Tragic Details About Elin Nordegren

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Elin Nordegren is the well-known ex-wife of pro golfer, Tiger Woods. One of the main reasons that she's so well known is because Woods infamously cheated on her with several women, putting their relationship in the news for months. It seemed as though the whole world felt bad for Nordegren, who had her life flipped upside down after finding some curious text messages in her then-husband's phone one night. While it's been years since Nordegren and Woods' relationship came to a crashing halt, she still finds herself making headlines from time to time, usually when something happens involving her ex. Living a quiet, private life seems to have always been the goal for the mother of five (two with Woods and three with current partner Jordan Cameron). But that hasn't exactly been easy.

Since she was a young girl, Nordegren's life has been shrouded by tragic moments. From her parent's divorce to the death of her ex-boyfriend, Nordegren is no stranger to heartbreak. She strives to have the peace in her life be louder than the conflict, but she certainly hasn't had an easy time making that happen. And it all started when she was 7 years old.

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Elin Nordegren knows the challenges of growing up in a broken home all too well. When she was 7 years old, her parents went through a divorce, which changed her life forever. "It was hard for me. I lived with each parent an equal amount of time after that, and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with both of them," she previously told People magazine in an interview. When she was 17, her father moved from Sweden to Germany. She and her sister decided to move to Berlin for a year for school. It was during this time that Nordegren learned to speak fluent English. 

Nordegren's parents' divorce taught her a lot about being an independent woman — something that she credits to her mom. "My mom showed me that it is possible to be on your own, be a mother and still pursue your career," she told People. Having experienced living in a broken home, Nordegren knew that she wanted something different for her own kids when the time came. Unfortunately, that didn't work out for Nordegren, who split from Tiger Woods in 2010. Nordegren acknowledged that children deserve to live in a healthy home environment, thus justifying her divorce. "I am now going to do my very best to show them that alone and happy is better than being in a relationship where there is no trust. I want to show my kids what my parents showed me as a child," she said.

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Elin Nordegren knew that she wanted to go to college because she wanted to study psychology. However, after her time in Germany, she was given an opportunity to pursue a different life by moving to the United States. Nordegren traveled to multiple countries to study different things. At one point along her journey, she met Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik. As it turns out, Parnevik and his family needed a nanny — and Nordegren was perfect for the job. Not to mention, it meant that she could move to the United States, which opened her up to new experiences. Working as a full-time nanny, however, Nordegren was forced to put her dreams of studying psychology on hold. 

"My intent was to go back to Sweden after a year and start my psychology studies," Nordegren told People magazine in 2010. As fate would have it, Nordegren met Woods through Parnevik and the rest was history. She would soon have a husband and a family of her very own. Things were looking up for Nordegren. Until they weren't.

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In 2006, the Ryder Cup was held at the Palmer Course of the K Club in Straffan, County Kildare. And Elin Nordegren became the target of a media outlet based in Ireland. In September of that year, The Dubliner magazine decided to write an expose of sorts, zeroing in on the golf WAGs. On the inside pages of the infamous issue, the outlet claimed that Nordegren "can be found in a variety of sweaty poses on porn sites across the web," according to ESPN. The accusations that Nordegren had done anything close to pornography had Tiger Woods up in arms.

"My wife, yes, she has been a model prior, and she did do some bikini photos, but to link her to porn websites and such is unacceptable, and I do not accept that at all. Neither does our team," he said at the time. Nordegren jumped into action, hiring a law firm and filing a libel lawsuit against the media outlet. The magazine's publisher claimed the piece was meant to be "satirical" and issued an apology to Nordegren and other WAGs who were included in the apparent slander attempt. For the record, no such photos of Nordegren were ever uncovered.

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Elin Nordegren had one amazing story to tell: A Swedish student moves to the U.S. as a nanny, meets one of the best golfers of all time in 2001, marries him in Barbados in 2004, has two beautiful children in 2007 and 2009, and life is good. But that all came crashing down in late 2009. It started with an article from the National Enquirer that made bold claims that Tiger Woods was having an affair with a woman named Rachel Uchitel. The outlet even quoted Uchitel as saying she loved the golfer. Woods quickly denied the report before a series of wild events transpired. Despite her husband denying any wrongdoing, Nordegren found herself suspicious. She ultimately went through his cell phone and found messages between him and other women — including Uchitel — thus uncovering his double life. "You are the only one I've ever loved," one of the messages Woods had sent read, according to the New York Post. As the days went by, Nordegren found more of her husband's secrets — and so did the world. 

In February 2010, Woods held a press conference in which he publicly apologized to his family. "I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did was not acceptable. For all that I have done, I am so sorry," he said, per ESPN. There were all kinds of reports that Woods was a sex addict. And although he went to rehab and tried to fix his marriage, the damage was done.

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When Elin Nordegren learned that her husband had been unfaithful, she went through a variety of emotions. From feeling completely betrayed to devastated to angry, one can only imagine what those moments, now frozen in time, must have been like to a mom with two little ones at home. One thing that Nordegren didn't do, however, is physically assault Tiger Woods. Call it the media's attempt to make Nordegren seem like a badass, but reports surfaced that she attacked Woods with a golf club. Something that Woods says never happened. 

"Some people have speculated that Elin somehow hurt or attacked me on Thanksgiving night. It hurts me that people would fabricate a story like that," Woods said during a press conference. The accusations were hurtful to Nordegren, who also maintains that she never physically assaulted her ex. "This was one of the things I had the hardest time with people thinking. There was never any violence inside or outside our home. The speculation that I would have used a golf club to hit him is just truly ridiculous," she told People magazine.

