It’s the story that John Edwards wishes would die, but it just keeps coming back to haunt him. Little Frances Quinn Hunter, the child of his former mistress, filmmaker Rielle Hunter, has just celebrated her first birthday. A photo of the baby girl was released that makes it nearly impossible to deny that the fallen Democratic contender is the daddy. She is the spitting image of him! The National Enquirer is reporting that while Edwards publicly maintains that the child isn’t his, he has privately confessed the obvious to his wife Elizabeth, who is in the terminal stages of breast cancer. Sources say this was a strategic move on Edwards’ part to diffuse tension between him and Hunter over Elizabeth’s forthcoming memoir.

John Edwards has finally confessed to his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth what the rest of the world already knows – that he fathered a child with his mistress.

Edwards made the belated admission to his wife in an effort to stop ex-lover Rielle Hunter from going public, sources told The ENQUIRER.

While Edwards has admitted to having an affair with Rielle, he has shamelessly denied fathering her baby, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Instead, one of his campaign workers, Andrew Young, claimed to be the dad.

But now, at least in private to his wife, he is finally telling the truth, sources reveal to The ENQUIRER.

The ex-senator sprang into action when he saw how upset Rielle had become over Elizabeth’s forthcoming book, Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities, which will be published in May.

“Rielle has become extremely edgy, and John’s been afraid she might go public before Elizabeth’s book comes out so she can put her story out there first,” the close source told The ENQUIRER.

“These concerns led to John telling Rielle that he had sat down with Elizabeth and admitted to being the baby’s father. This is something Rielle had been pushing John to do for a long, long time because he initially told Elizabeth he was not the father.

“The last thing John wants right now is for Rielle to go public before Elizabeth’s book comes out, make new headlines and trigger a nasty battle between the two women.”

In what’s been called the biggest scandal of the 2008 presidential campaign, The ENQUIRER exposed John Edwards’ shocking affair with 44-year-old divorcee Rielle – and the birth of their love child, Frances Quinn, now one year old.

[From The National Enquirer]

I don’t know if the Enquirer has the real story – but there’s one thing I do believe. That child is definitely his! They have the same eyes – even her eyebrows look just like his. Celebitchy and I were comparing photos and we think John Edwards must have had a nose job somewhere along the line, because that baby has his old nose from his teaching days at the University of North Carolina. I do hope that Edwards finally comes clean to his wife. That poor woman has been through hell, and she deserves to know the truth about what a weasel her husband is before she dies.

Photo credits: WENN.

Elizabeth Edwards shared some of her feelings with the Detroit Free Press about the affair her husband, John Edwards, finally admitted to six weeks ago.  With a clearly strong and dedicated devotion to family, Elizabeth opens up about the difficulties of dealing with infidelity and the hope she has for life beyond breast cancer.

Nearly six weeks after news broke of her husband John’s extramarital affair, Elizabeth Edwards opened up about her “ongoing process of finding your feet again.”

“There’s a lot of adjustment to make,” Edwards told the Detroit Free Press in her first interview since her husband, 55, a former presidential candidate, admitted in a TV interview that he had been unfaithful. “Trust … [is] probably the most difficult hurdle.”

Edwards, 59, says that as she continues to undergo treatment for her stage 4 breast cancer, she remains optimistic because “With the research, it looks like there may be a new drug for me down the line. My job is to stay alive until they find a cure. I don’t think there’s any way to live with this diagnosis than to have that kind of optimism.”

[People]

After months of steadfastly campaigning by her husbands side while dealing with the treatment and effects of stage 4 breast cancer, Elizabeth was faced with the public disgrace of her husband’s infidelity and rumors of his fathering a child with the woman he cheated with.  Through all of that, she manages to remain gracious, even refusing to “feed the monster” when asked if she’s forgiven her husband. 

“I don’t want to feed the monster, if you don’t mind.” She added that if she had her leg amputated, as opposed to her husband having an affair, people would not ask: “Are you over that leg thing yet?”

She added, “People had this idea that we represented, as a couple, some sort of perfection … There is no perfection out there.”

[People]

Elizabeth’s main focus is on her children and her advocacy work. Through everything her husband John has put her through, she hopes her children will continue to see their father as “an adovcate for poverty, not this current picture of him, to be the one they carry with him.  I need to create the picture of him that I want them to have.”  That’s admirable of her, for her children’s sake, but so unfair for her at any stage of life, but especially in the one she’s in.  I hope for the sake of John Edward’s soul he thanks not only God but his amazing wife for being her, every single day that he has.

In the meantime, Elizabeth Edwards stays strong and hopeful, and continues to advocate for women’s issues and health care reform.  She testified before Congress on health care reform Thursday and a Detroit visit is scheduled for October 15, during Breast Cancer Awareness month, to speak on coping with the “ongoing process of finding your feet again” after adversity.

