Tiger Woods’ former mistress Rachel Uchitel admits fears that sordid s*x scandal will plague her until the day

Rachel Uchitel became a household name 15 years ago when her scandalous affair with pro-golfer Tiger Woods was exposed – leading to his messy $100 million divorce from his Swedish model wife at the time, Elin Nordegren.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Uchitel, 49, has laid bare her fears that her affair with Woods, 48, who is set to tee off in the 2024 Masters today, will follow her to the ‘grave’ – while detailing the brutal toll the scandal has taken on her love life over the years.

‘When you are in a conversation piece that big that everyone wants to talk about, it’s going to go to your grave,’ she explained, before opening up about how the fallout surrounding her affair has forever damaged her ability to ‘trust’ people.

‘Well, it’s, it’s affected my relationships, I have a very small world, I keep it that way. I don’t really trust a lot of people because what I’ve been through is something that a lot of people cannot understand.’

understand.’

As those who follow the brunette beauty know, her rise to fame has been plagued by a series of misfortunes.

Uchitel’s father Bob died of a cocaine overdose in 1990 when she was 15.

Then, in 2001, her fiancé James O’Grady was killed in the south tower of the World Trade Center in the 9/11 attacks. A photo of a tearful Uchitel, then working as a producer at Bloomberg, clutching his picture made front pages around the world.

‘I lost my father when I was young in a tragic way. I lost my fiancée from being killed by terrorists on 9/11 and I was in one of the biggest sex scandals of all time,’ Uchitel said.

‘There is nothing ordinary about me, so I have to date extraordinary men. And I haven’t found that.’

‘So, I am open, I want to have a witness to my life. I want to be married. I want to be in a relationship. I haven’t found the right match for me yet. And I’m always hopeful that I will, every morning when I get up. I’m like, I’ll meet him today.’

Uchitel’s world came crashing down in 2009 when her affair with Woods – whom she met through their mutual friend Derek Jeter while working in Las Vegas in 2008 – was exposed.

Uchitel was photographed checking into the same hotel as Woods during the Australian Masters – pictures that then ran in the National Enquirer on November 25, 2009.

Initially, Uchitel denied having an affair with his wife. But Nordegren was unconvinced and went digging through Woods’s phone.

There, she found the name Jaimee Grubbs in his call log and left a message on her voicemail.

‘Who this is’, she said, ‘because you are f***ing my husband’.

Nordegren scrolled through the phone a second time where she found a message Woods had sent to Uchitel. It read: ‘You are the only one I’ve ever loved.’

When Uchitel replied, a furious Nordegren called her and said: ‘I knew it was you. I know everything.’

Woken by Nordegren, Woods fled the home – pursued by Nordegren clutching one of his golf clubs – and jumped into his Cadillac Escalade SUV.

Pulling out of the driveway at 30mph, Woods crashed into a fire hydrant before smashing into a tree and winding up unconscious and bloody in the street.

The incident turbocharged the story. After a voicemail left by Woods for a mistress was published by US Weekly, more than a dozen other women then came forward to say they had also slept with the golfer.

The pro-golfer finally admitted to cheating on his wife with more than 120 women in total.

Uchitel was quickly silenced by Woods when she signed an NDA in exchange for a $5 million payout.

It left her unable to give her side of the story. In the following year, she was raked over in the public – at one point even being dubbed a ‘hooker’ by Joy Behar on The View. Behar later apologized.