Rielle Hunter on Oprah: It’s Elizabeth Edwards’ Fault I’m John Edwards’ Mistress

Is Elizabeth to blame for Hunter's cheating?

Rielle Hunter Slams Oprah’s “Belief System” in GQ Interview

One of Rielle Hunter’s Infamous GQ photos

Rielle Hunter was interviewed by Oprah in Hunter’s Charlotte, NC, home yesterday, the episode airing during May sweeps week.

Winfrey said she found Rielle to be “genuine, I thought, and authentic.

“And I think we’ll see a side of her that certainly, I’ve never known. And I enjoyed the conversation, really.

If you’re a fan of Oprah’s you might be interested in what Rielle Hunter had to say about Oprah in Hunter’s GQ interview which was in the April issue and online.

Oprah also said on that show that John Edwards must have been out of his mind to make a sex tape while he was running for president, a comment that was picked up all over the Internet. What did you think about that?
That’s such a great question, because Oprah Winfrey, how she thinks and what she says, influences hundreds of thousands of people. First of all, that judgment she has is based on factually incorrect information, and it inspires other people to jump on the bandwagon and have that same judgment. And second, people’s judgments and opinions have only to do with themselves. This has to do with Oprah’s belief systems about sex, about public office, about men. It has all to do with Oprah and has nothing to do with John Edwards.

“Belief system” is a set of beliefs a person has about what is right or wrong and what is true or false. Belief system/s is a term frequently used by Hunter.

Hunter’s right, Oprah is influential but reaches far more than Hunter realizes. According to MSNBC, Oprah, in 2007, reached a daily audience of 7.4 million. The demographics of Oprah’s audience: “predominantly white women, 55 and older”. Women, many of whom are wives or ex-wives who have had long term marriages, and have children. Women who would relate more to Elizabeth Edwards, 61, the wife, than Rielle Hunter, 46, a divorcee whose claim to fame was mistress of John Edwards and mother of Edwards’ “lovechild”, 2-yr-old daughter Quinn. Which could be why Hunter opted to hold the interview in her Charlotte home versus appearing before a live Oprah audience at Harpo Studio in Chicago.

Hunter stayed “mum” about the Edwards’ affair until the GQ interview appeared in the April issue. The Oprah interview will be Hunter’s second attempt to persuade the public she’s not a “home wrecker”. This time around, the audience will get to see Hunter’s demeanor.

Hunter, in her GQ article covered pretty much the same areas as what a source claims she’ll talk about with Oprah. In the GQ article, Hunter told “her side of the story” and laid the foundation as to why Edwards engaged in the affair. To sum it up in a Rielle Hunter “nut”shell: According to Hunter, it’s Elizabeth Edwards fault Hunter is Edwards’ mistress.

My conclusions were based on Hunter’s statements in the GQ article. Statements which Hunter may repeat in the Oprah interview. The statements made by Hunter regarding the Edwards’ marriage and Elizabeth have not been verified by any other source. Based on Hunter’s prior statements, denying the affair with Edwards in October of 2007 and in December of 2007, denying Edwards was the father of her baby and naming Andrew Young as the father, Hunter has shown a willingness to lie to the public.

Hunter begins the weave her narrative of Elizabeth Edwards as being the culprit in the affair beginning with the question, “When did Johnny start to tell you that there were problems in his marriage?”

“Well, I was aware of it from the get-go. He doesn’t lie to me.”

How can you be sure?
He doesn’t lie to me. He discloses everything to me. And he has no fear of lying to me. Part of the problem—it’s the fear of what’s gonna happen that causes the lie. And the hiding. The fear of the repercussions. And, well, first of all, infidelity doesn’t happen in healthy marriages. The break in the marriage happens before the infidelity. And that break happened, you know, two and a half decades before I got there. So the home was wrecked already. I was not the Home Wrecker.

According to Hunter, Johnny “has no fear of lying to me”. Hunter reiterated this phrase several times in the interview.

To sum it up: The Edward’s marriage was “broken” 25 years ago therefore Hunter wasn’t a “home wrecker”. Hunter explains what kind of lies Johnny told and why he had a “fear” of “repercussions”:

Because he doesn’t have to worry about the repercussions?
He’s not afraid of me. He’ll tell me anything and everything. Even disclosing to me when women hit on him, and everything that was said, and if he flirted. He has no fear that I’m going to abuse him. And I believe what happened in his marriage is, he could not go to his wife and say, “We have an issue.” Because he would be pummeled. So he had a huge fear. Most of his mistakes or errors in judgment were because of his fear of the wrath of Elizabeth. He’s allowed himself to be pushed into a lot of things that he wouldn’t normally do because of Elizabeth’s story line. And the spin that she wants to put out there. He was emasculated. And you know, the wrath of Elizabeth is a mighty wrath.

