Who Is Rachel Uchitel? A Primer to the Gal Who Male Stars Can't Seem to Resist

Uchitel's story begins in 2005, when the then-30 former Bloomberg News segment producer left NYC for Las Vegas to begin anew after her fiancee died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Explaining the cross-country move to New York Magazine, Uchitel said, "When you lose your whole future, it's something that changes you." According to the magazine, Uchitel -- with the help of a friend -- secured a hostess job at Tao nightclub before she even arrived. The buxom brunette adapted to the Vegas nightlife scene very quickly. Uchitel was welcomed into a powerful, high-profile social/business circle, and as a VIP hostess, earned the paycheck to prove it.

"At my best," Uchitel told New York, "I made $250,000 base, plus a guaranteed $250,000 from the tip pool." Uchitel's job was to make sure her clients -- all of whom were wealthy and/or high profile -- were happy. No judgments, and no matter what. VIP hosts are valuable for their many connections and, most importantly, their discretion. But both Uchitel and her friend and fellow VIP host Lynn Freeman insist that they are not "madams." They do not set up sexual encounters.

"What we do is we bring a bunch of girls and guys together," Freeman told the mag. "If we worked at a bank and we brought a bunch of friends together for happy hour, and then two of them went home and had sex, nobody would think anything of it."

Both women have also said that because of the intimate nature of their work and the long hours, hosts often become very close friends with their clients. A quick Google Image search of Uchitel's name brings up dozens of photos of her at various events and exotic locations with celebrities and athletes. She has been linked to Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Seacrest and, of course, a certain professional golfer. Now, depending on which report you read, Uchitel is said to have met Tiger either at the Griffin nightclub in Manhattan last June, or at a party at Jeter's New York apartment. She has not publicly acknowledged a sexual relationship with Woods or the TMZ-reported $10 million she received from Woods' camp to keep quiet.

But if the text messages between the two are to be believed, theirs was not purely a client/customer agreement. For example, Woods reportedly wrote: "I finally found someone I connect with, someone I have never found like this. Not even at home," to Uchitel. "F***. Why didn't we find each other years ago. We wouldn't be having this conversation."

The most recent celeb connection to make headlines is Uchitel's alleged affair with 'Bones' actor David Boreanaz. Uchitel has denied that she is part of any extortion plot against the actor -- not the allegations of the affair, mind you -- via her high-powered lawyer, current go-to attorney for "other women" Gloria Allred (who also represents the other unnamed woman claiming to have had an affair with Boreanaz). She is said to be holding a press conference to address the matter in the next few days. (Allred's history of representing "preyed upon" women stems from her own harrowing experience/suffering from being raped in 1966, incidentally, but that is a story for another day.)

Though she is mum on her association with these recent celeb scandals, we have definitely not seen the last of Uchitel. The 35-year-old is no longer working in nightlife, but has reportedly been busy exploring several new career options -- one of them being a reality TV show, allegedly titled 'Romancing Rachel,' which according to TMZ would follow Uchitel's attempts to find true love. Until a network bites on that pitch (heaven help us), or the next press conference or celeb scandal, Uchitel maintains that she was only doing her job and that the media has blown things out of proportion. "This new persona is the opposite of who I am," she told New York Magazine. "I was alone every night. My life was my work. But people took my job and made it a scandalous, negative thing."

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