In early 2010, Tiger Woods gave a press conference acknowledging that he had multiple affairs, that he had let down his wife and business partners and generally taking responsibility for his actions. It was a rare mea culpa from a celebrity, and he promised that he would get treatment and therapy. Tiger seemed genuinely contrite to me in follow up interviews around that time, and in more recent interviews he’s acknowledged that his ex wife Elin has been a great support to him. So that’s why you might assume that he realizes that he messed up majorly, if only for how thoroughly his life and golf career imploded, but that’s just not the case. In a new interview on CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose, Woods was discussing his career and plans for the next phase of his life when he rattled off that “the only regret I have is not spending another year at Stanford.” Rose gave him a couple of chances to correct himself, as if he was very obviously prompting him to acknowledge his cheating scandal. Then Woods repeated that he regretted not spending an extra year at Stanford and that was his only regret.
Some have said to be Tiger Woods is both a gift and a burden. How is it a burden?
It’s a burden in a sense that the amount of obligations that I have. The tournament[s]. the anonymity that I have lost. The only regret I have is not spending another year at Stanford. I wish I would have had another year.That’s the only regret?
That’s the only regret I wish I had.Of all the things? Everything?
All the things. All the things I’ve learned, all the things I’ve been through are tough, but they’ve been great for me. I wish I would have gone one more year at Stanford.[Your mother] was also supportive in 2009
Yeah I made a bunch of mistakes. In the end, Elin is my ex wife, she’s one of my best friends. We’ve had two beautiful kids.How do you tell your kids why mama and daddy are not together?
It’s because daddy made some mistakes. I’d much rather they hear it from me. I’ve said ‘Everybody makes mistakes and the reason why mommy is living in her house and daddy is living in his house is because daddy made mistakes and it’s ok.’
[From CBS This Morning via US Magazine]
So did Woods have a brain fart and/or is he really that oblivious to the pain and problems he caused his ex wife, his family and everyone who worked with him? How self centered must he be to completely forget about that and to not even acknowledge it after he was prompted? It’s like Rose was nudging him to give the right answer and he didn’t get the hint at all. Then later he characterized it as a mistake and like something everyone does. No, all men don’t cheat with dozens of women. All credit to Elin for handling her divorce and custody issues with such class and for keeping the lines of communication open. It must not be easy to deal with a narcissist and she’s done it like a boss.
Here’s Woods’s interview, his comments about his biggest regret are at 2:40 into the video.
Tiger is shown at the 20th anniversary of the Tiger Woods Foundation and on The Late Show on 10-21-16. Credit: WENN.com
What a jerk.
Indeed. He always has been a jerk in my book. It just took a long while for others to spot it. And what the hell is stopping him going to Stanford now, I’m sure they do lots of interesting courses. So glad he won’t catch Jack Nicklaus’s majors record.
Not shocked that that is his only regret. He’s a narcissistic sociopath. Only that kind of a person would sleep with that many randoms. He only cares about himself.
exactly – if he cared he wouldn’t have done it in the first place. and – he really didn’t lose anything! he’s still a world famous golfer making millions! his ex wife never said a peep about their marriage and quietly moved on with her life, allowing him full access to his kids.
Probably the only thing he regrets about all the cheating is that he got caught. But he knows he’ll be skewered for saying “I regret not hiding the evidence and covering my trails better.”
Is narcissism treatable? I only ask because he does not seem to have recovered.
It isn’t.
Not the kind that’s comorbid with wandering dick and giant assholery.
@detritus Greatest thing I’ve read today.
LOLOL AMAZING!!!
Behavioral therapy could help if people with NPD actually believe they have a problem and want to change. They typically don’t.
I can confirm. My mom has NPD and just laughs when family members have pleaded with her to receive some kind of therapy. As she sees it, it’s everyone else who has problems. Not her. It would be highly unusual for someone with NPD to seek help for their disorder. If they do, it’s simply because they have enough problems interacting with others to impede their own desired success, so they learn when to keep their mouth shut and when not to express their feelings, etc. to make them more bearable to be around.
I’d say it is yes. I know a fair few addicts in recovery who classify themselves as recovering narcissists. It takes a long time though. The people I know who are emotionally well have generally been in AA for a decade plus and then they’ve looked at sex addiction and codependency. So it’s possible, but not common. I’d also say intelligence and perseverance have to be pretty high for someone to really deal with their narcissism.
