I've been through hell, says Tiger's ex-wife

In an interview with People magazine in the United States, Nordegren denied ever hitting the golf star and said she and her former husband tried for months to reconcile the relationship.

In the end, she said a marriage "without trust or love" was not good for anyone.

In November, the golf star drove his car into a tree outside the family home after what appeared to be a domestic row, setting off revelations that he had been cheating on his wife in multiple affairs.

She said she knew nothing about the affairs saying she was "blindsided" and "embarrassed" by them.

"I never suspected, not a one," she said in the exclusive interview.

"For the last three-and-a-half years, when all this was going on, I was home a lot more with pregnancies, then the children and my school."

Miss Nordegren told the magazine that she never hit her former husband, calling speculation that she hit him with a golf club "truly ridiculous".

While she has withheld some details, Miss Nordegren, 30, said she was speaking out now because she wanted to set the record straight.

But she told People she had no intention of discussing the subject in public again, saying she hoped she and her two children could get the privacy they needed to start their new lives.

She is on the cover of this week's issue of the magazine, just two days after the couple officially divorced.

She said: "There was never any violence inside or outside our home. The speculation that I would have used a golf club to hit him is just truly ridiculous."

Miss Nordegren said her ex-husband left the house the night of the car crash and when he did not return after a while, she got worried and went to look for him. She said that's when she found him in the car.

"I did everything I could to get him out of the locked car," she said. "To think anything else is absolutely wrong."

The magazine said the interview was conducted over four visits lasting a total of 19 hours at the rented Florida home where she now lives with their two children.

"I've been through hell," she said.

"It's hard to think you have this life, and then all of a sudden – was it a lie? You're struggling because it wasn't real. But I survived.

"It was hard, but it didn't kill me."

In an interview on US TV yesterday, People reporter Sandra Sobieraj Westfall said Miss Nordegren and her team approached the magazine.

The reporter said Miss Nordegren wanted people to know three things: she is not violent and never hit the golfer; she had no idea this was going on; and it was a real marriage for her.

The couple were married nearly six years ago in Barbados and have a three-year-old daughter, Sam, and an 18-month-old son, Charlie.

In the interview, she would not disclose the amount of the divorce settlement but did say "money can't buy happiness or put my family back together".

Tiger Woods, who is playing in golf tournament in New Jersey this week, has not yet commented on the couple's divorce.

Miss Nordegren said she would eventually come to forgive him but that she is still working on it.

"Forgiveness takes time," she said. "It is the last step of the

grieving process."

In the meantime, the Swedish-born former children's nanny said she is excited to start the next chapter of her life and intends to stay in the United States with her children.

She also said she has "not watched one minute of golf".

Woods was forced to apologise publicly following the lurid allegations about affairs with a number of women.

He lost a series of lucrative endorsements in the wake of the claims and has suffered a major dip in form on the golf course.

Yesterday Woods spoke of his sadness at the end of his marriage and said he wished his former wife "the best in everything".

The golfer said: "It's a sad time in our lives. We're looking forward in our lives and how we can help our kids the best way we possibly can. That's the most important thing."

He added: "I've certainly made a lot of errors in my life and that's something I'm going to have to live with."