Did Rachel Uchitel Get Hush Money or Is She Sick of her 15 Minutes of Fame?

A major surprise developed in the Tiger Woods affair saga on Thursday when his first noted mistress, Rachel Uchitel, decided not to hold a press conference to divulge information about their relationship. I honestly thought she had held the conference to begin with because she wanted to capitalize on her fame. Now it appears as if the conference was canceled for the exact opposite reason — she wants to disappear. We’ll let the almighty TMZ take it away:

Sources say … Rachel decided not to come out fighting at a news conference. She walked away without taking a cent from Tiger Woods. One very connected source said, “This was absolutely not about money.”

Sources say Rachel became “scared for her safety” because she knows so much about Tiger, his alleged affairs and a variety of other Woods matters. We’re told Tiger confided in Rachel … she knows specifics about “other women,” as well as information about Tiger’s marriage.

Considering her reputation as a “partygirl” which to me is a euphemism for upscale hooker, I guess it makes sense that she’s not releasing private information about Tiger the way Jamie Grubbs did. Given the reports that Uchitel’s hooked up with both A-Rod and Jeter, she could severely limit her future earning power by hanging Tiger out to dry. Also, because Tiger already apologized for his “transgressions” on Wednesday, Uchitel would not have been blowing the lid off anything new so there really wasn’t much of a point to her confirming what Tiger’s already confirmed. For Uchitel, the best strategy is to disappear for a while and hope her “partygirl” business picks up before long. Secrecy and discretion is a premium in her line of work.