According to Hunter, Johnny “feared” getting “pummeled” by Elizabeth. Johnny couldn’t go to Elizabeth and tell her about women who hit on him, what was said, and if he flirted. Hunter goes on to intimate Johnny had made “mistakes” and “errors”, meaning Johnny engaged in far more than “flirting”. Hunter states Edwards could tell her “everything”, meaning she and Edwards have what some would refer to as an “open relationship”. Whereas, Elizabeth, Edwards’ wife, wasn’t open to an “open” marriage and would have kicked Johnny’s ass if she found out. According to Hunter, this caused poor Johnny to be “emasculated”.

To sum it up: Because Elizabeth didn’t believe in an “open” marriage and would kick Johnny’s ass if she discovered he’d cheated, Elizabeth had “emasculated” Johnny. Because Rielle Hunter was non-judgmental about whether Edwards had flings with other women, Johnny never felt emasculated cause he didn’t have to “lie” about it to Hunter. One can imagine Johnny basking in the sunshine of Reille Hunter’s unconditional love.

According to Hunter, Elizabeth’s cancer was a “problem” which “had nothing to do” with Hunter:

How were you able to reconcile learning these things about her, from him, at the same time knowing that she’s ill?
Well, his relationship with her and the problems in it really had nothing to do with me. You remove me from the equation and they still exist. They existed before I was there. They’re still existing. His dynamic with me is completely different.

Gotta love the total lack of empathy for Elizabeth. But then again, Hunter’s perception terminal cancer was merely a “problem” that had nothing to with her helps to understand how Hunter was able to carry on an affair while Elizabeth faced terminal cancer and is able to thoroughly trash Elizabeth when asked further questions related to Elizabeth’s illness.

Do you feel bad for her at all?
Oh, my God, I have such compassion for her. I really do. I mean, especially when you have terminal cancer… I watched my father die of cancer. It’s heart-wrenching to me. But it’s also sad to me, her unwillingness to take responsibility for her part in the marriage. And her unwillingness to face the truth. We’re all slaves to our unconscious, but she really believes that it’s everyone else’s fault. And that’s heart-wrenching to me, too.

Hunter starts out claiming she has compassion for Elizabeth, then, in practically the next breath, slams Elizabeth in regards to the affair and Elizabeth’s “unwillingness to take responsibility for her part in the marriage” meaning Elizabeth’s role in the Edwards’ dysfunctional marriage. According to Hunter, the only person to blame is Elizabeth. It was Johnny who suffered from the “wrath” of Elizabeth. Hunter, the mistress, blaming the wife for the break-up of the marriage then chiding the wife for not admitting she was to blame.

Hunter, the narcissist, cannot even comprehend the coldness of her response.

Later, Hunter states the mistress “role” was “available”:

Good point. So were you worried that it would come out? That the affair would be exposed?
You know, I’m not a great mistress. I’m not a mistress by nature. It’s a role that I took on because I fell in love with him. And that was the role that was available to me. [laughs] But there were times, yeah, that were extremely challenging for me. To be sneaking around, or hiding. And I didn’t want to get caught, because I didn’t want to hurt him. I wanted to support the life he was choosing. And love him. Not to be responsible, funny enough, for the destruction of it. Which could be—I mean, a lot of people view it as such—that it is his biggest self-destruction. Or self-realization. Depending on your perspective.

Here’s my perspective for what it’s worth.

In her narrative, Hunter mentioned more than once that she was “playing the role of the mistress”.
A role that was already “open” which Hunter assumed when she “fell in love” with Edwards.

What role did Hunter assume prior to becoming the mistress before “falling in love” with Edwards? The role when Hunter first met Edwards on a street corner and went up to his room and had sex?

It helps to put Hunter’s narrative into context of when and how the two first met.

Let’s start at the beginning. February 2006. How did you meet him?
I met him on a street corner. [laughs] A lot has been written that I met him inside the Regency [hotel in New York City], that I walked over to his table. That is all 100 percent fiction. I saw him in the Regency, in the Library, which is the restaurant-slash-lounge. And he saw me. And it was a mutual unusual staring going on. There was an instant and odd connection that we both felt. Like, “I know you, you know me, who are you?” Anyway, he then got up and left.

