Rielle Hunter, mistress of the disgraced Democrat former presidential hopeful John Edwards, has finally spoken about their affair, saying she is not "a home wrecker". In an interview with GQ magazine, she said the two are still in love and Edwards wants to be a full-time father to their daughter, Quinn.
It was the revelation that Edwards had fathered a daughter with Hunter in the summer of 2007 while supposedly helping his wife Elizabeth through her inoperable cancer – which had returned in March that year – that triggered his downfall. Confronted by scandal sheet the National Enquirer, the then Democrat senator at first denied everything, then confessed the affair but denied the lovechild. It was only in January this year that he finally admitted he was Quinn's father.
Hunter was hired as the Edwards campaign 'videographer' in 2006 – and in her GQ interview she implies an affair began quickly, saying Edwards spoke of falling in love with her on the first day they met. Pictured bare-legged on a bed wearing pearls and a man's shirt, the 45-year-old said the affair ended in 2008, but added: "I know he loves me. I have never had any doubt at all about that.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"We love each other very much. And that hasn't changed, and I believe that will be till death do us part."
She told the magazine that Edwards is a conscientious father who would like to be a full-time parent to two-year-old Quinn and that their relationship is now something "different". Among other details of the affair, Hunter claimed that Edwards had wanted to quit the race for the White House when his wife's cancer came back, but that it was Elizabeth who had persuaded him to continue. Hunter denied that the affair ended the marriage, saying it was already in dire straits.
The 45-year-old filmmaker, who also posed for the magazine with her daughter in her arms, has been questioned recently by a grand jury investigating the large sums of money that changed hands between the Edwards campaign and Hunter's production company while the affair was being kept secret.
Hunter, who as the former girlfriend of 'Brat Pack' author Jay McInerney inspired the morally ambiguous lead character in his novel Story of My Life, is a keen astrologist, but it seems it is Edwards who has shown the greatest gift for prophesy. Hunter claimed he told her on their first night together: "Falling in love with you could really fuck up my plans for becoming president."
-
October 19 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelagoThe Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
Shutdown: Are Democrats fighting the right battle?Feature Democrats are holding firm on health insurance subsidies as Trump ramps up the pain by freezing funding and vowing to cut more jobs
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strongTalking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
Could Democrats lose the New Jersey governor’s race?Today’s Big Question Democrat Mikie Sherrill stumbles against Republican Jack Ciattarelli
-
Gaza peace deal: why did Trump succeed where Biden failed?Today's Big Question As the first stage of a ceasefire begins, Trump’s unique ‘just-get-it-done’ attitude may have proven pivotal to negotiations
-
‘Every argument has a rational, emotional and rhetorical component’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Why is this government shutdown so consequential?Today's Big Question Federal employee layoffs could be in the thousands
-
Shutdown: Democrats stand firm, at a costFeature With Trump refusing to negotiate, Democrats’ fight over health care could push the government toward a shutdown
-
Trump’s plan for a government shutdown: mass firingsIN THE SPOTLIGHT As lawmakers scramble to avoid a shutdown, the White House is making plans for widespread layoffs that could lead to a permanent federal downsizing
