Ashley Samson says she's paid a heavy price for outing Tiger Woods' affair with Rachel Uchitel
BY Christian Red
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Saturday, January 2nd 2010, 7:33 PM
LAS VEGAS - It's high noon in Sin City on New Year's Eve and a petite blonde wearing jeans, leather boots and a black, sheer blouse is tucked in a corner table at the Pink Taco Mexican restaurant in the Hard Rock Hotel.
A stiff wind would likely knock Ashley Samson over, though she still thinks she could stand to drop a few poinds. She picks at a plate of shrimp tacos as Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" blares over the sound system, and later orders a shot of Jagermeister.
After the last tumultuous five months of her life, Samson is probably hoping to ring in happier times in 2010.
In quick succession, Samson separated from her husband of five years, then helped kick-start the sports world's scandal of the decade when she told the National Enquirer about Tiger Woods' affair with New York party girl Rachel Uchitel - an interview that may have been one factor in triggering a confrontation between Woods and his wife in the early hours after Thanksgiving and a car crash that resulted in one of the most spectacular falls from grace of any athlete in history.
For her part in the drama that has cost Woods endorsements, respect and possibly his marriage in the wake of revelations of numerous extra-marital affairs, Samson says she was paid $25,000. A girlfriend of Samson's who was not identified by the Enquirer backed up Samson's account in the magazine and received between $10,000 and $15,000 from the tabloid, Samson says, adding that the cost to both women has exceeded any money they've received. In retrospect, she told the Daily News that she should have taken the $200,000 she says the Woods camp offered her to keep quiet.
Samson says her decision to blow the whistle on Woods and Uchitel has resulted in plenty of mental anguish, fractured friendships and added stress in her personal life and her marriage.
"I'm trying to get my f--- life together and repair my reputation," says Samson. "It probably would have been better (to accept the $200,000) because what ended up happening was a big mess."
Samson says she is bitter about the way Uchitel trashed her during interviews once the scandal broke, saying she didn't know Samson, although photographs later emerged showing them together. One moment Samson was lying on a bed next to Uchitel in Spain and listening to Uchitel's steamy phone conversations with Woods. A month later, an all-out verbal war with Uchitel erupted.
Samson says she has weighed legal action against Uchitel, though Samson won't comment on where she currently stands on that matter. Samson would like a return to a normal life, she says, maybe re-enter the business world - she owned two Vegas businesses in the past; a garage door company and a handbag accessories company - but isn't sure if her link to the Woods scandal will create some hurdles.
She has already severed ties with the girlfriend who backed up her account in the Enquirer and is uncertain about what will happen with her marriage. She is still coping with the 2005 shooting death of her brother William in Vegas. Christopher Lane is serving a 4-to-10 year sentence for killing William Hollingsworth (Hollingsworth is Samson's maiden name) in a dispute in their apartment over a missing bus pass.
"I want to start another business. Hopefully I'll be able to do that in this town, considering everything that just happened," Samson says. "Jesus. That's the one thing that bothers me about Rachel - she just went crazy on me, making all this s--- up about me, when all I was doing was telling the truth all along. I took a polygraph test, for God's sake. Then she tarnishes my name in this town."
The saga began for Samson in August, when she separated from her husband. Samson says she moved in with the girlfriend while sorting out her marriage troubles. The girlfriend, much like Uchitel, had been a VIP hostess in Vegas, working at a job that involves everything from securing private rooms or lounges in clubs for celebrities and star athletes to making sure top-shelf liquor and beautiful women and whatever else they desire is available.
In October, Samson's girlfriend had what appeared to be an enticing proposal - an all-expenses paid trip to Spain. "One day she said to me, 'Hey, you want to go to Spain? My friend Rachel (Uchitel) is going to pay for it.' I'm like, 'Alright, cool. Hell yeah I want to go to Spain,'" says Samson. "Everything was paid for - the tickets, our flights were like $1,200 each."
Samson had never met Uchitel before and wasn't aware of Uchitel's past - working as a VIP hostess on the New York club scene and a woman who had lost her fiancé in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"The impression that I got was that Rachel was a trust-fund baby and she wanted some friends to come along to Spain and join her for a few days," says Samson. "I'm so naïve I actually believed it. That's stupid, so stupid."
Samson says that while Uchitel seemed "nice" when they first met, the trip devolved on two fronts: Samson says she soon became aware of why she was at the Spanish resort. She was one of four women - including Uchitel - in Marbella to exclusively entertain four men. "I've never been a party girl. I didn't know anything about the scene or how things worked," says Samson. "Rachel invited all these women to come to Spain to entertain these men. That was her whole idea. Well, no one told me and no one clued me in."
She adds that Uchitel disappeared with one of the men for about two hours at one point during the trip, though Samson is unclear what transpired.
Samson describes Uchitel as having acted like a "madam."
"Who else flies a couple of girls out to Spain for three days to meet with a bunch of men?" Samson says. "I mean, hello."
But there was an even bigger bombshell in the first few hours after Samson and her friend arrived from the States.
