John and Elizabeth Edwards in January, 2008

The National Enquirer has been on top of this John Edwards cheating story since they broke the news with some inventive investigative reporting last year. Now they have even more details of the ways that Edwards manipulated the public and his wife while he was carrying on behind her back with Rielle Hunter. Most damning to Edwards is the Enquirer’s timeline of his affair. He broke up with Rielle after a half “confession” to his wife in which he claimed that he only cheated on her in a moment of weakness one night. Then, even after he heard that his wife’s cancer had returned and was spreading, he went back to Rielle for a second try and that’s when she got pregnant.

Timeline of an Affair
July 2006: Rielle Hunter begins traveling with John Edwards to film video “Webisodes” of him for his campaign after they meet at a New York City hotel bar where she uses the pickup line: “You are so hot”

October 2006: Rielle accompanies John on a five-day trip to Africa

Dec. 28, 2006: John announces he’s running for President.

Dec. 30, 2006: Elizabeth comes face to face with Rielle for the first time; John confesses to Elizabeth that he had a one-night stand with Rielle.

Dec. 31, 2006: John tells Elizabeth that Rielle’s contract with his compaign has been terminated.

March 22, 2007: Elizabeth announces her cancer has returned, but the couple says his presidential campaign will continue; Rielle and John rekindle their affair.

Early May 2007: After Elizabeth campaigns in New Hampshire, John heads to the West Coast to campaign in Seattle; Rielle conceives their love child around this time.

July 30, 2007: John and Elizabeth renew their marriage vows on their 30th wedding anniversary; John begins planning a pregnancy coverup.

Feb. 27, 2008: Rielle gives birth to a daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter, in Santa Barbara, Calif.

July 21, 2008: Enquirer reporters catch John at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles visiting Rielle and their love child.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 25, 2009]

Elizabeth kicked John out of the house two years ago
There is some promising news in the Enquirer about Edwards’ sham relationship with his critically ill wife. Despite recently claiming that they’re trying to make it work for the sake of their children, Elizabeth and John are not living together. Elizabeth Edwards kicked her husband out of bed over two years ago when she first heard that he was cheating, and when he confessed to the public in July she kicked him out of the house and hasn’t taken him back. Maybe that’s why he thought it was ok to continue cheating on her even as she grew sicker:

The reality is that [Elizabeth] banished John from their bedroom when he admitted his affair with Rielle to her in December, 2006, sources say.

When he publicly confessed the affair to ABC News after the Enquirer caught him with Rielle and her love child Frances at a Los Angeles hotel in July 2008, Elizabeth tossed him out of their Chapel Hill, N.C., home, the source said.

“After John was caught, Elizabeth told him to simply ‘Get out of the house!'” the source divulged. “On many nights, he sleeps at a nearby condo. He also stays at their vacation home on a remote barrier island off the North Carolina coast.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 25, 2009]

I wonder why Elizabeth is acting like she’s back together with John and that everything is working out now? She refuses to refer to Rielle by name and in the interviews I’ve seen with her she makes it seem like Rielle is this seductress who lured away her otherwise devoted husband. Maybe she is trying to fool herself so that she can keep her family together, and the happy memories of her husband, in whatever time she has left. She is going through a lot in her battle with terminal cancer and she has to do what she can for her family. I can’t help but think that there’s a manipulative element in pretending to be back with John, as if she wants to show Rielle that she’s the one he’s chosen now. At least she dealt with her husband’s massive betrayal behind closed doors, even if she’s acting like she forgives him.