Elizabeth Edwards knows adversity, and not surprisingly, she seems to know how to find her feet again, too.

John and Elizabeth Edwards are shown at Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People Gala on 5/8/07. Credit: Janet Mayer / PR Photos

The paperback re-issue of John Edwards’ cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, is raising some new questions about how much Elizabeth knew about her husband’s affair- and how she really felt about it. Her book, “Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers,” was originally published in late 2006 and chronicles her battle with breast cancer as her husband campaigned with John Kerry. The just-issued paperback version of that memoir features some subtle new passages, written by Edwards herself, that could be interpreted as a slam at her husband’s mistress, Rielle Hunter, and at John himself.

Edwards has said that he told his wife about the affair “at the end of 2006” and that everything ended after that.

Indeed, within days of the end of 2006, Web videos produced by Hunter about Edwards disappeared from his campaign Web site and from YouTube.

Sources tell me that it was indeed Elizabeth Edwards who had the videos pulled down when she saw them. The theory among Edwards campaign insiders is that she finally put two and two together. “She realized this blonde woman who was always around and who made these videos, there was something going on,” a source said.

In fact, Hunter and her videos disappeared, only to be replaced by new videos made by a videographer who’d worked for Elizabeth Edwards’ brother, Jay Anania. Peter Cairns had worked for Anania on a project called Commedia and a video called “The Lost Hours.”

In a chapter added to the paperback edition of Edwards’ memoir, “Saving Graces,” the former senator’s wife observes that in 2007: “My brother Jay had a wonderful young man, Peter Cairns, who worked for him, and Peter had begun videotaping the campaign, the events and behind the scenes. We had tried it before but the process of getting the film from the camera to the internet — where I and the public could watch John took much too long.”

Of course, that wasn’t the case. When Hunter shot her videos, sources tell me, a dedicated Internet technician was part of the deal, and managed to get all her videos up on Edwards’ campaign site immediately.

Elizabeth Edwards, of course, is the sympathetic character in the Edwards-Hunter saga by virtue of her cancer. John Edwards told ABC’s Bob Woodruff that he only commenced his affair with Hunter when his wife’s cancer was in remission. In the added chapter, Elizabeth recounts the story of her recurrence in late March 2007. The prognosis was dire.

Curiously, it’s also in that added chapter, amid many thank you’s to people who helped her or reached out to her, that Elizabeth adds a surprisingly bitter note. Sources say that at the time, in March 2007, she may not have been aware that her husband’s affair with Hunter had been rekindled. Hunter got pregnant in late May or early June 2007. The “Saving Graces” paperback was published officially on Aug. 14, 2007.

Elizabeth writes:

“It is hard to describe the test of public life, the way people believe — to some degree correctly — that you belong to them. There are awful examples, of course, of those whose motives are selfish or not admirable, who pry their way into the lives of public people in order to exploit a kindness or a generous gesture. They are to be endured and, to some extent I largely chose to ignore, feared. They remind me of a more malicious version of the people who wandered into our house in Annapolis, walking around our living room, putting their hands on our things. It is a sad fact that these people are a threat to anyone with even the smallest amount of celebrity.”

[From Fox 411]

I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Elizabeth to want the video footage taken by her husband’s mistress removed from his web site- I think it’s the least John Edwards could do for her. She probably came up with the explanation about the lag in posting the footage on YouTube before John finally came clean about the affair to the public. Clearly, there was a period of time where Elizabeth knew about the affair before the rest of the world did. I do believe that the new chapter is pointed squarely at Hunter- who not only walked through the Edwards home and put her hands on everything, but also helped herself to John Edwards. I can’t say I’m surprised that Elizabeth is angry. Who wouldn’t be? And I’d also bet that she feels even more anger towards John himself- hence the change in her book dedication. It’s just sad that Elizabeth feels obligated to spend the remainder of her time left with a cheater.

This is John Edwards with a random baby on the campaign trail, not the baby he allegedly fathered
In that other political baby drama, Rielle Hunter, the mistress of John Edwards, has reportedly not received a dime in child support from her child’s alleged father, Edwards campaign worker Andrew Young. Hmmm. Maybe that’s because he’s totally not the dad, and everyone knows it, and Edwards should just give up this stupid charade and come clean about it? Maybe??

Despite campaign aide Andrew Young’s claim that he fathered the baby of Edwards’ mistress Rielle Hunter, The Enquirer has learned that Young has never given her a dime.

The 44-year-old blond divorcee is still being paid “hush money,” but absolutely no child support or other monetary compensation has ever been made by Young, say sources.

Young told The Enquirer last year – when Rielle was seven months pregnant – that he was the baby’s father. But when Rielle gave birth in February, no father was listed on the birth certificate. And now Young has clammed up about the bizarre cover-up.

“Andrew Young hasn’t paid a red cent to Rielle or her baby Frances because he’s never had a relationship with Rielle and he’s not the father,” revealed a close source.