"Before we went out to the nightclub (the first night), that's when I found out about (Uchitel) and Tiger. She's like, texting on her phone. She's non-stop on her phone, texting. I'm like, 'Girl, who are you texting?' And she's like, 'Tiger,'" says Samson. "And then she looks at (Samson's friend), and they exchange a glance, and (Samson's friend) goes, 'It's OK to tell her.' And that's when (Uchitel) told me, 'I'm dating Tiger Woods.' I'm like, 'No f--- way.' She was on her phone, 24/7, talking or texting with Tiger. Tiger was in Vegas at the time. She was trying to make arrangements for him to get into the nightclub without being attacked by the media and stuff like that."
Samson says she is still shocked by Uchitel's phone conversation with Woods.
"My first reaction was, 'I can't believe this. I can't believe Tiger would do this, (with) someone like Rachel.' She's a party girl. I mean that's her reputation. I couldn't believe that Tiger would do that. I didn't believe it until I heard his voice," says Samson.
After the Spain trip, Samson says she only met with Uchitel one other time, in Las Vegas in mid-November. By that time, the Woods scandal was starting to leak. Uchitel had flown to Australia during the same stretch when Woods played in (and won) the Australian Masters in Melbourne on Nov. 12-15. Samson says she had not talked with the Enquirer at that point, but that the magazine was already onto Uchitel's relationship with Woods.
"That had nothing to do with me," Samson says. "I think the Enquirer had been following Rachel because of her and David Boreanaz." Reports have linked Uchitel with the then-married "Bones" actor.
Uchitel had to cut the Australia trip short, Samson says, because hints of Woods' secret life began emerging and Uchitel was photographed checking into the same hotel as Woods. Following Uchitel's denials that she had been in Australia with Woods, it was reported that Woods' childhood friend, Bryon Bell, who manages Woods' golf course design company, had arranged for Uchitel's trip Down Under. Samson says Uchitel told her that Woods was aware of the leaks while he was playing in Australia, and that he arranged for Uchitel to return to the States earlier than planned.
"(Rachel) told me that she was going to be going to Australia and then she was going to be going to Dubai (where Woods has a golf course and was scheduled to play in the Dubai World Championship Nov. 19-Nov. 22) after that," says Samson. "Well, of course Australia got cut short and Dubai got cancelled because the Enquirer caught wind of it all. This is when she had to come back to the States from Australia, when Tiger found out about the story leaking.
"She came back to Vegas and when she was in town, she called me and said, 'Hey, you want to come join me for the evening?' We had been texting and stuff back and forth since Spain, getting along just fine. She asked me, 'Look, I've got to go meet Derek Jeter and will you come out? We need some girls at the table.' I'm like, 'I don't care, whatever.'"
As it turned out, Samson never got to meet with the Yankee captain. When she met Uchitel at the Bellagio restaurant "Yellowtail," Uchitel was glued to her cell phone the entire evening.
"Rachel was just on her phone. She was going back and forth," Samson continues, adding that she was not sure if Uchitel was contacting Woods that night. "She was really distraught over the whole Tiger thing and she was upset. I'm like, 'Why'd we even come down here?' Being the celebrity w---- she is, in walks (actor) Jeremy Piven. What does she do? She jumps up out of her seat, she runs and goes sits down with Jeremy Piven. That was the end of the night."
In a recent "Dateline" interview, Samson's girlfriend - who is in disguise - said that the reason Samson turned on Uchitel was because of a catfight between the two women. Samson says no such verbal spat took place. Samson told her story to the Enquirer, she says, because of Uchitel's negative influence on Samson's girlfriend. She says Uchitel was running into financial issues, and was using Samson's girlfriend for help. Uchitel has since torpedoed Samson in various interviews, even calling Samson a heavy drug user.
Samson says that matters worsened between her and her girlfriend after the "Dateline" interview. By the time Woods' camp approached Samson and her girlfriend with the hush money offer, Samson says the Enquirer deal was already in the works.
Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at IMG, did not respond to an E-mail request to comment on Samson's hush money claim.
"I was sincerely angry at Rachel, because I really thought Rachel was using (Samson's girlfriend) and treating her like crap," says Samson. She adds that the lives Uchitel and her girlfriend lead - blurring the "party girl"/VIP hostess job and conducting relationships with bold-faced names - are "very sad."
"I was never a drug user or a party girl," says Samson.
It seems clear that the foray into whistle blowing was not worth it for Samson. She says she has not talked to or reached out to her girlfriend or to Uchitel and has no plans to in the future.
And Samson says she does not know if Woods is still involved with Uchitel. Woods' whereabouts are unknown and there have been several false sightings of the golfer in the last month. Numerous companies have dropped their association with Woods, including Accenture and AT&T. And it does not appear if Uchitel or Samson's girlfriend made out much better.
"Oh, I've got a sense of (the party girl culture) now. It's sad actually. It's very sad. They don't have any real friends. It's a sad existence I think," Samson says. "I actually feel sorry them."