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Elin Nordegren and Tiger Woods finalized their divorce in August 2010. Before that could happen, both Nordegren and Woods completed the American Safety Institute's four-hour course on "Parent Education and Family Stabilization," which is required in Florida, where the divorce paperwork was filed.

According to court documents obtained by ESPN, Nordegren and Woods' marriage was "irretrievably broken." Details of the divorce agreement weren't made available, but the couple agreed to share custody of their two children, Sam and Charlie. Additionally, Nordegren requested her surname be reinstated. "We are sad that our marriage is over and we wish each other the very best for the future," they said in a joint statement. "While we are no longer married, we are the parents of two wonderful children and their happiness has been, and will always be, of paramount importance to both of us," their statement continued. 

As part of her divorce settlement, Tiger Woods was ordered to pay Elin Nordegren a whopping $100 million. But while money makes things easier, Nordegren would be the first to tell you that she'd rather her marriage worked out. "Money can't buy happiness. Or put my family back together," she told People magazine in 2010.

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Following the finalization of her divorce, Elin Nordegren opened up to People magazine about what the past several months had been like. "I have been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ultimately grief over the loss of the family I so badly wanted for my children," she told the outlet. Marking the first time she spoke publicly — and candidly — about the demise of her marriage to Tiger Woods, Nordegren wanted people to know that she was blindsided by Woods' actions. "I'm so embarrassed that I never suspected—not a one. For the last 3 1/2 years, when all this was going on, I was home a lot more with pregnancies, then the children and my school," she said.

At that point, Nordegren was given no other option but to move forward with her life — a lesson that she learned many years ago when her parents divorced. Despite being through it as a child, it didn't make it any easier for Nordegren, who has done her best to put her kids first and to leave the love that she had for Woods in the past. 

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It's no secret Elin Nordegren went through it when she found out Tiger Woods had been unfaithful. In the days leading up to the finalization of her divorce, Nordegren said her hair started falling out due to the stress she'd been under. She also lost weight, which she also attributed to stress. Couple those things with insomnia, and Nordegren found herself in a bit of a rut, riddled with depression. She did her best to give herself grace while trying to heal from what happened to her. She told People magazine she started journaling to combat some of her emotions and let things out. She also started going to therapy to learn to feel things in the moment, deal with those things, and eventually be able to let go.

"I never cry. Unfortunately. I wish I could bring up my emotions more at the time, but it usually comes afterward. That's one of my flaws," she told the outlet. As with most things, time was on Nordegren's side — the more time passed by, the more she felt like her old self again.

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Elin Nordegren moved on from the heartbreak that Tiger Woods caused. However, since the two share kids together, Woods isn't completely out of the picture. It seems as though enough time has gone by for Nordegren to stomach being in the same room as Woods and her heart is in the right place after finding love again. She has been with Jordan Cameron since 2019. But there's one thing that hasn't really gotten better, and that's the media. Nordegren finds herself in the news whenever something big happens to Woods, whether it be his 2017 DUI arrest or a soured relationship with another girlfriend. 

In 2023, for example, Woods' ex-girlfriend Erica Herman sued him for some $30 million. Herman claimed that she and Woods had an "oral agreement" about their living arrangements, but he kicked her out of his home. Evidently, some people thought that Nordegren would want to weigh in on this, but a source told People magazine that she frankly didn't care. "This aspect of Tiger's life is not her concern. She has no interest in his personal life or what happens with his various girlfriends. That part of her life was over a long time ago," the source said.

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Before finding love with Jordan Cameron, Elin Nordegren was back in the dating pool. She kept most of the details private, enjoying a life out of the public eye, but when she did find someone, the news appeared on just about every outlet. Nordegren had become friendly with a neighbor named Chris Cline and their friendship turned into something more. "Elin was introduced to Chris by a local friend because they seem to have a lot in common. They both have children, like to keep their personal lives quiet, believe in philanthropy, and enjoy leisure outdoor activity," a source told People magazine in 2013. Things seemed quite serious between the two, with Page Six reporting that Cline flew to Sweden to meet Nordegren's parents at one point.

Ultimately, however, their romance didn't stand the test of time. About a year after they started dating, the pair went their separate ways. While it's unclear exactly what happened, a source told Page Six that Nordegren and Cline's schedules didn't mesh. "They didn't spend enough time together. He has a thriving business and has been traveling a lot," the source explained.

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Elin Nordegren didn't give up on love and wanted to find her happily ever after. She started dating Jordan Cameron, in 2017 and they've been together ever since. In 2019, Nordegren found out she was pregnant with the first of her three children with Cameron. However, that same year, tragedy struck. Just as Nordegren seemed to have her life back on track, her ex, Chris Cline, died in a helicopter crash near the Bahamas along with his daughter and some other friends, according to NBC News. Although Nordegren never spoke about Cline's tragic death, we're certain that she was heartbroken to hear the news. According to Radar Online, Nordegren was in Sweden at the time of Cline's death and didn't attend his funeral. "Elin called Chris' cousin to let the family know she unfortunately couldn't make it," a source told the outlet.

Nordegren and Cameron welcomed a baby boy named Arthur a short while later then added two more children to their brood. Together, they are a blended family of 8; Nordegren has two kids with Woods, and three kids with Cameron, and Cameron has one child from a previous relationship.