stories making the rest of the headlines this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it`s Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favor. My went wife went through my phone. May be calling you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s an auto accident?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there was an auto accident. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a neighbor, he hit the tree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, are you able to tell if he`s breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I can`t tell right now.
GRUBBS: I did feel guilty that, you know, he`s spending his time with somebody, you know, that isn`t his wife. It`s just the way he was.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A parent`s worst nightmare. 4-year-old Mark Bookal, allegedly disappears from his own apartment, right under the nose of mom`s boyfriend, 30-year-old Cory Bird, who was supposed to be watching the child.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Earlier that morning, the two were seen on surveillance video at a nearby bodega.
CHRISTINA BOOKAL, MISSING 4-YEAR-OLD`S MOTHER: Let him go. I miss him. That`s my baby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Honestly, I think there`s some fault involved.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police in Utah are planning a second interview with the husband of a missing 28-year-old woman. Susan Pal disappeared without a purse, without a cell phone.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say the case is very suspicious.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Speculation comes from Josh`s story, that he took his 2 and 4-year-old sons camping in the freezing cold of the West Desert on the night Susan disappeared from their West Melon home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any idea what happened to them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Elin, how are you? Do you still love Tiger, Elin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elin has pretty much had enough. Every day there seems like there`s another woman.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Unnamed sources tell "People" magazine, Elin, his wife, plans to leave the world`s greatest golfer.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you going to divorce him, Elin? What do you think of his 14 mistresses?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She recently was photographed without her wedding ring.
GRACE: That`s usually the first sign of a divorce, people start take off the ring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s going to take the kids to Sweden for the holidays and we`ll see if she ever comes back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Tonight, let us stop to remember Army Corporal Matthew LaForest, who`s 21 years old from Austin, Texas, killed in Iraq. Awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He loved traveling and cars and sports and spending time with his friends in Texas.
His family started a scholarship for Austin students in his honor. Leaves behind grieving parents Mark and Deborah, one sister, one brother.
Matthew LaForest, an American hero.
Thank you to all of our guests and to you at home for being with us tonight. Thank you. See you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp. Until then, good night, everybody.
END
