People Magazine scored a new interview with Elin Nordegren, which was just her second interview since her then-husband Tiger Woods’ scandal broke in late 2009. Elin isn’t one to tell all and she’s definitely kept her head down, but I wonder if there was any debate at People whether to put Elin on the cover instead of Drew Barrymore and her second baby. It’s possible that Elin didn’t want to cover People again. She seems to shy away from publicity.
The last we heard from Elin she was giving a rather wonderful commencement speech at her college, where she was named valedictorian. In People, Elin sounds just a gracious and humble as she came across in her speech. We’ve heard that she’s good friends with her ex husband’s latest official piece, Lindsey Vonn, and that she even went on vacation with Lindsey and Tiger. I was skeptical of that story, but I believe it after reading this interview. Elin told People that everything is good with her ex, that they’re focusing on co-parenting and that he’s a great father. In the print edition they confirm that Elin is dating her neighbor, Chris Cline, 55, “a coal executive with four kids and a net worth of $1.5 billion.” Damn!
On her charity work
I’m passionate about single moms being encouraged to get their degree. I want to find a way to help and inspire even one single parent that it’s never too late to follow your dream.I’m not saying ‘Oh, I had it so hard, but I still finished school.’ I know how fortunate I am.
On why she’s speaking now
This is the first time I feel like there’s a good reason for me to be in the news.On her relationship with Tiger
I have moved on and I am in a good place. Our relationship is centered around our children and we are doing really good – we really are. He is a great father.On coparenting
In the beginning, you tamp down the animosity for the kids’ sake. I’m not going to deny that I went through the wringer. But I don’t think I doubted we’d end up here. That was always my dream, that the kids can have two loving parents that show respect for each other. And I feel that’s what they have.On Tiger’s relationship with Lindsey Vonn
I’m happy for Tiger… In general, in any kind of stepparent relationship, I’m happy that there’s somebody else loving my children. I grew up with great relationships with my stepparents.On if she would like more kids
I think I would like that… but I have a boy and a girl, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. I feel like I’m in a great spot – great if it happens, great if it doesn’t.
[From People, print edition and online]
I’m sure getting over $100 million in a divorce settlement has significantly eased Elin’s transition to single mom, but she’ll admit that she’s privileged. She’s not spending her days shopping for designer goods, she’s a hands-on mom who is trying to better herself. Elin could have held a massive grudge against Tiger, who would even blame her for that, but she didn’t. She wanted to have a good relationship with her ex, and with his new girlfriend, for her kids’ sake. I don’t think this is all lip service, either. Elin really feels this way, she wants to be a good mom and have a decent relationship with her ex. I’ve never heard a celebrity speak about divorce this way, and I remain very impressed with her.
The print edition has more, including photos of Elin at home. Her decorating sense is contemporary yet homey, with lots of white and neutral colors.
Photo credit: Rollins college and FameFlynet
It is refreshing to hear women encouraging other women to get an education and I am glad that she decided to use the huge amount of money she received for something less frivolous that a collection of Gucci bags….
Exactly. And thus she’s more fulfilled and able to forgive.
Good for her – she put her kids first.
Wouldn’t you if you got 100 million?!!! What did she have before marrying Tiger? She was just a babysitter. She only managed to get an education now. I respect those single mothers who get nothing from their exes and work around the clock to provide for their families not some spoilt opportunist who lives in the lap of luxury without a worry in the world.
I am going to respectfully disagree with you here. She could have been a do-nothing socialite riding around on the Crackie Express.
I think the fact that she went back to school and appears to prioritize her kids speaks to her character. She sounds very grounded.
Her mother is a Governor in Sweden. Her father a radio journalist. Her twin is a lawyer. She had finished her first year of college at the university in Sweden and aim was to become a child psychologist. She and her twin worked summers and she met the golf pro and his wife at the store she was working at, who offered her to come to America as their nanny. This was never going to be her full-time gig, a nanny. It was an opportunity to travel and experience something different, so took a year off. But it changed her life because Tiger kept on pursuing her. The golf pro’s wife said Elin wasn’t interested in any of the golf pros that pursued her but Tiger kept on even as she kept turning him down. She married a millionare and started back into college at Rollins while having two children. So when people reduce her to a babysitter, like you, she was never going to be just a babysitter
I think she met him very young, like 20 or 21 – not really enough time to establish herself in a big career or anything. Plus I think she was a model at that time too?
