Tiger Woods' ex-girlfriend recounts breakup details in new court filing

Tiger Woods and Erica Herman continue to wrangle in court over the details of their breakup. A new court filing from Herman provides her perspective on how the breakup took place, and why she is seeking restitution.

Woods and Herman dated for about six years, during which she was by his side and with his children at many significant events. They broke up in October, and in a new filing, Herman offers further details of their relationship's beginning and end. Herman is seeking both financial compensation and release from a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) she signed prohibiting her from revealing details about her time in the relationship.

Woods' attorneys have sought to resolve the matter through private arbitration, contending that Herman agreed to such a resolution when she signed the NDA. In this latest filing, Herman is asking the court to deny Woods' motion to keep proceedings private.

Woods, Herman states in the filing obtained by Yahoo Sports, "decided to pursue a sexual relationship with his employee, then — according to him — forced her to sign an NDA about it or else be fired from her job. And, when he became disgruntled with their sexual relationship, he tricked her into leaving her home, locked her out, took her cash, pets, and personal possessions, and tried to strong-arm her into signing a different NDA."

Herman claims that over the course of the early years of their relationship, Woods "placed increasing pressure" on Herman to stop working at the restaurant and "devote herself full-time to their relationship and caring for him and his children."

In October 2022, Woods ended the relationship through what Herman describes as a "scheme": He told her to pack a bag for a short trip to the Bahamas, but when the two arrived at the airport, Woods told her to speak to his lawyer, and he boarded the plane without her.

"Then, Mr. Woods’s California lawyer, out of the blue, told her that she was not going anywhere, would never see Mr. Woods again, had been locked out of the house, and could not return," Herman's court filing states. "She would not even be able to see the children or her pets again."

However, Woods' attorneys have painted a different picture. “Ms. Herman was invited to live in the Residence while she was in a relationship with her former boyfriend, Eldrick Woods, who continues to live in the Residence with his two children,” attorneys for Woods said in a March motion seeking to force arbitration. “After Mr. Woods recently terminated the relationship, Ms. Herman was advised that she was no longer welcome in the Residence.”

Shortly after their breakup, Herman filed a lawsuit last fall in the Circuit Court of the 19th Judicial Circuit in Martin County, Florida, against the Jupiter Island, Florida, homestead trust which Woods controls. Herman sought $30 million in damages, claiming she had an "oral tenancy agreement" to remain in the home for up to five years after the breakup. She also charged that the trust misappropriated $40,000 in cash which belonged to her, and made “scurrilous and defamatory allegations how she obtained the money.”

She later filed the separate suit in March against Woods himself seeking release from the NDA. In filing the separate suit, Herman suggested allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, which could void an NDA under new federal rules. However, she has not yet offered further details on those specific charges.

After withdrawing from this year's Masters, Woods underwent surgery on his ankle in mid-April, and will be sidelined from competition indefinitely.