John Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, did the talk show rounds earlier this month promoting her new book, Resilience. The Edwards were the focus of a huge scandal last year when John finally admitted he cheated on Elizabeth, a cancer sufferer, with a woman he hired to make video documentaries of his Presidential campaign. It’s hard to tell whether the mistress’ lucrative job with the Edwards’ campaign or the cheating came first. The mistress went on to have a baby, which John denies is his.

Elizabeth has mildly trash-talked John’s mistress, Rielle Hunter, while doing press. Although she refuses to refer to Rielle by name, Elizabeth calls her “pathetic” in her book and has said things like “There is no excuse for women to do this,” and “This person is very different from me, and really very different from [John]. We’re basically old-fashioned people. So, this was a pretty big leap for him.” She also stood by her husband, despite admitting that John initially lied to her about the extent of his affair, claiming at first that he only cheated one night in a “moment of weakness.”

The National Enquirer, which broke the cheating story, says that Elizabeth kicked John out of the house two years ago when she learned about the affair and hasn’t taken him back. She may be acting like she forgives him for the sake of their family and public image, but maybe it’s different behind closed doors.

Now The Enquirer has insider information that Rielle is about to go public with her side of the story. The other woman has remained quiet for the over eight months since this story received worldwide press. All that’s about to change with an interview with Barbara Walters:

WORLDWIDE ENQUIRER EXCLUSIVE: John Edwards’ mistress Rielle Hunter has agreed to sit down for a bombshell interview with ABC News Barbara Walters, the ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.

“Rielle will break her silence for the first time with Barbara Walters. The interview will air on ABC in June,” a source told The ENQUIRER.

“Rielle is so angry with Elizabeth Edwards for trashing her repeatedly while promoting her book that she’s decided to break from John. She’s going to defend herself and tell her side of the story!”

The ENQUIRER previously reported Rielle was considering going public, narrowing her choice of interviewer to Walters or fellow TV journo Diane Sawyer.

“Rielle thinks Barbara will relate to her better because she admitted to a long-ago extramarital affair in her memoirs,” the source revealed.

AND after a DNA test proves once and for all that Rielle’s daughter, 1-year-old Frances Quinn, is John Edwards’ love child, the little girl stands to get a whopping $10 million of his fortune!

Sources told The ENQUIRER that Rielle is demanding her baby get a quarter of the disgraced former presidential candidate’s estate, which is worth an estimated $40 million.

As The ENQUIRER recently reported, Rielle is demanding that Edwards submit to a DNA test to prove he fathered her daughter, and she’s working with a lawyer to take legal action, sources say.

The 45-year-old blonde divorcee decided to push for the DNA test after Elizabeth Edwards slammed her in her book, and called her “pathetic.”

“Rielle is going to work with an attorney to make sure her baby is entitled to a share of the Edwards’ family wealth.” the source divulged.

[From The National Enquirer's Website]

John Edwards is currently under federal investigation for suspicion of funneling campaign money to Hunter. Edwards’ former campaign aid, married Andrew Young, claims to be the father of Hunter’s baby, which many people think is a complete ruse in order to take the heat off Edwards. According to an Enquirer article in August, 2008, Edwards set up Young and his wife in a $5.6 million mansion in Santa Barbara along with Hunter and the baby. The home where they were living at the time belonged to a rich retiree who happened to be a friend and supporter of Edwards. Rielle is now thought to be on her own without any financial support from Edwards.

If Rielle talks about the money in that interview with Barbara Walters it could potentially put Edwards in very hot water. There’s also the issue of her baby daughter’s paternity and whether or not John is the father – of course he is, but he hasn’t taken a DNA test yet. This could be expensive, embarrassing and incriminating for him on several counts. I can’t wait to read this story in the Enquirer and to see this interview!

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.