I think you can respect single moms who have a much bigger struggle AND respect Elin for pursuing and finishing her education, when she could have easily just sat back and lived off her settlement. I hope she is doing or does some sort of program to help others do the same.
If you read or watch Elin’s commencement speech, she too respects the single mothers working two jobs to provide for their families. She said it was her classmates who had real worries that gave her perspective during her divorce.
Who cares what she “could have been”. Why do we glorify people just because they were once married to someone famous when they have never struggled the way the average person does on a daily basis? What has this woman achieved on her own to deserve any attention from us? A college degree? We (most of us here) have a college degree. We even paid for it ourselves. And we (most of us) completed it without the security that $100 million and several homes provides in one’s life. If we have to celebrate a single mother for the sake of celebrating one, is this woman our top pick? Is she even in the top 100 most amazing single mothers on the planet? I don’t deny she seems to have some sense in that she is not wasting her money on being a vapid socialite but really?? Who cares that she finally went to college? Had she pursued an education after school and built her own career, I would have respected her more. But to live off an enormous financial settlement from her ex, with nannies, houses around the world and help wherever she needs it – I don’t believe this makes for a character we should glorify and/or pay our respects to. It’s irrelevant what her mother/father/sisters and brothers did – it is what she has done and who she is which matters to me. Having said all that, I don’t disrespect her – to me she’s just a very lucky woman who is famous because she was married to Tiger Woods.
And is she a “golddigger”? I don’t know… but she’s now dating some guy worth 1.5 billion not a journalist like her father, or a politician like her mother or a lawyer like her sister.
Sheesh, most people here are not putting her on a pedestal or saying she’s their role model. Just commenting on a piece of news that happens to be newsworthy mostly because of the tiger scandal, not because she graduated college. Had tiger not cheated on her, this probably wouldn’t be news. So yeah girly, you’re worked up over nothing. You say who cares about her degree, yet call her an opportunist which means you care enough to have read more than a few articles about her and made up your mind about who you think she is. Most commenters are just basically “congratulating” her which is what anyone would do for anybody that’s graduating from college. Like, when you say “who cares? Why is this news? Why are you glorifying….” do you actually want celebitchy to not post anything in regards privileged people graduating college?
@peaches
Please read the article again and stop contradicting yourself.
So CB thinks she handled the divorce well and says she sounded humble and gracious on her speech. Wow, yeahhhh, toootally kissing her ass. Couldn’t possibly be just CB’s opinion of her. Just like your opinion of her is that she’s an opportunist. And my opinion is that I truly don’t get why this bothers you so much. Congratulating elin or saying something nice about her doesn’t preclude us from acknowledging hard working women that don’t have with 100 mil in the banks.
Agreed with the thread — there is nothing about this woman that says “golddigger”. If she had not married Tiger, she wouldn’t have been insanely wealthy, but she certainly would have had a very comfortable life in Sweden. And I don’t know of any golddiggers who challenge themselves to continue their education while raising two small children. Even with nannies galore — that’s still a task she certainly didn’t need to take on. And she has been nothing but humble and very forthright that she has it easier than most single moms.
And I don’t think her new boyfriend is golddigging either. She lives in a very wealthy area — it’s not strange that her boyfriend is wealthy if she’s dating a neighbor.
Team Elin all the way. And HAHAHA for dating someone worth 1.5 bil! Awesome. Maybe he can buy back some game for Tiger.
Take note brandi
and Goop.
In Brandi’s case, Eddie left her broke. No home, no car, no money and he even took the jeep her Dad gave them so, they were in two different situations. Elin was left with 100 million. Although, I do think Brandi should behave better.
That is Brandi’s spin and not the truth of the matter. Her “poor single mother me” is a ruse to elicit more sympathy and book sales. Brandi is a proven LIAR !!
@heidi
I don’t think so. Brandi specifically said she had to take parts of her book out (the first one), because her lawyers went over it, and told her that if she couldn’t prove it, then she couldn’t say it. And you’ll notice that Eddie/Leann didn’t contradict ANYTHING she said in that book, or said during an interview–you can’t tell me that they try to engage her all other times, but leave THAT alone.
