Can Tiger Woods’ Marriage Be Saved?
I guess the first thing to consider with Tiger Woods’ marriage to Elin Nordegren is if there is anything worth saving. With so many alleged mistresses, so public a division of trust, you wonder if it is safer and more private to bring this noisy story to a quiet end.
But the first thing to consider is if Woods and Nordegren still love each other. If that is true, there may be room for trust to amount to good communication? Why did he cheat? What did he get out of doing so? And what things can he do to repair the emotional damage of infidelity?
Unfortunately, those questions can’t be answered in a 24-hour news cycle. The public can’t be privy to that information, because we will have judgments about Nordegren and Woods in either situation. If they stay together, Nordegren is a fool. If they separate, Woods’ place as a fool is definitively confirmed.
If there is to be repair in this situation, Woods has to immediately come out and announce a suspension of his playing and endorsement career. He has to say, verbatim, “My family is the most important thing in my life, and I will do nothing else until I’ve restored their trust and faith in me.”
Second, Nordegren has to have an opportunity to air her frustrations, anger, hurt and humiliation to the world. She has to stand alone and speak of the vulnerability of such a public inquisition, and describe in her own way how she will emerge from this a better person, mother, and possibly, wife.
Finally, when the media grinder has run its course on these stories, both Woods and Nordegren have to appear together as a couple to describe the painful road back to trust. They have to do this without image coaches, PR pros, or TMZ cameras following them around.
My opinion is that the marriage can not be saved. Woods’ profile is too expansive and the coverage too intense for he and Nordegren to be private citizens to endure such a public pain. But if there is room for reconciliation, it starts at home when no one is looking.
Which, ironically, is part of the reason why this entire thing began. Outside of their walls, someone is always looking.