Elizabeth Edwards was on The Today Show this morning promoting her new book Resilience. She spoke candidly about preparing for the end of her life from cancer, about the tragic loss of her son, Wade, at the age of 16 in a car accident, and about her reasons for staying with her husband, former Presidential Candidate John Edwards, despite the fact that he cheated on her and ultimately admitted it to the media. Elizabeth came across as determined to keep her marriage and family together no matter what, and you can tell she chooses what to believe when it comes to her husband’s infidelity. She called his affair, which resulted in a child, “one mistake,” and said that he’s otherwise a wonderful husband.

When asked if her book was about revenge or an attempt to rake her husband over the coals, Elizabeth said that she had planned it well before she learned about the affair. As for whether Edwards illegally funneled campaign money to Rielle, who Elizabeth asked not to be referred to by name, she said that it’s not possible because campaign finances are public record. She also claims to have stood by her husband during the campaign because she believed at that point that the affair was just a one night fling. Doesn’t that mean that John made more than one mistake? You would think that lying to her about the affair would count as another separate mistake or at least a compounded one. Add a baby to the mix and that’s three strikes:

“This sounds odd, but except for this very big thing that he had done that was bad, I thought I was married — I believe [I am] now — to a magnificent man, someone who truly cared about other people,” the wife of former North Carolina senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Monday in New York. It was her first live television interview since the publication of her book, “Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities”

Edwards has had her share of adversities. She is living with stage 4 breast cancer that has metastasized to her bones and other organs. And she had to deal with the revelation last year that the one-night stand her husband confessed to her was actually an extended affair with a younger woman that may have resulted in his fathering an illegitimate daughter.

Love despite all
During an hour-long prerecorded interview with Oprah Winfrey last week, Edwards had appeared to vacillate when answering a question about whether she still loves her husband. She told Lauer that her answer was misinterpreted in media reports.

She talked about how, when she knew she had incurable cancer and was lying in bed with her sparse hair going in every direction, her husband looked at her as if she was the prettiest girl in the world. “I see in the way that he looks at me and cares for me that this relationship is the essential relationship of his life as it is for my life,” Edwards told Lauer.

“He’s been a marvelous father,” she said, adding that John Edwards is genuinely dedicated to battling poverty around the world and helping others. “He made this one mistake, so do I throw out all the good stuff and say, ‘That doesn’t matter, only this matters?’ ” she asked.

So, in answer to Lauer’s question of whether she loves her husband, Edwards replied: “I do love him. I wouldn’t be making all this effort and undergoing all this scrutiny if I didn’t love him. I need him and I really believe he needs me.”

In the wake of the highly publicized affair with freelance videographer Rielle Hunter that was originally exposed by the National Enquirer, John Edwards is under investigation for possible felonies connected to payments made to Hunter through his campaign committee. But Elizabeth Edwards said she is confident her husband broke no laws.

“Not possible” that husband funneled money to Hunter
“The way campaign funds are distributed are all a matter of record,” she said. “It’s just not possible” that her husband is guilty of criminal behavior with the funds, she added.

Airing dirty laundry?
Edwards has been harshly criticized by columnists Maureen Dowd of The New York Times and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post for airing her family’s laundry in public. Dowd accused Edwards of “flogging” her husband in public. Quinn excoriated her for letting Edwards run in the Democratic presidential primaries last year while knowing that he had had an affair.

Edwards told Lauer that at the time, she thought that her husband had been guilty of a one-night indiscretion, as he originally had assured her. Had she known that it was much more than that, she said, “I probably would have been more adamant about his not running than I was.”

In her book, Edwards says she hopes that her children will tell their own children that she “stood in the storm.”

Edwards also denied accusations that she wrote the book to gain revenge against Hunter. During the TODAY interview as well as other interviews Edwards has given about the book, Hunter’s name was never mentioned on the air.

“That was never my purpose,” she said.

