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Rachel Uchitel, the New York-based club promoter who is believed to have had an affair with Tiger Woods, was supposed to give a press conference today along with her publicity-seeking attorney Gloria Allred. But she abruptly canceled it this morning. Is she waiting for a news outlet to cut her a big check? Or is she keeping quiet because—as TMZ suggests—Woods may make it worth her while to stay silent? That's all up in the air at the moment. But if you're wondering what would lead a woman down the path of tabloid infamy, this may shed a little light on the underlying psychology.

Clearly, with a father like this—not to mention the loss of her first husband on 9/11—it would be a surprise if Uchitel weren't seriously screwed up at this point. From the Anchorage Daily News in 1990:

Bob Uchitel, a prominent boom-era dreamer and promoter who retreated from the spotlight he once loved and became a recluse in recent years, was found dead at his south Anchorage estate Tuesday morning of an apparent cocaine overdose.

A caretaker found his body on the living room floor surrounded by blood- spattered walls and a shattered glass coffee table. Uchitel had been dead since Sunday, police said.

An investigation turned up no signs of violence. Anchorage Police Lt. Shirley Warner said Uchitel apparently suffered a drug-induced seizure and bled from his cocaine-damaged nose before he died.

That's just the beginning of the tale. You can read the full story here.