EXCLUSIVE: Why Tiger Paid Off Mistress - The Secret Phone Call
Dec. 7 2009, Published 2:30 p.m. ET
Tiger Woods made the decision to pay off his most recent mistress Rachel Uchitel after a secret phone call where she made it clear to the golfing great that she did not leak the story of their romance, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.
As Tiger's serial cheating started to become national headlines after his one-car crash on November 27th, Woods believed that Uchitel posed the biggest problem for him.
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Tiger Woods Pays Off Mistress in Million-Dollar Deal!
Tiger and Uchitel had been having an affair for the past five months and the National Enquirer broke the news shortly before his accident. Uchitel vehemently denied the report publicly, even though she was caught in a series of lies and contradictions.
Suspicion immediately fell on Uchitel among Tiger's team, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively. His lawyers and reps believed she had leaked the story of their affair, sources close to the situation told RadarOnline.com.
But in a secret phone call, Uchitel convinced Tiger that she had nothing to do with the publication of the story.
"She told Tiger, 'I didn't talk,'" one source with knowledge of the situation told RadarOnline.com exclusively. And Tiger believed her.
But Uchitel hired power attorney Gloria Allred and it soon became clear that the party girl was now going to cash in on the situation, either by making a deal with Tiger or talking to the highest bidder. With Allred involved, Tiger knew he could no longer count on Uchitel to remain loyal and he made the decision to pay her.
RadarOnline.com reported exclusively that Uchitel is collecting from $1 million to $3 million. And as we were first to report, Uchitel has hundreds of explicit text messages and emails from Tiger, communications that leave no doubt about the sexual nature of their relationship.
Tiger felt it was important to silence Uchitel more than any other woman because his relationship with her was current and intense. RadarOnline.com reported exclusively he paid for her travel to meet him in Australia in November. He was also going to pay for her to travel to meet him in Dubai, RadarOnline.com learned exclusively. And Tiger knew there would be little doubt about the intensity of their relationship if their texts and emails became public.
So despite advice from some people in his camp who didn't want to give in to Allred or pay Uchitel anything, Tiger took control and made the final decision to pay her.