Rachel Uchitel, denies tabloid tales of affair

Knockout party girl Rachel Uchitel took some hard shots Saturday from the National Enquirer.

The tabloid, answering her denial of a romance with golfing god Tiger Woods, released photos of Uchitel partying with pal Ashley Samson - who detailed the alleged affair to the Enquirer.

The pictures show the barely dressed duo striking lascivious poses on a recent vacation they took to Spain, the Enquirer said.

On Friday, Uchitel told the Daily News she didn’t know Samson - even misstating her last name.

“I’m not friends with Ashley Simpson or whatever her name is,” Uchitel told The News in a Facebook message. She did not answer messages Saturday about their relationship - and hired well-known attorney Gloria Allred.

The Enquirer promised to expose “a slew of contradictions” between Uchitel’s denials and their report. Allred said her client would have no comment on anything involving Woods.

The Enquirer lashed out as a club source told the Daily News Uchitel was spotted rubbing shoulders with Woods at the Griffin Club in the Meatpacking District in June.

“She was acting as a hostess, showing him to a private booth near the DJ booth,” the source said, noting that the pair didn’t appear to be flirting.

For Uchitel, 34, headlines and public romance are nothing new.

The buxom beauty said last year that she’d been romantically linked to a famous baseball player, a Broadway star and a musician.

Other reports recently tied the queen of the velvet ropes to married television star David Boreanaz. Uchitel, in an interview last year, wouldn’t discuss her past: “I will never kiss and tell!”

And there’s plenty to tell.

A grieving fiancée after 9/11, Uchitel found new love and married three years later - only to divorce after four months.

She left New York for the desert, reinventing herself as the VIP hostess at a top Las Vegas hot spot.

Her public saga began when husband-to-be James Andrew O’Grady went missing in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

The 32-year-old managing director at Sandler O’Neil was in the south tower when the second hijacked plane hit.

Her picture ran along with several news accounts, showing her at Ground Zero in the days after the attack.

Uchitel, a Bloomberg television producer at the time, was officially notified of O’Grady’s death in early 2002.

“I was very strong after the night of 9/11,” she told The New York Times in December 2004. But two years later, she suffered a “massive breakdown.”

“I couldn’t get through the day,” she told The Times. Uchitel took a leave from her job in 2003 and sought therapy.

That same year she met Wall Street trader Steven Ehrenkranz, a childhood friend, at a Halloween party. The two hadn’t seen each other since the mid-1990s.

They were soon dating - and married in 2004 in front of 270 people, a fairy-tale wedding at Cipriani in the Flatiron District.

Their dream life ended quickly.

Just four months later, the bombshell sought a divorce and headed for Vegas. “A random career move and a life-changing experience,” she told the Web site blackbookmag.com.

When reached at his Manhattan home, Ehrenkranz said he had no idea if his ex-wife was involved with Woods, a fiery claim reported in the Star and the National Enquirer.

“I couldn’t know, and I couldn’t care,” he said. “The person you’re talking about, I haven’t seen in five years.”

A guest who attended their nuptials said Uchitel had a “history of being with married men” and called her “self-destructive.”

Once in Las Vegas, Uchitel fell into the arms of another man she had known since childhood: powerful nightclub owner Jason Strauss.

She worked there through 2006, manning Tao’s VIP door with a walkie-talkie as guests tried to win her approval and doormen followed her every command.

She became the VIP hostess at Tao, a hot nightspot co-owned by Strauss.

The often-scantily clad Uchitel quickly forged a reputation for her ability to lure A-listers to the club.

“She’s always popping out of her blouse,” a source said. “But she’s very good at bringing in VIPs to clubs. She’s efficient, articulate and nice to hang out with.”

Uchitel returned to New York, where she ran VIP operations for clubs like Marquee and Dune. Last year, she began splitting time between the city and the Hamptons, where she worked at the club Pink Elephant.

tmoore@nydailynews.com

With Rich Schapiro