Tiger Woods Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
By Kevin Harrish on

Tiger Woods was famously caught in extramarital affairs that resulted in the end of his marriage with now ex-wife Elin Nordegren. But apparently, the news of his affairs almost leaked out to the media two years before.

During the hush money trial for former United States President Donald Trump this week, David Pecker, who was then the CEO of American Media Inc. which owned the National Inquirer, testified that he bought photos implicating Tiger Woods in an extramarital affair. He used them to coerce Woods into appearing on the cover of Men’s Fitness, then buried the photos in return.

“On the stand at Donald Trump’s hush money trial Thursday, Pecker acknowledged for the first time buying up the photos and then burying them in return for Tiger’s cooperation,” the New York Post reported this week.

“During cross-examination by Trump’s lawyers, Pecker admitted purchasing pics of the golf icon meeting a woman — now known to be [Mindy] Lawton — in a church parking lot and using them as leverage to convince him to appear on the cover of Men’s Fitness, another title in the American Media Inc. publishing house where he was CEO.”

A close source to the situation described it as “blackmail.”

“It was a total shakedown,” a member of Woods’ inner circle told The Post. “He was totally blackmailed, but what could he do? He had to play ball. He didn’t have any other choice.”

Obviously, it’s pretty horrible news that Tiger was extorted in this way, and it led to a lot of reactions on social media.

Obviously, the extramarital affairs eventually became public anyway, so this deal wasn’t all that effective.

[New York Post]

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