Tiger reportedly told Elin not to cheer, celebrate or even smile too much when he was winning because he was ‘supposed to win.’ I don’t think there is much hope for him.
That’s really gross. UGH.
I love you Sixer! You bring a smile to my mornings…..
I’m sure Elin read this with not an ounce of surprise. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
People, the journalist asking, keep expecting Tiger to care, but he doesn’t. He cared because it impacted his life and endorsements and career tragectory. Not because he was disrespectful to his wife, not because he broke his family apart, they don’t even bear mentioning.
I was really hoping he’d say he regretted never learning how to crochet.
How disappointing.
He’s saving that for retirement.
Still a dick
I understand where he’s coming from, and I think he’s just longing for a life that’s no longer available to him, way before the success.
Maybe he feels like his relationships back then were more honest, like he wasn’t valued for his money.
Some other famous people have expressed similar things, Kurt Cobain comes to mind, I think once you’ve had all the things you wished for, life can get a bit dark.
ummm…….he was obviously thinking of professional regrets, not personal ones which he preferred to keep to himself in this Charlie Rose interview. After all his bad behavior, it’s nice to see he and Elin are best friends now, no doubt for the sake of the kids which is great for them.
He is just gross to me, like Jon Gosselin gross. When I think of Tiger Woods, I do not think of the poised, young athlete with his fist triumphantly in the air after sinking a nearly impossible putt. Nope. I picture instead a ambien dazed fool eating a Subway sub sandwich and downing with a bottle of Bailey’s Irish whiskey while a Perkins waitress sits next to him on the floor of a Motel Six. The guy is a mess.
I think he’s trolling at this point. He knows that the audience loves nothing more than a good self-flagellation, with a good measure of “I let my family, my fans down but with the help God the almighty my savior, I shall fight all my demons, yadda, yadda”.
And maybe he knows how insincere and reahearsed it looked everytime his fellow cheaters did it, and decided to spare us the phony lines.
I’m probably alone in that, but I prefer it that way, however selfish it is. At least I’m not watching a client handled by his PR/puppeteer.
I agree with you that yes, Woods is definitely trolling because he knows that people didn’t suddenly forget about what he did. I don’t know what I’m supposed to get out of watching him break down on television– or feigning a break down– because I don’t go in for insincere cheap theatrics and crocodile tears. I’m sure some of the audience would thrill over watching him roast again, but, eh, who cares? Rose knew he couldn’t interview Woods without referencing Le Scandale and in turn he wanted Woods to throw himself at the mercy of the court one more time because it’s juicy and that’s what Woods was *there* to do. It appears that Woods didn’t feel like indulging him. It isn’t as if performing contrition would rehabilitate his public image, nothing will, so I’m six years past even fleetingly caring about this, since, after all, he’s not my husband (insert ‘Where the white women at?’ joke here).
-Are you going to beg for our forgiveness again?
-Nah.
Whatever, fair enough.
Good point, Manta. It’s true that many of those public apologies are probably insincere and obligatory from a PR and commerce standpoint. I’m also impressed that Elin didn’t “stand by her man” at his public apology press conference, AND that she divorced him post-haste.
What a tool.
Maybe he feels like leaving early set off a chain of events that led to the lifestyle he was leading and all the cheating? It’s a legitimate regret, it’s not like he picked “not banging the babe at the bar in ’04” or something.
My only regret is following this douchebag in the first place. My family plays golf and we watch all the tournaments and actually attend some when they are in our area. I always thought he was too big for his britches and my feelings about him were right. I think the issues he is having with his back and not being able to compete is complete karma for his transgressions. Elin deserves a medal of some sort for handling the divorce and kids the way she has throughout all their mess.
He has so much money and his wife and he have a good relationship so he’s not complaining.
To be fair, he said it was the only mistake he WISH he had…
Yeah I didn’t read this as his only mistake. I read this as the only mistake he WISHES he had. The rest sounds like he’s assuming we already know his biggest mistake was cheating and ruining his marriage.
I remember a blind on another site where it described a long haired rockstar who married a playmate likes to brag how much they look forward to Tiger Wood’s golf fundraiser every year because he said it was just an orgy with the best hookers and Tiger is very generous in sharing them.. People guessed Kid Rock.. so you’re welcome for that image.