“He hasn’t even spoken to Rielle in two months since since she lived with him and his wife Cheri and their three kids in Santa Barbara, Calif. as part of the coverup.

“As you can imagine, that wasn’t a great living situation and after Rielle and Cheri butted heads, Rielle moved into her own home.

“The Youngs no longer have contact with Rielle. Now, if Andrew was indeed the father, don’t you think Rielle would be asking for child support? But Andrew Young has never supported Rielle or that baby financially.”

Wealthy Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron – national finance chairman for Edwards’ failed presidential campaign – confirmed an Enquirer report that he was the secret “money man” behind payments to Hunter.

He vehemently denied breaking any laws, and said he was simply helping “two friends and former colleagues (Hunter and Young) rebuild their lives.

[From The National Enquirer print version, Sept. 15, 2008]

Yeah, right. He was helping a friend all right: John Edwards. It’s bad enough that Edwards was basically forced into admitting his disgusting affair behind his dying wife’s back – only when his back was against the wall and there was no way to keep denying it. But to keep up with this farcical denial of being the father of that child is just adding further insult to his family’s already significant injury. His political career is pretty much dunzo- why prolong the inevitable? A simple paternity test would put an end to this- and neither Hunter nor Edwards will agree to one. Why is that?

I really like Senator John Edwards. I had a lot of hope for him as a Presidential candidate in 2004 and I was rooting for him to secure the nomination instead of Kerry. He has a very warm personality and seems like a great guy. When Edwards gave Obama his endorsement I had visions of him as Vice President. What a disappointment it is to hear that Edwards thinks with his dick and has been screwing around on his cancer-stricken wife.

The National Enquirer has been breaking this story since late last year. They’ve had reporters on Edwards and they caught him at a hotel visiting his mistress and her five month-old baby in July. They even had a blurry photo in their latest issue of Edwards holding the infant, a girl named Francis Quinn Hunter.

Edwards, 55, gave an interview to Nightline which will be broadcast tonight in which he admits to an affair with Rielle Hunter, a 44 year-old filmmaker he hired to do work for his campaign. He claims her baby is not his, though, due to “timing,” but has not taken a paternity test.

The Enquirer has Edwards funneling money to his mistress through other people in an elaborate scheme. Edwards’ former campaign aid, Andrew Young, claims to be the father of Hunter’s baby. Young is married and is now set up in a $5.6 million mansion in Santa Barbara with his current wife and family along with Hunter, who don’t get along. The home where they’re all living together is said to belong to a rich retiree who is a friend and supporter of Edwards.

Another Edwards supporter sends $15,000 a month to Hunter according to the Enquirer. They say that Andrew Young may be paid as much as $20,000 additional a month “to carry out the coverup.”

Both Young and Hunter claim that Young is the father of her baby, but neither will take a paternity test or polygraph, nor will they sign an affidavit. There is no father listed on the baby’s birth certificate.

In his Nightline interview, Edwards will say that he didn’t give Hunter any money but that “it was possible some of his friends or supporters may have made payments without telling him.”

He also claims that the affair occurred when his wife’s cancer was in remission, and says that he told family about his infidelity in 2006. His wife was not aware that he was visiting Hunter secretly at a hotel in July to see that baby that he says isn’t his.

Edwards repeatedly lied about the affair when he was running for President late last year, saying that the Enquirer’s reports at the time were “completely untrue.”

It seems suspicious to me that Edwards is saying the baby isn’t his but hasn’t taken a paternity test and was seen holding the infant. He’s also not doing his shattered credibility any favors by not owing up to sending this woman money.

Edwards has three surviving children out of four with his wife Elizabeth, who has an incurable form of stage IV breast cancer. They have daughters Cate, 26, and Emma Claire, 10, and son Jack, 8. Their oldest son Wade died in a car accident in 1996 when he was just 17.

This really upsets me because Edwards gives the impression that he’s a family man. He lied and seems to be continuing to lie when he could just as easily admit to fathering a child as well as having an affair. He wouldn’t be the first politician to cheat on a wife suffering from medical problems. John McCain left his first wife, the mother of his three oldest sons, after she was disfigured in a car accident. He married his current wife, Cindy, just a month later.

A lot of people rip on the Enquirer and dismiss them as a “tabloid,” but they’re like a wise alcoholic aunt. It’s easy to dismiss what she’s saying because of the way she looks and how raspy her voice sounds, but she knows the neighborhood gossip before everyone else and she’s usually right. And her drug-addicted sister, Star Magazine, makes her look bad just by association.

John Edwards is shown at “the AARP Foundation Symposium on Poverty and Aging” in Washington, DC on 7/30/08. Credit: Carrie Devorah / WENN

Details and quotes from ABCNews.com and The National Enquirer, print edition, August 18, 2008.