Rielle Hunter
Gossip

John Edwards' former aide, Andrew Young, appeared before a Federal Grand Jury Investigation last night at the Terry Sanford Federal Building in Raleigh, N.C.

Young, a longtime Edwards loyalist, met with the Feds regarding how his former employer spent the funds earmarked for his 2008 presidential campaign.

Yesterday, we reported how Andrew Young has been shopping a tell-all book about John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter and the cover-up surrounding it.

The book supposedly will detail how Edwards is the father of Hunter's baby  girl - not Young, despite his initial public claim of paternity - as well the alleged Rielle Hunter-John Edwards sex tape Young recently uncovered.

Sex tape or no sex tape, it now appears Young has greater motivation to come clean about the cover up than book royalties - he's out to save his own ass.

The National Enquirer reports that the cover-up was allegedly bankrolled by the late Fred Baron, an Edwards supporter who had been instrumental in making hush money payments to Rielle Hunter in the aftermath of her affair with John.

With John Edwards now under investigation for possible misuse of campaign funds funneled to his mistress, it is believed that Young, who originally took the fall for the politician, may be willing to spill the beans in exchange for immunity.

Conspiracy to misuse federal campaign funds for personal use is a felony, and with Young, the former fall guy, revealing what he knows now, he would not be liable for perjury if called to testify in a Federal Grand Jury investigation.

The Edwards campaign is alleged to have paid Hunter to leave town after the affair became public, as well as for her to keep quiet about DNA testing.

Despite being forced to admit sleeping with Rielle after the Enquirer busted him red-handed, Edwards has denied paternity and financial wrongdoing.

Mark Sanford has taken the political baton of infidelity from John Edwards and run with it well. But the latter isn't about to give up without a fight!

According to reports, former Edwards aide Andrew Young says the ex-presidential candidate once made a sex tape with his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

St. Martin’s Press just inked a deal with Young, who also says in his book proposal that, contrary to his public statement last year, he is not the father of Rielle’s adorable baby daughter, Frances Quinn. Rather, John Edwards is.

John Edwards has denied this.

Young says that his belief in Edwards ran so deep that he agreed to be the fall guy for the Democratic candidate, even going so far as to invite the pregnant Rielle Hunter to live with him, his wife, Cheri, and their three kids.

After Hunter delivered the baby, Young and his family moved to a different home in California. While he was unpacking, Young discovered an odd videotape - one that involved Edwards taking positions that weren’t on his official platform.

The purported Rielle Hunter sex tape confirms that Edwards was even shadier than thought. Then again, it's hard to beat hiding in the can from the Enquirer.

Andrew Young, right, and John Edwards on the campaign trail.

Sex tape or no sex tape, Rielle Hunter confided to Andrew Young that she and Edwards talked about getting married should his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth die.

Elizabeth Edwards is said to hold Young partly to blame for her husband’s affair, since Young knew about it and used his cell phone to conference John and Rielle.

Young says that, in revenge, Elizabeth arranged for the media to learn about a youthful misdemeanor in which Young was busted for stealing a sign from a bar.

Elizabeth Edwards also suspects Young stole the baseball card collection of her late son, Wade, according to a source who says that she told Young in an e-mail that some other former staff members “have passed lie detector tests.”

Young also contends that Edwards and 2004 running mate John Kerry clashed often, and that before he owned up to his affair with Hunter, Barack Obama promised he’d make him attorney general if he didn’t pick him as his 2008 V.P.

Rielle Hunter and baby Frances Quinn, whose father may be John Edwards.

It's a good day to be John Edwards.

Now that Mark Sanford's affair with Maria Belen Shapur has officially replaced his weird relationship with Rielle Hunter as the political scandal everyone is talking about, maybe the two-time presidential candidate can rebuild his career and reputation.

Or not.

Despite the surprise unveiling of Mark Sanford's affair doing heavy damage to the South Carolina Governor's political future, he did not knock her up at least.

Not that we know of, anyway. For John Edwards, his extramarital boinking of Rielle Hunter is said to have resulted in a love child, and an adorable one too.

Check out this adorable picture of Frances Quinn Hunter, born in 2008, along with that of her alleged former U.S. Senator dad (who denies the allegations).

Rielle is said to be pushing for a DNA test. We don't expect Edwards to agree, but if he's somehow forced to by a court, will it show him to be Frances' pop?