[From MSNBC]

This lady is dying and I don’t blame her for trying to do what she can to keep her family together and leave a legacy for her children. You can tell that she pins the whole thing on the mistress, though, and doesn’t think her husband is capable of the level of deception required to carry out an affair for months, father a child, and arrange a home, money and decoy boyfriend for the other woman. Yes he might have stood by Elizabeth when she was sick, but was John sneaking out from his wife’s bedside to meet Rielle in hotels? He told her it was just one night and then was caught out in a huge elaborate lie, just like he lied to the media when he claimed Rielle’s baby wasn’t his. Elizabeth kind of faltered when asked what she would do when the DNA test was ordered, and you can tell she hadn’t really considered the possibility or was trying not to think about it. We’ll soon be hearing that the baby is indeed John’s, but given the way Elizabeth is acting it probably won’t cause her much additional pain. She refuses to believe that her husband is at all culpable for the affair and sees it as a blemish on his record rather than the major betrayal that it was.

As most people probably remember, when the story broke about John Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter, the news was broken by The National Enquirer. The Enquirer has stayed on every detail of this story, and in turn, has broken several more John Edwards-related news. The Enquirer broke the story that Edwards was being investigated for fraud and misuse of campaign finances, all related to the affair.

Now the Enquirer is claiming that Rielle Hunter is really pissed about the way Elizabeth Edwards has come after her. Elizabeth is out promoting her new book, Resilience, and Elizabeth has been bashing Rielle as “pathetic”. The worst of it (for Rielle) was most likely Elizabeth and John’s appearance on Oprah, where they seemed to be presenting an image of familial dysfunction yet familial loyalty. Elizabeth told Oprah (regarding the affair): “There is no excuse for women to do this… Women need to have respect for other women.”

So Rielle is pissed. And she’s fighting back – the Enquirer claims that Rielle is threatening to come clean about her baby’s paternity. Rielle will demand that John Edwards take a DNA test to confirm that he is the father of her 14-month-old daughter Frances. The Enquirer has long claimed the baby Frances is John’s, but John and Elizabeth have stopped short of confirming it. When Oprah asked Elizabeth, Elizabeth said “I’ve seen a picture of the baby… I have no idea. It doesn’t look like my children, but I don’t have any idea.”

John Edwards’ furious mistress is demanding he submit to a DNA test, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively!

Rielle Hunter – the longtime secret lover of the disgraced 2-time presidential candidate – wants definitive proof that Edwards is the father of her 14-month-old love child Frances and is working with a lawyer to take legal action, say sources.

The blonde divorcee – who gave birth in February 2008 – was slammed in the explosive new book Resilience written by the ex-senator’s cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth.

The ENQUIRER was the first to expose the extramarital affair in 2007, and Rielle’s sudden move to determine paternity is a clear signal that she is no longer willing to protect the philandering politician, who still has not admitted that he’s the father of her baby. Edwards recently confirmed he’s also the subject of a federal probe into possible campaign funds misuse in paying off hush money to Hunter.

“Rielle – probably naively – now realizes she had held onto a false promise that if she continued to take part in the cover-up John had engineered, they’d be together in the future,” a close source told The ENQUIRER.

“She was willing to protect John for the sake of the child. She agreed to allow a crony of his to claim he was the baby’s father, and she even kept the name of the father blank on the birth certificate.

“But now she can see there’s never going to be a future with John – and she feels he’s lied about his promise to keep Elizabeth from trashing her in the book,” the insider divulged.

“Rielle is so infuriated by his and Elizabeth’s actions that she’s throwing her loyalty to him out of the window!”

The source added: “Rielle wants the paternity of her daughter Frances finally established. It could ruin John for good because even after admitting the affair, he vehemently denied being the father!”

[From The National Enquirer]

I’ve always believed the father of the baby was, in fact, John Edwards. Much as he and Elizabeth want to deny it and bash Rielle Hunter, they can’t ignore the questions surrounding this baby’s paternity. However, I don’t think John made promises to Rielle about how they would be together, or anything about their future together. I believe that when Rielle became pregnant and decided to keep the baby, John and his closest circle of friends orchestrated a half-assed financial and paternity cover-up, which included pairing Rielle off with one of John’s friends. What Rielle was most likely promised was money, not love or affection. Perhaps Rielle thinks that if the Edwards family is going to continue to come after her, she’s going to need a bigger slice of the pie.