Tiger Woods and extra-marital affairs? The temptation is obviously to go for dreadful puns about birdies. Funny how celebrity relationships bring out the worst in headline writers. You know the kind of thing – all making out that a star of sport or showbiz has had some spectacular fall from grace.
My favourites are the tabloid headlines with such-and-such “in cocaine party shocker”. Newspaper people shocked by cocaine being taken? Give me a break...
But Tiger’s a bit of a hero to many people. There’s no denying he’s a phenomenal golfer, and he’s always seemed like a great role model. Keeps himself to himself and doesn’t really court publicity. That’s all changing now thanks to his bust-up with wife Elin, and the two women who allege, and one who denies, that they have been in relationships with Tiger since he married.
As ever, the first people to get twitchy are the sponsors. They don’t like Tiger losing this squeaky clean image because of a bit of infidelity. Marketing executives (another group of people who shouldn’t go throwing stones in glasshouses) are probably already thinking how to ditch the multi-million dollar deals they have with Woods, who is now being pilloried for cheating more than Thierry Henry.
You know what, just leave it people. Tiger Woods having an affair, or three affairs, doesn’t make him a bad man. It makes him a bad husband, but why can’t he still endorse your razor. Adulterers shave too you know.
Loads of people love it when a celebrity sex scandal breaks. But when it comes to relationships, most celebrities have pretty much the same needs and wants as everybody else. It’s just that they need to carry out the painful process of reconciliation or separation in the full glare of the spotlight. Everybody else gets to do this kind of thing on their own terms, without being globally gossiped about.
Most relationships have some strains. And an awful lot, probably more than you think, have to deal with some sort of infidelity at some point. How they deal with it is up to them, but at least they get the chance to do it without a whole load of hypocrisy being rained down on their heads.
Tiger’s advisors have obviously told him: “Look, come clean about this, apologise and we’ll take it from there.” Fair play to them – there’s no point trying to defend the indefensible.
OK, Tiger did something he shouldn’t have, but it’s up to him to make it up to his wife and see where they go. They might stay together, they might split up. I don’t know, and don’t really care to be honest, as it’s up to them.
But let’s not have any of this moralistic posturing from people who think Woods has committed some kind of crime against society by being an ordinary person who made a mistake, rather than a hero who could do no wrong
David Coyle is a finalist in stv.tv's The Write Factor competition. The views expressed are not necessarily those of STV plc. If you would like to read more from this writer, use our comment system below.