Right now, no one can answer that definitively. But Edwards has been beyond shady, and she has the nicest eyes, much like a certain handsome politician ...

Is Frances Quinn Hunter John Edwards' love child? Will admitted mistress Rielle Hunter attempt to prove this and thus create more controversy? We can only hope so.

John Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, has agreed to a bombshell interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters, according to the National Enquirer.

"Rielle will break her silence for the first time with Barbara Walters. The interview will air on ABC in June," a source told the celeb news magazine.

It was as inevitable, as the reason is obvious: Rielle is pissed that she went out of her way to vanish and protect John Edwards last August, only to have his wife, Elizabeth, bash her repeatedly in a new memoir and in the press.

"Rielle is so angry with Elizabeth Edwards for trashing her repeatedly while promoting her book," says the Enquirer source. "She's decided to break from John. She's going to defend herself and tell her side of the story!"

In deciding to go public with her side of the story - whatever that is - John Edwards' weird mistress was debating between Walters or Diane Sawyer.

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

Moreover, sources say Rielle wants a DNA test to legally establish that her 1-year-old daughter, Frances Quinn, is in fact John Edwards' love child.

Last year, when Edwards admitted the affair, he still denied paternity and Hunter insisted that there would be no DNA test. A former Edwards aide, Andrew Young, claimed to be the father and promptly fell off the face of the Earth.

If baby Frances Quinn is the spawn of John Edwards, she could inherit $10 million of his estimated $40 million fortune. The two-time presidential candidate and Elizabeth have an adult daughter, Cate, and two younger children.

The Enquirer says Rielle is working with a lawyer to take legal action.

"Rielle is going to work with an attorney to make sure her baby is entitled to a share of the Edwards' family wealth," a source close to Hunter divulged.

Hunter decided she wanted a paternity test done after the release of Elizabeth Edwards' new book, Resilience, which labels her "pathetic" and worse.

John Edwards' marriage is over.

So claims the National Enquirer, the publication that first broke the story of his affair with Rielle Hunter in late 2007, then caught him red-handed visiting his mistress in August 2008, forcing him to publicly admit the stunning liaison.

In its new issue, the celebrity news tabloid says his terminally ill wife, Elizabeth Edwards, kicked John out of their bedroom more than two years ago when he confessed to cheating on her, and the two are now officially living apart.

While the disgraced two-time presidential candidate occasionally spends time at their sprawling North Carolina mansion for the sake of their two younger children, the couple - who married in 1977 - have slept apart for years now, insiders say.

That's the true state of the Edwards' marriage - even as Elizabeth and John recently told Oprah Winfrey that they're working to rebuild their broken union.

Edwards' secret affair and likely love child with Rielle Hunter led to a blockbuster story - and for whatever reason, Elizabeth seems intent on trashing John and Rielle with her memoir, Resilience, and subsequent media tour.

On Oprah's May 7 broadcast, amid rumors that Hunter wants a paternity test, Edwards meekly echoed his wife's claims that they were working on things.

KICKED OUT: Like Kate Gosselin and Steve Neild, John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter has resulted in severe marital woes for the former U.S. Senator and V.P. nominee.

People close to the fallen political heavyweight say he has little choice but to accept the public punishment his cancer-stricken wife is doling out.

"John has no choice than to follow Elizabeth's lead," says a source. "He has completely destroyed her and their lives by repeatedly lying."

"His betrayal was so severe that there is no marriage to go back to. They are staying together for the sake of their children and reputations. But if things were different, if Elizabeth wasn't sick, she would divorce him in a heartbeat."

Elizabeth told Oprah the couple is working to rebuild their trust, but according to the Enquirer, the reality is she banished John Edwards from their bedroom when he first admitted his affair with Rielle to her in December 2006.

She was rumored to have tossed him out of their Chapel Hill, N.C., home, back in August when he publicly admitted the affair: "After John was caught, Elizabeth told him to simply, 'Get out of the house!'" a source divulged.

John Edwards with the woman who broke up his marriage.

Elizabeth Edwards may have terminally cancer, but she's not fading away into the sunset quietly - she's apparently determined to take down Rielle Hunter.

On Thursday's Oprah Winfrey Show, Elizabeth once gain slammed the mistress of her husband John - this time on television. The gloves are coming off.

Elizabeth recalled to Winfrey how Rielle Hunter - whom she never mentioned by name picked up her husband in a hotel, telling him, "You are so hot."

