Golf: Tiger Woods’ ex-mistress says signing non-disclosure agreement ‘ruined my life’

This follows a lawsuit by Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend Erica Herman, who sought to be released from an NDA she was made to sign in 2017. PHOTO: AFP

A former mistress of Tiger Woods on Thursday said she was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) after her infamous affair with the star golf player came under the spotlight in 2009.

In an interview with The Daily Mail, Rachel Uchitel, 48, said doing so “ruined my life” as she was unable to defend herself from public backlash.

Uchitel, a television presenter, said: “In the absence of truth, people make up anything they want and that is so debilitating. You lose all sense of power, all sense of self-esteem and people judge you not based on facts.

“It’s not a way to live and it really can ruin your life and it’s not worth the money. Ever. It was not worth it because so many of those things said were not true.”

Her comments follows a lawsuit by Woods’ ex-girlfriend Erica Herman, who sought to be released from an NDA she says the golfer made her sign at the start of their relationship in 2017.

Uchitel claimed that she signed the NDA “after the fact” to agree not to talk about the affair, unlike Herman who apparently signed the agreement voluntarily when she started a relationship with Woods.

“When somebody goes to work for or gets involved in a relationship with a celebrity, you are signing that because you witness a lot of things that are private about somebody who’s very public in their lives and they want to keep it that way,” she said.

“The question is, is it fair to come out after the fact and say now I want to make that null and void?”

She said this was in contrast to the nature in which she was forced to sign the NDA.

“There was an abusive nature in getting me to sign that to keep me quiet and there was abusiveness in keeping me quiet for 14 years after,” she said.

Uchitel said even though her affair with Woods happened 14 years ago, her 10-year-old daughter she had with ex-husband Matt Hahn has faced bullying in school over it.

She added that she felt indignant that Woods was able to revive his career, while she was blamed for ending his marriage with model Elin Nordegren, 43, with whom he had two kids.

Uchitel, who has since married and divorced twice, said she will be launching a podcast to shed light about her experience being at the center of media attention after her affair with Woods was exposed.

“The media has narrated their version of things (but) that’s what happened to me and that wasn’t fair at all. It ruined my life.”

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