News & Politics

World Rocked (Not) by End of the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter Affair

Share your thoughts: Is it real, or just a publicity stunt for Hunter’s new book?

Hell hath no fury like a cheating husband whose sensational
infidelity is laid bare by his mistress in a tell-all. In other
words, condolences, especially to the tabloids, for the
supposed end of the affair between former North Carolina senator
John Edwards and his baby mama,
Rielle Hunter. She announced the split this morning in a live interview on
Good Morning, America, not denying that the cause for her split with Edwards was her supposedly scorched-earth memoir,
What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter, and Me, which is out today. She said her reason for ending the relationship was that she is no longer “interested in hiding.”

The couple share a young daughter,
Frances Quinn Hunter, about whom Edwards spoke
movingly after he was recently acquitted of campaign finance fraud
charges. He called her “my precious
Quinn, who I love more than any of you can ever imagine.”
Hunter became pregnant with Quinn while Edwards was still married
to
Elizabeth Edwards, who died in 2010 from breast cancer.

In the interview with
George Stephanopoulos, Hunter said she
considered Quinn, Edwards, and herself to be still a family, “but as of
the end of last week John Edwards
and I are no longer a couple.” Asked if she would go through
the affair again given another chance, Hunter said, “No way.”