It was as awkward hearing the terminally ill, scorned wife recall and try to say this as it probably was to have witnessed it happen in the first place.

"There is no excuse for women to do this," said Edwards, whose book, Resilience, is coming out soon. "Women need to have respect for other women."

"You can't just knock on that door and say you're out, I'm in," added the mother of three. "If you admire that life, you can't just take it. Build your own."

Elizabeth also discussed whether John Edwards is the father of Hunter's one-year-old daughter. Rielle now reportedly wants a paternity test after basically taking the fall for John and falling off the face of the planet after the story broke.

"I've seen a picture of the baby," she told Oprah. "I have no idea. It doesn't look like my children, but I don't have any idea."

John and Elizabeth say they working on repairing their 31-year marriage.

Asked if they are in a better place, John told Winfrey, "I feel like we're getting to it. It's not over, but we're getting to it. I love her. I care about her."

Says Elizabeth, "It's an ongoing process of finding your feet again. You know, finding, sort of retelling your story to yourself. There's a lot of adjustments to make. And when you talk about trust, I think that's probably the most difficult hurdle."

Follow the jump for some video highlights of Edwards' interview ...

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As if Elizabeth Edwards' book tour - one seemingly designed only to humiliate John Edwards and Rielle Hunter - the former presidential candidate's furious mistress is demanding he submit to a DNA test, according to National Enquirer.

NOTE: Before discrediting this report based on the source, do recall that it was this very celebrity gossip tabloid that broke the story of his affair - and the possible love child that Rielle gave birth to in February 2008 - in the first place.

When Edwards finally came clean regarding the affair last August, he said the father was his former aide, Andrew Young, and Hunter declared that there would not be any paternity testing on her daughter, Frances Quinn. Quite convenient.

But now, the Enquirer says she wants proof that John Edwards is the father of her 14-month-old love child and is working with a lawyer to take legal action.

The blonde divorcee, 41, has been derided as pathetic in the new book, Resilience, written by the ex-senator's cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth Edwards.

Rielle's sudden move to determine paternity is a clear signal that she is no longer willing to protect the philandering politician, according to sources. 

Having been thrown under the bus by Elizabeth Edwards in her new book, an enraged Rielle Hunter is apparently trying to take John Edwards down with her.

Edwards is also the subject of a federal investigation into the possible misuse of campaign funds in payments made to Hunter's "production company."

"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 source close to Hunter told The Enquirer.

Of the likely fabrication that Andrew Young is the father, the source adds:

"[Rielle Hunter] was willing to protect John for the sake of the child. She agreed to allow a crony of his to claim publicly that he is 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."

"Rielle is so infuriated by his and Elizabeth's actions that she's throwing her loyalty to him out of the window! Rielle wants the paternity of her daughter Frances finally established. She knows it could ruin John for good."

Ruin him how? Quashing a third presidential run?

Seems like he's pretty ruined as is, but why not pile it on? He's still probably lying about the child, after all, and we'd hate to see him get away with that. Seriously, who cheats on their cancer-stricken wife while running for president?

Think a small part of Elizabeth Edwards is loving this right now?

In a new interview with Oprah Winfrey, Elizabeth Edwards says it's "complicated" when asked about the state of her marriage to John Edwards, a former presidential aspirant whose affair with Rielle Hunter torpedoed his career.

"Neither one of us is out the door," said Elizabeth, who has terminal breast cancer. "So I guess it's day by day, maybe it's month by month."

Elizabeth Edwards - who spoke to Winfrey from her family's home in Chapel Hill, N.C. - says they're "still living together." But asked if she still loves her husband, she replied, "You know, that's a complicated question."

Denise Richards can sympathize with such complicatedness, though the federal investigation into John's suspect payments to Rielle take it a step further.

Days after declaring his second run for president in 2006, John confessed that he had an affair. The National Enquirer broke the story about a year later.

Looking back on their marriage, Elizabeth tells Winfrey she asked John Edwards for just one gift before her wedding 31 years ago: "I wanted him to be faithful to me. It was enormously important to me." That's gotta hurt.

He long denied it publicly, but John Edwards confessed to the affair in an August 2008 interview after getting busted visiting Rielle Hunter and their alleged love child. He still denies paternity of her daughter, Frances Quinn.

Asked about the baby issue, Elizabeth says, "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."

