Why I Published An Interview That Might Be A Lie

I came into the office this morning to a few messages telling me that it looked like Rachel Uchitel had lied to me, Cybergolf, the New York Post, New York Daily News, and the Associated Press - in that order - about her alleged affair with Tiger Woods.  

There was going to be a press conference at 2:30pm ET today with Uchitel's new counsel, the Heidi Fleiss of celebrity lawyers Gloria Allred, to share details of Ms. Uchitel's relationship with Tiger Woods.

Then, all of a sudden, Allred canceled said presser due to "unforeseen circumstances."  This was the last we would hear from Uchitel or Allred on the subject.

I emailed Rachel to find out if the rumors were true - that the affair was legit.  She didn't respond.  I didn't need an answer.

I had heard from a slew of people that this affair was legit.  But, I don't do the whole "anonymous sources" thing.  I mean, who would believe me?  (Millions of Americans?)  And I'm don't think I'm in that business anyhow.

Knowing what I had been told, it seemed like it would only be a matter of time before this rumor would go from tabloid fodder to front page tabloid fodder to legit news story.  So, I contacted Rachel via email to see if she had spoken to a newspaper yet.  I had no idea if I would even get an answer.  

But, then, I did.

She said no.

Just to make certain that it was her, I called her.  I had no idea what to expect.  For all I knew, some 48 year old man created a Uchitel account on Wednesday morning, got 1400 friends overnight, and posted a hundred photos of Uchitel on this phony Facebook profile containing her contact info.  (Guess what?  That's how the New York papers got a hold of her, too.  This is not rocket science.)  It was not an elaborate trick.  This was really her.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew what I had heard.  She wouldn't dare admit to this, right?  I mean, between her job working the NYC club scene with VIPs and the other half of this rumor involving the most recognizable athlete in the world, there was no way she could say this was real.

She didn't.  And she offered a very convincing set of reasons why it wasn't real.  She was in Melbourne on business that just happened to coincide with Tiger's appearance in the Aussie Masters.  Why would she be so dumb to let an Enquirer snoop see her go to Woods' suite?  Her career was ruined if she did something like this, so why would she get caught with her hand in the cookie jar (again, if you believe the other celebrity rags)?

Uchitel is a smart woman, clearly, and she had her story straight.  She was composed.  She sounded genuinely distressed - and I believe she was.  And she wasn't vulgar in talking about Ashley Samson, whoever the hell she is.

So, I took my notes diligently.  I penned my story.  And I sat on it.  I emailed and called around, wondering if it was right to even publish something like this.  For one, it's Tiger.  No one says - well, said - anything about the guy quite like the Enquirer had.  To keep the story going would be bad karma for a young buck like me.  And, also, what if she's lying through her teeth to me, which I admitted was a real possibility.  The minor details didn't add up to me.

After some thorough consultation, I went for it.  I hit the Publish button.  It was a text message from a colleague at 12:15 in the morning that told me the NY Post had quoted her in a story - also a denial - that told me to go for it.

If New York's second and third most popular newspapers could do it, I could also.

Little did I know about Jaimee Grubbs, or transgressions, or any of that.  Maybe Rachel did and was just playing the game that she had to.  I didn't especially care.  I was just trying to do some real reporting on a really big story - you know, the thing that blog critics love to say that we don't do.  Woodward and Bernstein, I was not being.

When the Press Conference That Wasn't happened today, I wasn't mad.  In reporting, you get duped all of the time.  And it is almost always because they (a) aren't ready to share bad or good news yet or (b) are holding out for the highest bidder.  Maybe in this case, it was a bit of both, but I'll never know.