Elin Nordegren
When reports surfaced that Tiger Woods was involved in a bizarre early morning car accident, stories about Elin Nordegren wielding a golf club, chasing Tiger around their Windemere, Fla., mansion and even bashing in his SUV's windows were everywhere. That's pretty bad-ass. But it was never clear whether any of that really happened. What was truly kick ass came later, in the way Nordegren handled the spiraling downfall of her husband — at the time the world's No. 1 golfer and a revered international superstar. Each day more and more women were reported to have had affairs with Woods. But Nordegren carried on. She maintained a low profile, fought for custody of their children and never went to the tabloids with her side of the story (for which she was handsomely rewarded). While she could have stuck beside the cheating Woods and all his fortune, she decided to go her own way. Sometimes not standing by your man is pretty bad-ass too.