As for how John met Rielle Hunter, Elizabeth offers this:

"What John said was that this woman spotted him in the hotel in which he was staying. He was meeting someone in the restaurant bar area, and [Hunter] verified with someone who he worked with that it was John," she recalled.

"John went to dinner at a nearby restaurant and when he walked back to the hotel, she was standing in front of the hotel. She said to him, 'You are so hot.'"

Choosing not to address Rielle Hunter by name, Elizabeth continued, "This person is very different from me, and really very different from him. So, this was a pretty big leap for him. Maybe it's being so different is what was attractive."

Asked about her mortality, Elizabeth says it's not "frightening," but she prays for an "ever-after. I would be leaving part of my family, but I can do [that] and join another party and wait for that day when we're all together again."

"In some ways, it's something you yearn for."

IT'S COMPLICATED: John Edwards' marriage to Elizabeth is certainly murky after his boning of Rielle Hunter. His political future is quite clear, however - there is none.

John Edwards' probing of Rielle Hunter torpedoed his political career and nearly his marriage. Now a federal probe into his finances is throwing gasoline on the fire.

The two-time presidential candidate is being investigated over his use of campaign funds - a subject that could carry the married Edwards' now-infamous affair with videographer Hunter from celebrity gossip tabloids to the courtroom.

The subject of federal scrutiny is the more than $100,000 Edwards' political action committee paid Hunter's firm for production of online campaign videos.

"I am confident no funds from my campaign were used improperly," Edwards said, addressing the matter in a carefully-worded statement.

"However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter."

A range of other Edwards fundraising organizations - two non-profits and a poverty center at his alma mater - have also come under greater scrutiny.

Chief among them? The PAC that paid the company owned by Rielle Hunter for web videos documenting John Edwards' travels and advocacy in '06.

The committee also paid her an additional $14,086.50 on April 1, 2007.

At the time of that payment to Hunter, the PAC only had $7,932.95 in cash, according to the Federal Election Commission. That day, Edwards' presidential campaign paid the PAC $14,034.61 for what is listed as a "furniture purchase."

Willfully converting money from a political action committee for personal use is a federal crime. Edwards has said he was unaware of the payments.

Since being forced to admit the affair after being busted visiting Hunter and his possible love child with her last August, Edwards has been largely MIA.

His wife, Elizabeth Edwards, who is terminally ill with cancer, will soon be releasing a book, Resilience, talking about the affair. In it, she writes that news of the affair made her vomit. She also describes Rielle Hunter as "pathetic."

In her new memoir, Resilience, Elizabeth Edwards reveals she vomited in a bathroom after learning of the affair between her husband, former U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful John Edwards, and weird videographer Rielle Hunter.

When she heard, "I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up," wrote Elizabeth Edwards, 59, who is battling terminal breast cancer.

She says that John Edwards admitted to having an affair with Rielle Hunter just days after declaring his run for president in late 2006 - or nearly a year before the National Enquirer broke the story in December 2007.

Elizabeth does note that when John initially admitted the affair, he "left most of the truth out." Like the part about possibly fathering her kid, maybe?

To protect her and their three children from scrutiny, Elizabeth says she urged John to quit the race, eventually won by Barack Obama. He did not.

In August 2008, the Enquirer again reported he was the father of Rielle Hunter's daughter, but this time busted him visiting her secretly at an L.A. hotel.

John was pretty much forced to admit that he hit that after that incident, though he still denies paternity. Elizabeth does not address this in the book.

Elizabeth also takes aim at Rielle, whom she never identifies by name, in writing that Hunter initially seduced her husband outside a fancy New York hotel by giving him the time-honored compliment, "You are so hot."

What politician could say no to that?

She says Hunter - who was paid $114,000 from his political action committee to produce web documentaries - was nothing more than a sad groupie.

While her own life may be tragic, Elizabeth says, Hunter's is "pathetic."

Although she long struggled to cope with her husband's affair, Elizabeth suggests she forgives John - who she was rumored to have kicked out of the house - and says that they are now on much better terms.

"I lie in bed, circles under my eyes, my sparse hair sticking in too many directions, and [John] looks at me as if I am the most beautiful woman he has ever seen," the accomplished attorney reflects. It matters."

THE WOMEN OF JOHN EDWARDS: His cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth Edwards, his weird mistress / ex-employee Rielle Hunter, and his likely love child Frances Quinn.