Then what happened?
He got up and left, and Josh Brumberger [one of his aides] left with him. But the other person they were with—a donor, a lawyer named Tony—stayed. And when they left, my friend went over and asked Tony if that was John Edwards, and he said yes. And my friend turned to me and said, “See, I told you it was John Edwards.” And then I came over to the table, and I said, “I can’t believe that was John Edwards; he’s so hot. He’s really got it going on. He’s got something unusual about him, and I never would have recognized him.” And Tony said, “Oh, my God, you should have come over and told him that. He would have loved to have heard that.” Anyway, my friend and I stayed there, and we had another friend come join us. And then Josh came back. And when I went to the restroom, I stopped at Josh’s table and gave him a card and got Josh’s card. I did that because my friend really wanted to work for John Edwards. So I gave Josh a card. And my card, by the way, never said truth seeker on it.

What did your card say?
It said rielle hunter. being is free.

And then what?
We decided to go get dinner. And on the way out, [the second friend] noticed a poster of someone she knew who was going to sing at the Regency and went back in to ask the concierge about it, and that’s how I ended up standing on the street. We were standing outside waiting for my friend, and who comes waltzing around the corner but one Johnny Reid Edwards.

Was he surprised to see you?
Well, what Johnny later told me was, he went to dinner and could not stop thinking about me, like, “Who was that woman, and why didn’t I go over and talk to her?” Because it was the oddest connection he had ever felt. And so, when he was coming back to the Regency, he looked in the window at the Library, which you can see from the street, and I was gone. And he was so disappointed. Kicking himself. So when he walked around the corner and saw me standing there, he lit up like a Christmas tree. And I thought his reaction when he saw me was just so cute. I mean, he looked like a little kid at Christmas. And I just uttered to him, “You’re so hot.” And he said, “Why, thank you!” And he almost jumped into my arms. Literally. And um, that’s how we met. On the corner of 61st and Park Avenue.

Hunter describes the conversation between she and Edwards:

So you say, “You’re so hot.” Then what?
I said I could help him. Which I really believed I could. And quite frankly—well, depending on your perspective, I really have.

And that president thing, whatever.
Yeah. So I said, “I can help you.” And he said, “I want your help. I need your help.” And he told me how to contact him [at the Regency]. He said, “Please call me.” I said, “How long are you staying?” He said, “Until tomorrow morning. Please, call me. Call me.”

How did Hunter “help” Edwards? Hunter wasted little time, calling Edwards “about a half hour later”.

You were thinking—
That I could help him become more integrated so that people could see that he had it going on.

And you knew that in the first few seconds?
Upon sight. So I called him about a half hour later. And I got a voice mail in the room, so I hung up. Did not leave a message. Because I did not know what was appropriate. I knew he was married, and I didn’t know if his wife was with him, you know; I didn’t know what was appropriate. And this was not—there was no sexual intention here at all.

Hunter admitted she knew Edwards was married then claimed there was no “sexual intention” in her motive for going to Edwards’ room. She also explained how she could “help” John Edwards whom she’d just met and had a very brief conversation with.

What did you mean by “I can help you?”
That I could help him see who he is instead of what he’s not. The person standing in front of me was not the person they were selling, or his public persona. He was completely opposite from his public persona.

Edwards was apparently extremely eager to get “integrated”:

So…
So I called him back. And he said that he really wanted to hear what I had to say. Would I mind, um, meeting him in his room? And I said, “No, I wouldn’t mind at all.” And the reason I wouldn’t is because he’s a celebrity. I have a lot of celebrity friends, and I know their rules are different. Also, it felt completely familiar, like I’d known him all my life. Anyway, so I said, “Let me eat my Caesar salad, and I’ll see you in fifteen minutes.” And I said to my friends, “I’m going over there.” And it was funny, because they were like, “You cannot sleep with him! You cannot sleep with him, because you can help him!” And I said, “I am not going to sleep with him.” I gave them my word: “I won’t sleep with him.” [laughs] And so I went over to his room, and I walked in, and I. Was. Terrified.

There’s a more than slight problem with Hunter’s claim Edwards “called her back”. From Rielle Hunter on Oprah: The “Truth” According to Rielle Hunter:

Martin Lewis, Huffington Post [John Edwards & Rielle Hunter: The First Big Lie], is ahead of the curve on this one. Let’s turn it over to him.

I just telephoned the Regency Hotel — where according to Rielle Hunter and multiple other accounts — John Edwards was staying the night they met and where she telephoned him.

I spoke to a very nice lady on the Front Desk. Juliet Bird. I inquired about the telephone facilities in the guest rooms. “Are the telephones at the Regency Hotel equipped with “caller ID” or “star-69″ facility?”

She told me that she had never been asked that particular question before and would need to check with a supervisor familiar with the hotel’s telephone system.

