Before I did my research on this post, I was like “wait, wasn’t James Patterson involved with something controversial recently?” For some reason, I thought he said something positive about Donald Trump, but no, Patterson isn’t MAGA. He is pretty old and very white, which was the controversy in 2022, btw. Patterson did an interview in the Times of London where he lamented the dearth of opportunities for white men in today’s society, and said outright that the oppression of white men is “just another form of racism.” Patterson ended up apologizing but you know he still thinks that way. Anyway, Patterson has a new book – he always has a new book – and it’s a biography of Tiger Woods. While Tiger’s life story is fertile ground for would-be biographers, who wants to read Patterson’s version? Which may explain why Patterson decided to name-check Prince Harry to sell his book.
Tiger Woods is the Prince Harry of sport. So says his biographer, global sensation James Patterson, who believes the greatest golfer in history was trapped by his fame… and courted disaster when he tried to escape the gilded cage.
‘There’s a little parallel with the Royal Family,’ Patterson tells me in an interview about his new best-seller, ‘Tiger, Tiger’.
‘They’re not allowed to be real people, to be out in the world,’ he adds. ‘I think that’s probably a little bit [of the problem] with Harry. [He’s] just got to go out there and be a real person, you know?’
Tiger and Harry share another huge parallel: both men have, at times, been used to not doing things for themselves. Certainly, that’s how Woods’s former wife Elin Nordegren sees it. When fellow Swede and golf-pro Jesper Parnevik first introduced the pair in 2001, Elin was working as an au pair for Parnevik’s family. The blue-eyed 21-year-old had ambitions to train as a paediatric psychologist, was a keen amateur kickboxer and even a part-time swimsuit model. Woods, then 25, was smitten. But, instead of approaching her for a first date himself, Woods rather awkwardly sent a member of his back-up team to do the asking.
‘That’s the way he’s lived his life,’ says Patterson. ‘Whatever Woods needed, whether it was room service or a wife, his first instinct was to say: “Let’s get a manager to do that”.’
According to one of Patterson’s sources, Elin was deeply unimpressed to have been approached via proxy, describing the move as ‘weird and pathetic’. She already had a boyfriend back home in Sweden and it was months before she consented to go on a date with Woods. They tied the knot in 2004 – only for the marriage to collapse within six years in one of the messiest break-ups in sporting history, littered with sordid tales of addiction and infidelity.
[From The Daily Mail]
The Mail is running this as an exclusive. So, I have a theory! We know for a fact that the Mail asks every American they encounter about Prince Harry and Meghan. It’s basically the first thing Mail reporters do whenever they speak to any American. I suspect that was the case here, that the Mail probably encouraged or challenged Patterson to mention Harry in some way, and he was like… sure, Tiger Woods is like Prince Harry, whatever it takes to sell this book. Suffice to say, Prince Harry and Tiger Woods are nothing alike. Even Patterson’s comparison falls flat – Harry didn’t need a third party to approach women on his behalf. Harry chased Meghan himself and made it happen.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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James Patterson at BookExpo at the Javits Center, New York, USA, June 2, 2017,Image: 513094628, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS- Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Dennis Van Tine / Avalon
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Friday, June 3, 2022 on the second of four days of celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee. The events over a long holiday weekend in the U.K. are meant to celebrate the monarch’s 70 years of service.,Image: 696653379, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Matt Dunham / Avalon
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Prince Harry The Duke Of Sussex departs The Rolls Building – Royal Courts Of Justice in London, England, UK on Wednesday 7 June, 2023 as part of the Mirror Group newspapers (MGN) phone hacking trial.,Image: 782000612, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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The 150th Open Golf Championship St Andrews. 150th Open Golf Championships, St Andrews, July 15th 2022 Tiger Woods USAwaits on the 3rd tee during the second round at the Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland. St Andrews The Old Course Fife Scotland Copyright: xIanxRutherfordx 20220715Tiger8,Image: 824166288, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Ian Rutherford / Avalon
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The 150th Open Golf Championship St Andrews. 150th Open Golf Championships, St Andrews, July 15th 2022 Tiger Woods USA teeŐs off at the 2nd during the second round at the Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland. St Andrews The Old Course Fife Scotland Copyright: xIanxRutherfordx 20220715Tiger2,Image: 824168069, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Ian Rutherford / Avalon
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The 150th Open Golf Championship St Andrews. 150th Open Golf Championships, St Andrews, July 15th 2022 Tiger Woods USA waits on the 2nd tee during the second round at the Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland. St Andrews The Old Course Fife Scotland Copyright: xIanxRutherfordx 20220715Tiger14,Image: 824168094, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Ian Rutherford / Avalon
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex leaving after attending the Invictus Games 10th Anniversary Service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, England. UK. Wednesday 8th May 2024 -,Image: 871355476, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NORESTRICTIONS, Model Release: no, Pictured: Invictus Games 10th Anniversary, Credit line: JW / Bang Showbiz / Avalon
This comparison makes no sense.
