John Edwards Admits Affair with Rielle Hunter, Denies He Fathered Lover's Baby

Fri. August 8, 2008 12:00 AM by Gay Link Content

the national enquirer breaks edwards affair

photo credit // www.nationalenquirer.com
Los Angeles, CA - Former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards has finally admitted he did have sex with that woman. The former North Carolina senator confessed to Nightline's Bob Woodruff that he did cheat on his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth Edwards, by having an affair with Rielle Hunter.

However, Edwards denies The National Enquirer's dogged accusations that he fathered his mistress' baby daughter, Frances Quinn Hunter.

Just two weeks ago, Edwards vehemently denied rumors of the alleged affair, even after Enquirer reporters found him holed up in Los Angeles' Beverly Hilton Hotel, where Hunter was staying with her infant daughter.

Now Edwards has changed his tune, admitting that he cheated on his wife when she was in remission from breast cancer.

With Edwards maintaining he is not the baby's father, that leaves his former campaign aide, a married father of three, Andrew Young, still taking the heat as the child's father. No paternity test has been taken to determine the true father's identity.

When the Enquirer first alleged that Edwards had fathered an illegitimate child in December of 2007, Young stepped up and claimed paternity, although his name is not listed on the baby's birth certificate.

Earlier this week the tabloid produced a picture they said was taken of Edwards at the spot where National Enquirer journalists reportedly cornered him several weeks ago—The Beverly Hilton.

A blurry photo depicting what appears to be a smiling Edwards sporting a t-shirt and bouncing baby Frances Quinn on his knee, are currently featured in a two-page spread in the Enquirer's latest edition.

"He's been caught lying about his affair with Rielle and their love child for many months—and now the proof against him is piling up," an insider told Enquirer reporters.

The Enquirer reported in late July that former presidential candidate Edwards paid a night-long visit to his long-rumored mistress Hunter at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Edwards reportedly arrived at the hotel in the evening and stayed through until the wee hours of the morning, the tabloid reported.

Working off of a tip that Hunter had reserved two rooms at the Beverly Hilton for a secret meeting with Edwards, two of the paper's senior reporters, Alan Butterfield and Alexander Hitchen, claim they questioned a startled Edwards in a stairwell about the alleged affair, after he'd been spotted visiting Hunter. The reporters said that Edwards ran into a men's room to avoid the barrage of questions, where he remained for about 15 minutes.

More recently, The Charlotte Observer threw another twist in the story revealing that Hunter's daughter's birth certificate does not name a father. The baby girl was born on February 27, over two months after Edwards' campaign finance director Young had declared to the public that he was her father, not Edwards. Now some are asking why, if he really is the father, was Young's name left off the baby's birth certificate?

Hunter's attorney, Robert Gordon, was quick to respond to questions about the missing information by saying that "a lot of women" choose not to list a father for their child on the birth certificate, according to the Raleigh News Observer. "That is a personal matter between them," Gordon said.

Until now, mainstream media news sources largely ignored the Enquirer story about the alleged meeting between Edwards and Hunter at the Beverly Hilton and the ongoing rumors of an affair between them. Now that the word is "official" from Edwards himself, the mainstream media has finally jumped on the story full-tilt, making it the lead headline across the Net within minutes of the announcement Edwards had confessed.



Written By Maggie Taylor and Ann Turner

Article provided in partnership with GayLinkContent.com.

 

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