Erica Herman’s relationship with Tiger Woods ended in a legal fight. She dated Woods from 2017 to late 2022, worked as general manager of his Jupiter, Florida restaurant where the two met, and after their breakup filed two separate lawsuits against him and his trust seeking $30 million in damages.
By late 2023, she had dropped every claim, explicitly stating in court filings that she was never a victim of sexual harassment or sexual abuse by Woods.
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Erica Herman Biography
She was born February 15, 1984, in the United States. Details about her parents and early life have not been made public. Erica Herman built her career in hospitality, working as general manager of The Woods Jupiter, a restaurant owned by Tiger Woods in Jupiter, Florida.
She was still his employee when their romantic relationship began in 2017, a dynamic that later became central to her legal arguments against him, since she claimed in court filings that Woods was effectively her boss at the time their relationship started.
Her career beyond that restaurant role has not been extensively documented, and specific details about other business ventures she may be involved in remain private.
Tiger Woods Ex-Girlfriend
Before meeting Woods, Herman was in a long-term relationship with Jesse Newton, president and CEO of Jin and Tonic Hospitality Group, living together as a couple for more than eight years starting around 2007.
The two were close enough that they went into business together, attempting to open a chain of five nightclubs in Orlando. The venture failed.
A man named Tom Morris, who had lent the group 200,000 dollars to fund the nightclubs, sued Herman along with business partners Newton and Ricky McIntosh after the money was not repaid.
Morris won a judgment of $240,233.08 against them. Herman did not pay any portion of the judgment voluntarily, and her wages were ordered garnished at a rate of $1,586.54 per week, a repayment pace slow enough that it was projected to take until 2085 to clear the debt in full.
During roughly the same period, she and Newton also fell behind on rent, and their landlord attempted to evict the couple seven separate times between 2012 and 2014 over a monthly $1,300 payment.
Herman and Tiger Woods began dating in 2017, the same year the two signed a nondisclosure agreement covering their relationship, an agreement Woods later required as a condition of Herman keeping her job once their relationship became sexual, according to her own legal filings.
The relationship first became public knowledge after the two were seen showing public displays of affection at the 2018 PGA Championship in St. Louis.
However, the two had reportedly already been together for roughly a year by that point. They were also photographed together as early as the 2017 Presidents Cup in New Jersey.
The two were seen together publicly at numerous events over the following five years, including a December 2019 Presidents Cup celebration where Woods and Herman were filmed singing with his winning US team, a 2019 appearance at the White House alongside Woods’ daughter Sam Alexis Woods, the 2022 US Open tennis tournament, and a trip to Ireland in the summer of 2022 as Woods prepared for the Open Championship at St. Andrews.
Herman was reportedly close with Woods’ children from his prior marriage to Elin Nordegren, Sam and Charlie, throughout the relationship.
Woods and Nordegren married in October 2004 after his November 2003 proposal and divorced in 2010; he was also linked to other women in the years before Herman, including skier Lindsey Vonn.
The relationship with Herman ended in late 2022. According to Herman’s own account, Woods locked her out of his Jupiter Island residence following the breakup.
The Lawsuits
Herman filed her first lawsuit on October 26, 2022, against the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust, the entity Woods established that owned an interest in the Hobe Sound, Florida home she says she shared with him.
She alleged an oral agreement had given her the right to remain in the home until 2026, that Woods’ trust violated that agreement by having her removed through trickery, and separately accused agents of the trust of misappropriating $40,000 of her own money.
She sought 30 million dollars in total damages, and Woods’ team denied the claims, stating she had never actually been promised long-term residency in the home.
In March 2023, Herman filed a second, separate lawsuit seeking a judicial declaration that the 2017 NDA she signed with Woods was invalid and unenforceable.
Her argument relied on the federal Speak Out Act of 2022, a law passed in the wake of the MeToo movement that bars enforcement of NDAs in cases involving sexual assault or harassment.
Herman argued that because Woods pursued a sexual relationship with her while she was his employee, the arrangement constituted harassment, which she claimed voided the NDA’s enforceability.
Woods’ legal team filed a countercomplaint on March 10, 2023, explicitly denying that Herman’s filings made any actual accusation of sexual harassment or assault against him.
On May 17, 2023, a Florida circuit court judge, Elizabeth Metzger, ruled against Herman, ordering both parties to resolve their disputes through confidential, binding arbitration as specified in the NDA.
In her written ruling, Judge Metzger stated directly that Herman’s claims of sexual harassment were not supported by any documentation the court had requested.
Facing that ruling, Herman voluntarily dismissed her $30 million lawsuit on June 29, 2023. However, the dismissal was without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of refiling pending the outcome of her appeal on the NDA and arbitration question. That appeal did not succeed.
In November 2023, Herman dropped both the lawsuit and her NDA appeal entirely. In doing so, she stated plainly that she was never a victim of sexual harassment or sexual abuse at the hands of Woods, a direct, on-the-record statement that closed out the legal battle and clarified that her earlier court filings had been a legal strategy aimed at invalidating the NDA rather than a factual allegation of abuse.
Since that point, neither Herman nor Woods has pursued further legal action connected to the relationship.
Erica Herman’s Net Worth
Erica Herman’s net worth is estimated at $300,000. This reflects both her documented financial history, including the six-figure court judgment against her from the failed Orlando nightclub venture, and the fact that she did not walk away from her relationship with Woods with any significant disclosed wealth, given the confidential arbitration process both parties agreed to.
