Tiger Woods' Wife Lands a Cool $100 Million: What's the Real Price?

Okay, perhaps I am officially an alarmist. When I read reports that Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, might walk away from the marriage with $750 million, I was stunned, shocked, angry and annoyed. There is almost nothing that Elin could have done during a five-year period that would be worth $750 million. There is almost nothing Oprah Winfrey could have done during a five year period to earn that much.

The amount that Elin is reportedly walking away with, $100 million, is a nice tidy sum to make up for five years of emotional turmoil. I mean, none of us can feel sorry for Elin, since we don't usually get millions of dollars to make us feel better when someone treats us poorly in a relationship. But $100 million would be $20 million per year, making her one of the highest paid players in the NBA. She would also have earned about $1.6 million per month during the marriage, or about $400,000 per week, about what a good surgeon makes in a year.

She is likely going to get massive child support out of the deal, given that I'm sure she's fighting like heck to keep Tiger's kids. Even I would take custody of Tiger's kids for the amount of money he could pay in child support. Not a bad take for a very bad relationship.

We also can't deny the tremendous price Elin paid for her $100 million payoff. She's had to deal with consistent betrayal by a husband who was enslaved to his addictions. She's had to nervously read the results of her HIV tests, with none of us really knowing what the results happened to be. She's had to wonder what random woman was going to come along and threaten the sanctity of the family she cherishes so much. While Elin may have been thought to win the prize by receiving Tiger's hand in marriage, she may have actually been the ultimate loser.

This divorce will be good for Woods. He never should have been married in the first place, but he should be given credit for at least trying to do the right thing. He's too ambitious to be anyone's husband, since a married man can't be on the golf course for 12 hours a day. He also likes women and sex too much, and a married man can't be out having sex with porn stars. Wait, even a single man shouldn't be out having sex with porn stars, that's just nasty.

In some ways, Woods reminds me of Dorian Gray, the character who had every desire he ever wanted presented to him but found that the ultimate price was being paid by the deterioration of his soul. Tiger will get the divorce he needs, and he will earn back the money he lost. But the ultimate incentive for Woods to adjust his lifestyle will be the need to regain peace within his soul. That makes him an even bigger loser than Elin.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.