Elin Nordegren & Lindsey Vonn kept apart by organizers at Kentucky Derby
I know this story won’t get a lot of interest, but I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see Elin Nordegren, Tiger Woods’ ex, at an event. It’s been years since we’ve even had paparazzi photos of her and as far as I know she has never gone to a photographed red carpet event solo. (I mean it’s possible she’s done that but I haven’t seen photos of it.) Elin went to the Kentucky Derby over the weekend, where she was photographed in a clingy off the shoulder yellow Alexander McQueen dress paired with a jaunty white hat with a giant rose and veil. Also at the event? Tiger’s other ex, Lindsey Vonn, who was much less occasion-appropriate in a deep v-neck silk shirt and wide sequin pants. (I’m not saying that Lindsey looked ridiculous, just that she was try hard while Elin’s outfit was cuter.)
According to sources who spoke to Page Six, these two didn’t bond over their mutual stupidity at getting romantically involved with Tiger, they were deliberately kept apart by organizers to make sure there was no scene. This doesn’t jibe with what we’ve heard about how they get along, although Tiger did gush about Elin after his breakup with Lindsey so there may be hard feelings there. I wonder who requested this.
While Nordegren and Vonn have been friendly in the past, party organizers were instructed not to seat the Olympic skier anywhere near the former Mrs. Woods, we hear.
The pair crossed paths a night before the big race at Friday’s Barnstable Brown Foundation Gala, which was also attended by Kate Upton, Jon Voight and Megyn Kelly.
We’re told Swedish beauty Nordegren, who divorced Woods in 2010 after his myriad affairs were uncovered, then headed to breeder Black Rock Thoroughbreds’ Fillies & Stallions party to join guests including Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and singer Joey Fatone, with Vonn arriving not far behind.
“The staff was being told over a walkie-talkie that Lindsey was on her way over and must be put in a different area from Elin,” said a source. “They were very clear about that.”
Vonn — who dated the golf superstar from March 2013 until May 2015 — had problems getting into the event because she had been issued the wrong wristband. But once inside, we’re told she sat with girlfriends in a separate VIP area, well away from the mother of Woods’ two children, Sam and Charlie.
According to insiders, former gold medalist Vonn was also very insistent that she didn’t want photographers to take her picture at the fête.
We’re told the two women have a complicated relationship. “Elin really liked Lindsey because the kids really liked her,” said a source close to Nordegren, adding that if Vonn wanted to keep her distance at the party, it would likely be an attempt to avoid any media storm created if there were pictures of them partying together.
But a rep for Vonn insisted that she didn’t ask to be seated away from Nordegren, adding the two women are on “great terms” and spoke at different events over the weekend.
So if this wasn’t Lindsey’s idea was it Elin’s or did organizers just decide to do that on their own accord? It sounds like it came from either Lindsey or Elin, and I would bet it was Lindsey, especially since she was so insistent she didn’t want to be photographed inside. Why was that? I’m going to assume that she broke up with Alexander Ludwig already and didn’t want to be asked about him or photographed without him. She overestimates her fame, but we do talk about her occasionally.
However Lindsey just quashed Page Six’s story by posting a photo with Elin from the event. She posted this Instagram (below) last night. Maybe one of them asked that they not be seated together and they ended up talking anyway, or organizers had no clue they were friendly and assumed they hated each other. I just love to see Elin though, she handled her divorce with such grace and came out of it with tens of millions along with an education and a sense of perspective. She’s a class act and I’m not surprised she’s friendly with Lindsey.
