Was she lying, or not?

I want to get the lowdown on Rachel Uchitel (pronounced Yukitel). I believed her long interview in the New York Post two days ago in which she forcefully denied any affair. She went into great detail explaining how the false belief in an affair got started. It seemed plausible; it was too detailed and specific to have been made up. For example, she told how she had been on a long phone conversation trying to straighten out a problem that a Tiger Woods party had had with a reservation at a club, and another person (the National Enquirer’s source) heard this conversation and misconstrued her statements about Tiger Wood as referring to a personal relationship between her and Woods. She had other equally plausible explanations for each aspect of the alleged affair. It seemed impossible that Uchitel could go on at such length, in such detail, and with such seeming sincerity, if what she was saying was a total fabrication. So when I heard earlier today that she was admitting her Post interview was a lie, I was really surprised. I would make her one of the world’s biggest (and most skillful) liars. However, while I’ve seen references to the idea that her story has been discredited (perhaps by her), I’ve seen no statements or facts actually showing that.

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Also, if it was a lie, what was the point? Did she imagine that with all the press attention on this story the truth wouldn’t come out? What would she gain by creating a global reputation for herself as a total liar?

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December 4

David H. from Oregon writes:

Lawrence, “Uchitel” is standard Russian for “teacher.” However it may be pronounced in American English, in Russian they say “oo-TCHEE-tyel.” Compare the name “Lehrer.”

LA replies:

I got the “Yukitel” pronunciation from Cindy Adams in yesterday’s New York Post. She knew the family. Rachel’s grandfather, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, was a prominent wealthy man in New York City. So the Russian word for teacher may be pronounced as you say, but the family pronounced their name a different way.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 03, 2009 11:28 PM | Send