Tiger Woods in Sex Rehab (For Real This Time, Maybe)

By Sam Brand Posted Jan 19th 2010 07:44PM

ESPN didn't report it when the greatest golfer in the world was rumored to be recovering from cosmetic surgery after getting whacked in the face by his own 9-iron. Yahoo! Sports didn't publish rumors that Tiger was being treated for addiction to painkillers. Sports Illustrated didn't say a thing when, earlier this month, rumors surfaced that Tiger was seeking sex addiction help in Arizona. But today, the titans of sports media are coming out with it. Tiger Woods is allegedly undergoing sex addiction at a treatment facility in Mississippi.

The news was first reported on his blog by author and recovering sex addict Benoit Denizet-Lewis. "A source confirmed to me what other news sources have been reporting the last two days: Tiger Woods is currently in treatment at the Pine Grove/Gentle Path program in Hattiesburg, Mississippi," Denizet-Lewis wrote on Monday.

The report comes more than a week after sources suggested Tiger was seeking treatment at The Meadows in Arizona. According to PEOPLE's anonymous source, quoted on Jan. 12, Woods checked in around New Year's and "should be out by Valentine's Day or thereabouts."

"I spent some time at Pine Grove a few years ago speaking to staff and patients for my book, America Anyonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life," Denizet-Lewis wrote on Monday. He came away with dirt on the particulars of what it's like to undergo sex addiction treatment there, and at all sex rehab programs.

"Sex rehabs... require patients (although they don't use that word, preferring 'clients') to sign a 'celibacy contract' that includes a pledge not to have sex with anyone, or to masturbate, while in treatment."

Too much information?

Denizet-Lewis goes on, "All of the programs rely heavily on intense group therapy sessions and on family and couple's therapy."

Much as Dr. Drew Pinsky suggested in early January, Denizet-Lewis says real recovery demands his wife's participation in Tiger's treatment. "If Tiger and his wife, Elin, are serious about repairing the marriage, she will be spending some time in treatment with Tiger," the author writes.

Elin, meanwhile was photographed picking up the kids in Orlando on Tuesday.