Greg Norman may be in love – again – but his ex-wives are fuming that he’s flaunting his relationship with a woman who’s been much more than a long-term friend. Dylan Howard has the exclusive inside story.
It was the telephone call that exposed Greg Norman’s secret double life.
The year was 1995 – 14 years into the Aussie golf great’s marriage to first wife Laura Andrassy – and Greg was sitting in his multi-million dollar waterfront Florida mansion, chatting to his mistress.
It was supposed to be a clandestine conversation with the woman he’d first met at a golf tournament two years earlier – an event at which Laura was also present. But his wife, a former flight attendant, intercepted the phone call to their palatial home.
The mistress’s name? Kirsten Kutner – the same woman who was recently revealed as the Great White Shark’s latest love interest.
With the ink barely dry on his divorce from his second wife, tennis star Chris Evert, 55-year-old Greg defended his relationship with 41-year-old Kirsten, saying, “In life, we all go through a learning curve, and my life is no exception. I am now in a very good place with Kirsten.”
But for Laura, hearing Kirsten’s name again sent shivers down her spine.
And while Laura’s silence has been allegedly secured as part of a strict confidentially agreement in her $120 million settlement, she admits news of Greg’s relationship has reopened “painful” wounds.
“It’s difficult for my children …” Laura tells Woman’s Day. “They’ve been through enough, and I really want to keep them from dealing with anything to do with their father.
“There is a lot to the story,” she adds. “It does have something to do with me, but it doesn’t have anything to do with me anymore – and I’ve moved on.”
According to friends, Greg and Laura’s marriage woes began when she overheard him organising an illicit rendezvous with Kirsten in 1995.
By that stage, an insider says, Greg and Kirsten, then in her twenties, had been seeing each other for at least two years.
“His cover was blown when Laura picked up the phone and overhead them having a conversation about meeting up,” a source close to the former couple says.
“Laura confronted Greg about it and he agreed to break off his relationship with Kirsten to save his marriage because, as a parent, he believed it was the right thing to do.”
For years, the couple worked to repair the damage Greg’s affair had done. But in May 2006, they announced they would divorce.
For the full story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale May 10, 2010.
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