NEWSJaimee Grubbs Says Sorry to Tiger's Wife
Dec. 9 2009, Published 11:38 a.m. ET
Jaimee Grubbs tries her best to apologize to Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, in an interview with Extra airing tonight and tomorrow. "I couldn't describe how remorseful that I am to have hurt her family and her emotionally," Jaimee says.
Jaimee, who says she was intimate with Tiger about 20 times over three years, admits, "If it wasn't me, it was going to be other girls. I did care about him — I didn't do it for superficial reasons. I didn't do it to purposely hurt her."
The 24-year-old says she wouldn't say she and Tiger were in love.
"Love is obviously a very strong word for me to even use," she says. "I wouldn't necessarily say that I didn't love him. But I couldn't... I did never say that I did love him. I didn't let myself get that far."
Despite what has happened, Jaimee thinks Tiger and Elin should "try to work" out their relationship.
"He's an amazing guy despite everything that is coming forth," Jaimee says of the golfer who's currently been linked to 11 women.
Tiger and Jaimee allegedly had plans to hook up even as he and Elin were due to give birth to their second child, Charlie.
If Tiger called it quits with Elin, Jaimee wouldn't necessarily be intimate with him again.
"I can't say that I would ever go back to him, she says. I would definitely have a relationship with him whether it was friends or just to have him in my life. But as far as going back to him emotionally like I was — I don't know if I can put myself through that again."
Jaimee explains that Tiger "never mentioned his wife" to her when they were together.
"I wouldn't have pursued him if he didn't pursue me," she says. "I mean, when he did, I just figured he was single and I didn't think to ask."
Once she learned he was marries she says they were "already in a relationship."
"I knew we had a respect between the both of us, that we cared deeply for each other and we did very much trust each other," Jaimee says of her relationship with Tiger. "But the words were never there. Nothing about the relationship was fake that I felt."
- Tiger Woods' Ex-Wife Elin Nordegren Is 'Very Happy' With Boyfriend Jordan Cameron, Only Maintains Relationship With Golfer for Their Kids
- Tiger Woods' Ex-Mistress Rachel Uchitel Fears Affair Will Follow Her to the 'Grave' as Scandal Affected Her Ability to 'Trust'
- Tiger Woods' Ex-Wife Elin Nordegren Is 'Living Her Dream' Life as a Mom-of-6: 'She Always Wanted a Big Family'
Jaimee says her first kiss with Tiger wasn't until the morning after they met in Las Vegas when she was 20-years-old.
"We were sitting to eat and we were play fighting and we had our first kiss," she explains. "It was very gentle, very sweet. It wasn't quick, but it wasn't a makeout session or anything like that. It was very respectable."
Jaimee says their "intimate relationship... very sacred. It was something between the two of us that I did grow to love very much."
"We did talk very often, we did talk about my jobs or whatever it may be, she says. "He was always interested in how my life was going and every holiday he would say, 'I hope you have fun with your family and I hope things are going well.'"
The last time Jaimee says she was with Tiger was on Oct. 18 nearly a month before his car crash on Nov. 27.
After Jaimee heard she wasn't the only woman she felt the need to come forward with her story. She says Tiger made her "feel like I was the only girl, so to go back and see specifically now when there's more and it's really hard."
"Seeing that was devastating. It hurts," she says. She adds that they were "done" as soon as she found out.
Hearing about Rachel Uchitel "hurt" the most, she says. Adding she is, "very similar to, very social very outgoing."
"I would tell him that no part of our relationship was fake and I cared for him," Jaimee says she would tell Tiger if she could. "It would hurt the way he made me feel because he was doing that with other women and I am sorry that everything is coming out and happening the way it did, but I needed to get everything off my chest."
She has no regrets.
"I've learned from everything that I did," she explains. "Had I not acted on emotion, I probably would have taken a second to think of how it was going to affect my family and the impact it was going to have not on my life, but on everybody that's been involved in this."
Tune in to Extra tonight and tomorrow for more of Jaimes's interview!
