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Fans often read random bits of information about celebrities that they like. Speaking of which, have you ever wondered what was Elin Nordegren’s doing with her career, before she married the golf legend Tiger Woods? We did, and we are happy to share it with you after we quickly go through Nordegren’s bio first.

She was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 1, 1980, to a politician mother, Barbro Holmberg, and a radio journalist father, Thomas Nordegren. Elin also has an identical twin named Josefin. With that family history, let’s get into her career aspirations and where they took her.

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Elin Nordegren’s modeling career 

Moving into her 20s, Nordegren started working in the fashion industry, dabbling a bit with modeling as well. Speaking of this experience to the People magazine later in her life, she clarified certain things.

She explained that while she actually did some modeling when in her late teens, it was hardly a career. To quote her, “It is flattering to be called a model, but I hardly think a few shoots in my teenage years make me a model.”

Nordegren acknowledged she wasn’t very successful at it. In fact, she didn’t intend to pursue it further. Her mind was more occupied with figuring out how the little humans think. The Swedish beauty was passionate about child psychology and when an ideal opportunity presented itself, she used it well.

Life as a nanny

When Mia Parnevik, wife of Swedish Pro golfer Jesper Parnevik, spotted Elin Nordegren in Sweden, she knew she found her nanny. The couple had a residence in Florida and wanted Nordegren to move to help them with their children. Owing to her natural fascination toward kids, Nordegren agreed.

After moving into the Parnevik residence’s guest house, the Swedish nanny became popular in the golfing community. The single men in the golf circle that Parnevik socialized with often took an interest in her. With golfers lining up to ask her out, Nordegren had to postpone meeting up with Tiger Woods for close to a year. 

Relationship with Woods

The two of them met each other when the Parneviks introduced them to each other, at the British Open, in 2001. They started dating soon after and became engaged in 2003. The two were attending the President’s Cup in South Africa that year when Woods proposed marriage at the Shamwari Gaming Reserve. 

Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren got married in October 2004. They have two children together: a girl, Sam Alexis, and a boy, Charlie Axel. Toward the end of the year 2009, Tiger Woods’ self-declared infidelity came into the open. Following this, the couple got divorced in August 2010.

Elin Nordegren’s graduation in Psychology 

In the year 2005, the newly wedded Elin applied to the Rollins Liberal Arts College in Winter Park, Florida, to major in psychology. 

Her marriage, the two children who were born after her enrollment, and the limelight probably distracted the young lady from focusing on her education. She wasn’t able to graduate in the next few years.

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It is possible that Elin Nordegren got her attention back into her education again after she got divorced in 2010. She graduated in 2014, as an outstanding senior, and gave a moving speech about motherhood and her passion for her education. 

The commencement speech in 2014

Passing as the outstanding senior, Nordegren’s speech was candid and crisp. She touched upon how her life has changed since the fall of 2005 when she enrolled in college. She mentioned that earlier she was a married woman with no children, and now she has children but isn’t married anymore. The statement, for some reason, invoked laughter and applause in the crowd. 

Smiling past that response from the audience, she carried on to speak about how her education in psychology and law subjects helped her handle the turmoils in her life. She praised the evening college system for offering such a flexible platform. Nordegren reiterated the importance of education in one’s life, irrespective of what kind of life we live. 

After many detours and deviations, it’s kind of inspiring how the stellar Swede never lost sight of what drove her passion forward. She was curious about the complexity of the human mind and the society we live in. What drives you forward? Or are you yet to find that out? Tell us in the comments! 

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