The world is waiting to find out if Tiger’s woods eye and head injury sustained in the wee hours of Friday morning was a result of a car accident (official story) or the result of his postpartum wife’s handy work with a golf club. While police in Jupiter Florida attempt to obtain a search warrant, the world is speculating. While you’re speculating here are a few facts:
7.6 per cent of men are assaulted each year by a spouse or domestic partner and 4% of men are killed. This pales in comparison to the 25% of women who are attacked by a lover and the fact that fully 33% of all female murder victims die at the hands of the man they love. Yikes. It is a fine line between love and hate.
As for Tiger’s lovely wife, Elin Nordegren, the 29 year-old Swedish model turned famous wife and mother, it must be pointed out that she had two children in less than two years and the hormonal changes that happen to a postpartum woman can contribute to personality change. Twenty-per-cent of American women suffer from postpartum depression and this disorder can be long term for some. It’s important to remember that depression isn’t always symptomized by tearfulness and low energy. Wild anger can also be exhibited.
As important a clue as postpartum depression is, so is the identity crisis that many women feel as they transition into motherhood. I call it the babe to baby-mama drama. This crisis can be especially dramatic for beautiful women. We live in a culture that does not support motherhood (C’mon a six-week maternity leave?) and there is much pressure on women to get back to a Victoria’s Secret body and a prized paycheck at the office. Elin’s pressure would be greater than most women because her entire identity thus far has been related to youth, good looks, and her ability to keep the attention of a famous athlete husband. Imagine her feelings when she reads a report in a tabloid that Tiger has a mistress!
Finally, let’s look at physical evidence. According to reports, both passenger side windows were shattered by the wife-wielding-golf-club. If she was simply attempting to unlock the door, wouldn’t only one window be sufficient?
No matter what the outcome, it is clear that this family is in crisis and needs, more than anything, support, intervention, and therapy. Where’s grandma is all this?
Tiger Woods’ serious car accident was so funny (guess wifey caught up with his lies). It was reported that Woods went for a drive after having a fight with wife Elin Nordegren over an alleged affair the golfer had with Rachel Uchitel prior to the accident. But what I’d really want to know, who exactly is Rachel Uchitel and is she Tiger Woods’ mistress??
Oh come on! We don’t need this whole gossip and speculation do we? This is crazy. Why are we titilated and making things up rather than simply allowing him a bit of privacy. Would you really want your life to be so analyzed and for people to be second guessing everything that happened to you? (you are famous too) Why do we feel so compelled to make drama out of famous people’s lives? Inuendo and accusation are so much more damaging than the truth and this post is a bad example of that.
Wendy (sorry I’m dropping the Dr. Walsh on purpose), I’m slightly appalled at your analysis. You are a reasoning and intelligent woman. Moments after you discuss hormone imbalances and potential lack of judgment, you launch into a surmise that one window would have been enough? You’d be the first to acknowledge the adrenalin rush powerful enough to allow women to lift cars to save their children or loved ones, but then condemn a woman for reportedly (and I emphasize reportedly) breaking two car windows rather than one?!
Let the facts come to light when the facts come to light and don’t jump on a gossip wagon.
In the crazy world of celebrity and mass media, one price of celebrity is the lack of privacy. While I certainly believe this family deserves privacy (I’m certainly not standing in their driveway today) I also think that all sides of any potential story should be told. Note, I never speculated on the fact that Tiger may have been a victim of domestic violence, I only pointed to cultural factors that may have contributed to any young’s family’s vulnerability to violence. This is tragic all around, most certainly to the children. But even assailants in domestic violence incidents are victims themselves — victims of cruel parenting and cultural pressures that sabotage human self esteem.