Tiger Woods and Vanessa Trump are officially dating. Woods took to X to share the news on the weekend.
Image: Tiger Woods/X
Golfing star Tiger Woods declared to the world at the weekend his romance to Donald Trump's former daughter-in-law. "Love is in the air and life is better with you by my side," Woods wrote in a caption above two photos of himself relaxing with Vanessa Trump.
But who is Vanessa Trump? Besides catching glimpses of her at US President Trump's January inauguration, she's kept a pretty low profile although it is reported that she began the relationship with Woods in November of last year already.
This is what we know from reports about Woods' new partner:
She was born Vanessa Kay Pergolizzi and is the former wife of President Donald Trump's eldest son Donald Trump, Jr.
Vanity Fair reported that the two were married for 12 years before they divorced in 2018. They have five children together - Kai, 17; Donald John Trump III, 15; Tristan Milos Trump, 13, Spencer Frederick Trump, 12 and Chloe Sophia Trump, 10.
Trump Jr is said to have proposed to her with a US $100,000 (about R1.8 million) ring that he had received as a gift from a jeweller in exchange for proposing to her in front of paparazzi outside of the jeweller's store at the Short Hills mall in New Jersey.
Vanessa Trump grew up on Manhattan's Upper East Side and became a model early on in her life, according to a dated New York times article. She met Trump Jr at a party and the two were introduced by Pres Trump.
Despite the divorce she has been seen with the Trump family on several occasions and also attended Pres Trump's inauguration in January.
During her teenage years, it is reported that Vanessa allegedly dated local street gangster Valentín Rivera, member of the violent gang Latin Kings. Although she has never confirmed this he is said to have produced love letters from her to him while he was in prison. In 1998, she was linked to American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Again, after sifting through a trail of articles, we still can't find a confirmation from both parties.
From 1998 to 2001, Vanessa is reported to have dated Saudi prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud. It is reported that the relationship ended in 2001, when Khalid bin Bandar left the US after his Saudi ambassador father, Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, was suspected of having indirect ties to individuals linked with the Al Qaeda hijackers.
Vanessa and her sister Veronika Haydon, both models and born 11 months apart, at the age of 25 opened a night club called Sessa. The club was named by Veronika’s three-year-old daughter, who could not yet pronounce her aunt Vanessa's name, reported Models Inc in 2003. As an actress, Vanessa appeared in a scene of the famous film 'Something's Gotta Give' and in 2011, she appeared in an episode of The Apprentice (hosted by her then father-in-law, Donald Trump). From 2010 to 2013, Vanessa released her own line of handbags called La Poshett.
Meanwhile, Woods's private life was laid bare during the 2009 sex scandal that upended his career and led to the implosion of his six-year marriage to Elin Nordegren, the mother of his two children, reports AFP.
Nordegren and Woods separated amid revelations of the golf star's serial infidelity, with reports suggesting he had slept with as many as 120 women during his marriage. Woods later reflected on the scandal, during which he reportedly went to a treatment centre for sex addiction, in his 2017 memoir, Tiger Woods – Unprecedented, The Masters and Me.
"My regret will last a lifetime," he wrote of the tumultuous time in his life. "Still, Elin and I are devoted to our kids, and we have become best friends as we care for them. It's all about the kids for us."
Woods was 21 in 1997 when he became the youngest Masters winner in history.
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