It does when you consider the British media have figured out that weaponizing Harry, no matter what the reason, gets clicks. Who’s clicking on an interview with an author writing about Tiger Woods in 2024? Maybe 100 people, total?
It’s all completely nonsensical. The problem you people have with Harry is he rejects the idea that he is shackled to a gilded cage for life. The man has literally made you all weep, vomit, and spin yarns about how serial killers aren’t as awful as his wife, and you think he needs a babysitter?
Cry harder.
Patterson named the wrong brother. William is the one who doesn’t do things himself and gets others to screen things for him. William had his friends “vet” Kate before she was allowed in his circle and the Middletons catered to him including setting up that Boxing Day hunt and church walk when he didn’t want to go to Sandringham. William has never been self sufficient in his life with staff around him or lackey friends to do what he wants. His issue with Harry is that Harry pushed back and is the only one ever to do so.
And the cheating is similar too except that Kate stays quiet for status and access to money. Elin had some self esteem and decided she wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.
We are never gonna get rid of the stupid nonsensical views of these privileged old white men are we?
Sure we will.
When they die off lol
I suppose one could say that both Harry and Tiger lived a life with gatekeepers, but in Tiger’s case that could also be said of other “managed” child prodigies and stars. He started playing golf at 18 months, was playing golf on TV at 3 years and was known to the golfing community by age 5. Starting with his father, someone was always managing Tiger’s life and career. He really did change the face of golf and it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to mature as a person as quickly as he did as a golfer
yeah, I can kind of see the comparison, not with 2024 Harry, but with maybe 2014 Harry, and certainly with William to this day. And not just with Tiger but with any super managed child star/adult star, whose image is carefully crafted and who is worth a lot of money to the people around them, so those people control and manage them.
For the royals, its both the courtiers who control and manage them (because they are so devoted to the monarchy? For the power? because their livelihoods are dependent on the monarchy?) as well as the press/media.
harry broke free, first with the military and then with Meghan, but as we all know it wasn’t easy and there were a LOT of people who wanted (still want) to keep him in that royal cage.
I think courtiers must really believe in the institution, but also that the institution can’t run without them. And, probably, it can’t. There’s a certain power in knowing that these beings anointed by god can’t tie their own shoes. I’m kind of reminded of Italy, which has had 69 governments since the end of WWII, but has a layer of bureaucrats that rarely change beneath the government to keep things going.
This is lame and it just goes to show how obsessed the British press is with Harry. It’s kind of scary.
Yeah, Patterson should be wearing a sling around his arm after that reach, lol. I think honestly, underneath it all Tiger Woods is just an awful, entitled person. And his comments about black women are gross. So no, just no.
Men this old that completely dye their hair look silly. Leave some gray and it won’t look so bad.
Yes I don’t think he pulled that comparison out of nowhere. I’m sure he was asked about Harry and shoe horned the subject of his book in.
I’m not going to read (no pun intended) too much into it.
Patterson is trash. I remember the interview where he sat with Bill Clinton over the book they wrote together, and didn’t blink an eye as Clinton expressed outrage over whether Monica Lewinsky was owed an apology by him. ML certainly was responsible for her own actions (sex with married men, any married men, is a big no), but FFS, Clinton was not only older, but the one married, essentially her employer, and, oh yeah, President of the US. He bounced back where she became the victim of the talk show hosts and stand up comedians everywhere and contemplated suicide as Clinton writes his auto-bio. Men of a certain ilk stick together.
Tiger and Harry are very different. Although both had access to a United Nations of women their choices were very different. Tiger feasted only on European cuisine despite his mom’s Thai heritage. Harry delighted in the English and British Roses of his environs yet ventured out openly and honestly unlike the other royals who indulged in ebony pleasures in secret. From an early age Prince Harry has shown an affinity for and attraction to pretty little black girls, teens, and ebony women in general. Remember the famous photo of him staring admiringly at the cute black girl child
while touring; his verbal praise of Halle Berry and her poster on his wall at Eton; his glowing remarks about Rihanna, Serena and other noted black women; his love of Africa includes its women in addition to its natural beauty in my opinion. Harry is open to love in its myriad colors.