Elin Nordegren: Snapshot

Name
Elin Nordegren
Date of Birth
January 01, 1980
Birth Place
Stockholm, Sweden
Best known as Tiger Woods's stunning and fiercely guarded wife, Elin Nordegren found herself thrust into the very public spotlight after a fateful late-night car crash in 2009 exposed her husband's multiple infidelities – and double life.

Before the cheating scandal, Woods and Nordegren, a former bikini model and au pair, seemed like the perfect couple, living a quiet life in Florida with their two children, daughter Sam and son Charlie.

Introduced by Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik in the summer of 2001, Nordegren and Woods capped off their three-year courtship with a lavish, ultra-private wedding in Barbados.

But by 2010, Nordegren and the embattled golfer were living separate lives. Finally, after months of speculation, Nordegren and Woods confirmed their marriage was "irretrievably broken," and finalized their divorce in August 2010.

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Elin Nordegren: Five Fun Facts

  1. Elin Nordegren is only moments older than her identical twin sister Josefin, who is a lawyer in London. They have an older brother named Axel.
  2. Despite dabbling as a model, Elin Nordegren's childhood dream was to become a child psychologist – a subject she's currently studying at Florida's Rollins College.
  3. Elin Nordegren's father, Thomas Nordegren, is a well-known Swedish journalist and her mother, Barbro Holmberg, is a distinguished politician and public servant.
  4. It wasn't exactly love at first sight for Elin Nordegren when she first met Tiger Woods – he asked her out five times before she agreed to go out with him.
  5. In golfing circles Tiger Woods is known to be notoriously private, a trait Elin Nordegren shares. "If Tiger is a man of few words, Elin is a woman of no words," says one golf scribe.

Elin Nordegren: Biography

1980s

Growing Up

A child of divorce, Nordegren grows up with her twin sister Josefin and older brother Axel in a well-educated family just outside Stockholm, Sweden. Her father, Thomas Nordegren, is a well-known Swedish journalist and her mother, Barbro Holmberg, is a distinguished politician and public servant.

1990s

Elin Nordegren

Model Behavior

As a teen Nordegren is discovered by a famous photographer, which leads to a brief modeling stint along with her twin sister. But soon Nordegren pursues her true ambition – child psychology – by enrolling at Sweden's prestigious Lund University.

2001

Elin Nordegren

Summer

Nanny Diaries

Nordegren drops out of school after her freshman year and moves to Florida to work for Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who introduces his au pair to Tiger Woods. The two embark on a nearly three-year courtship before becoming engaged in November 2003.

Read More on Elin Nordegren's Life

Photo Credits

BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): STLA/Fame; Getty

Edited by Janet Mock and Julia Wang

Elin Nordegren

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