“Elin is dating her neighbor, Chris Cline, 55, “a coal executive with four kids and a net worth of $1.5 billion.” Damn!”
*Khia voice* get money, b*tch!
haaa!!
Well… She certainly knows how to chase MONEY!
Coal executive? She needs to lower her carbon footprint. Drop Mr. Fossil fuel and go with someone solar, Elin.
“*WHO* show respect to each other,” for pity’s sake.
In fairness, I don’t think that English is her first language, or maybe even her second language…
English is not her first language so I think we can cut her some slack.
There are far too many of the Aniston, Granville et al mold that turn wronged wife into a life long badge. Sure it’s a horrible thing to be betrayed but Elin has a 100 million dollar cushion to brace herself with and endless connections and goodwill from the public. She gets nothing but respect from me and there is no greater gift she could give to her kids.
I totally agree with you. It´s great to see that she moved on and that she put her kids well being first.
She has character and is smart. Plenty of people end up with big settlements and the wars go on between the parents Money makes everything easier, but it doesn’t buy class and grace and a sense of what you think is best for your children, not bashing their dad over and over. No matter what, she would be this person, just a person who had to get out and work every day Her plan as to be a child psychologist before meeting Tiger and what she was majoring in before coming over. So I just see her as a woman who would have plugged along until she received her degree if her ex was a man of far less means.
I run into women all the time I admire who are bettering themselves as single parents and have far less than me but far more grace and determination and character than some of my spoiled well-off friends or co-workers or even me in some ways. Much admiration for all of you single mothers out there getting out of a marriage or who have been out and who are moving forward and creating a new life and trying to better your life employment-wise and handling a family all at the same time.
There is a lot to like with Elin. She is doing life well, given her extraordinary circumstances.
I just think she has never looked more beautiful than she does in the graduation pic! She is shining.
I hope I state this correctly and not hurtful but I wish she would have gotten the cover. I respect her right to privacy though. Nothing against Drew but I believe education needs to take a front seat for a while. I’m happy for Drew but I’m proud of anyone that furthers their education. There’s a high school kid that got accepted to every Ivy League school. That’s amazing!!
I can appreciate wanting to get on well with your ex for the sake of the kids, but I can’t see why going on vacation with your ex and their new partner would be necessary.
It’s not necessary, but it’s fun and good for the kids if you can do it. I go on vacations with my kids, my ex and his new gf. Everyone’s happy.
I used to work with a woman who went on the annual family camping trip with her ex. When they were in serious relationships they would bring the SO along, too. Eventually they both remarried, and it was a huge family event the children looked forward to every year. I once asked her if it was awkward, and she replied that they were better friends than spouses, so their friendship and co-parenting was much more successful than their marriage.
I have to admit, though, that if “I” went camping with my ex, there’s a high likelihood that one of us would be left in the woods, and it wouldn’t be me…
She sounds like such a wonderful woman. Great interview!
Those half pants or whatever they are called – should be banned from EVERYONE.
Classy lady…love her!
Pretty sure that people who have anything bad to say about this woman are just bitter about their own lives. What the hell has she ever done to hurt anyone? Yes, she married well and got a large divorce settlement. Money isn’t everything. She seems like a great mom and if she wants to speak, let her speak. It’s obvious she isn’t a famewhore.
She’s certainly developed a winning formula for how to get over a cheating celebrity husband: (1) whack him with a golf club to release that initial tension, (2) take all his money, (3) lay low in the press, (4) move on with your own pursuits–i.e., refuse to identify yourself by him anymore, and (5) forgive and forget.
Can anyone who throws shades at her for the money she was awarded in the divorce just shut up? I’m so sick of the hate for wealthy people, like having money somehow makes losing a husband and partner ok. I for one would not trade my husband and partner in raising our children for any sum of money. I’m sure anyone with any intelligence would take a committed partner over a billion dollars any day.
I agree. There isn’t any amount of money that could make that moment when you realize what he’s done anything less than an absolute horror. Hey, that entire life you had planned and looked forward to? Yeah, not going to happen. Would not trade my devoted husband and our plans for the future for any amount of money.