John Edwards' mistress discusses their relationship in forthcoming book
Rielle Hunter, John Edwards’ mistress, discusses their relationship and its aftermath in her forthcoming book “What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me.”
Hunter, who says she began a relationship with the married politician in 2006, says Edwards was “temporarily insane” when he denied paternity of her daughter, Quinn.
“Think about it,” Hunter writes. “Sane healthy people do not deny their children, especially on national TV, simply because they are afraid of their abusive spouse's reaction. Only a mentally off person would do that.”
Hunter also calls Edwards’ wife Elizabeth a “witch on wheels,” saying that she was “bonkers because she had been in denial” about his affairs and that at one point, she “physically attack[ed] [Edwards] during all the screaming.”
Hunter discusses a conversation she had with Edwards that occurred before the politician’s indictment in which she asked him where he would be going if he was sent to jail.
“’What kind of jail would it be? One of those country clubs?’” she says she asked him.
“He said, ‘Yeah,’” Hunter wrote.
Hunter says Edwards told her he’d probably be in jail in Virginia and that she decided if that was the case, then she and her daughter Quinn would move to Virginia.
She writes that Edwards told her he was involved with three other women, but that he later confessed that had been a lie, designed to prevent her from getting attached to him.
“Johnny didn’t do anything out of character,” Hunter says in “What Really Happened.” “He has a long history of lying about one thing only – women – and I mistakenly thought I was different.”
Of the brief time when Edwards aide Andrew Young claimed paternity of Hunter’s child, Hunter writes, “The thing that I regret the most is going along with this stupid idea and allowing this lie to go public.”
She writes that Edwards is “a great dad” to her daughter Quinn.
Hunter says she isn’t sure what will happen between her and Edwards but that she still has feelings for him.
“The jury is still out,” she writes. "But I can honestly say that the ending is of no concern to me anymore. The love is here. And as sappy as it may sound, I love living in love."