She checked. The answer was — as I suspected — no. Neither of those facilities, or anything like them, were available on the telephones in their guest rooms.

It’s easy to get that ’star-69 thing’ confused.

Andrew Young’s version is more simplistic–but not nearly as fraught with cat-and-mouse romanticism.

Young says that Edwards gave Hunter the key card to his hotel room.

Why would Rielle Hunter purposely embroider her story of how the two first “met”, allegedly adding to the mix, the phone calls between Hunter and Edwards? Without the information gleaned from the hotel, those listening to Hunter’s tale would believe this part to be true. Armed with the information about the hotel phone system, some may call into question as to whether “other” parts of Hunter’s tale have been embroidered, including the claim made by Hunter she hadn’t planned on having sex when going up to Edwards’ room.

More of Hunter’s narrative where, despite giving her friends her word she wouldn’t have sex with Edwards, Hunter claims she was propelled across the room to Edwards:

Why terrified?
Because I had never experienced anything like what was flowing between us. I sat on the other side of the room. I wouldn’t go near him. And he kept saying [she mimics his southern drawl], “What are you doin’ over there? Come over here. I can’t even see you. Come closer. I won’t bite you.” I was just—there was sooo much attraction and sooo much… I want to say love, but it wasn’t love at that point. You know, it was just this, this magnetic force field like I had never experienced. It terrified me. Absolutely terrified me. And, um, I eventually walked over to his side of the room. [laughs] He was pretty relentless. And that’s all I’m gonna say on that! Now fade to black!

How soon did Hunter fall in love with Edwards?

And then what?
I fell in love with Johnny Reid. He called me the next day. We talked on the phone almost every night for four hours. We met on February 21. On February 25—on the phone, from Davenport, Iowa—I fell in love with him. Head over heels in love. I was a goner.

Hunter claims she fell in love with Edwards four days later. So what “role” during those four days did Hunter play before assuming the role of mistress? The role of going up to Edwards’ room after meeting him on a street corner and having sex before “falling in love” four days later?

The reason why I ask is because Hunter is insistent Elizabeth is to blame for the Edwards’ broken marriage which, according to Hunter, allowed her to assume the “role” of Edwards’ mistress. Hunter’s argument doesn’t cover the first night she engaged in sex with Edwards after the two met on a Manhattan street corner and engaged in a very short conversation. Hunter claimed he gave her the phone number of his hotel room. Andrew Young claimed Edwards gave Hunter the key card to his hotel room. My point is, what “label” would Rielle Hunter assign to herself that first night? The night when Hunter states she had yet to fall in love and thus wasn’t Edwards’ mistress? Since Hunter wasn’t Edwards’ mistress that first night, then how is Elizabeth to blame? Inquiring minds would like to know.

How will Oprah’s audience “perceive” Hunter as Edwards’ mistress? The estimated 7 million who watch daily?

A lot depends on Oprah’s questions and how the audience perceives Oprah’s attitude towards Hunter. Hunter may believe if she can win Oprah over she’ll get a huge PR boost. This is not necessarily true as Oprah caught a lot of flack from her audience for having Andrew and Cheri Young on her show. On Oprah’s forum the comments are, for the most part, negative in regards to Hunter’s upcoming interview with Hunter. As for the interview itself, Rielle Hunter will judged by the audience by both her narrative and her demeanor and the audience’s own “belief systems”. Belief systems which are more in line with Elizabeth Edwards, the wife, and not Rielle Hunter, the mistress.

The audience, many of whom who haven’t fallen off a turnip truck, are fully aware Hunter previously lied about engaging in an affair with Edwards as well as lying about the paternity of her daughter. The audience will take this into consideration when determining whether Hunter is telling the truth about the affair during the Oprah interview.

A failure to show compassion for Elizabeth and a lack of shame or remorse will work against Hunter. So will any attempts by Hunter to turn the interview into a shameless gooey Valentine for Edwards.

There’s also the “damning” demographics of Oprah’s audience.

A very small percentage of women who watch the Rielle Hunter-Oprah interview are, or have been mistresses. These women may relate to Hunter. Those numbers may be lower if any of these women were repulsed by Hunter’s decision to carry on the affair after Elizabeth found out she had terminal cancer.

The majority of Oprah’s audience is comprised of white women, 55 and older. A large number, wives or ex-wives who had long term marriages–15 yrs or more–with a large percentage who have children. These women are in the same age bracket as Elizabeth, age 60, versus Hunter is 46.

Many of the women experienced a cheating spouse. Some had their marriages end due their husband committing adultery.

Women whose marriages dissolved due to their partner’s infidelity most likely had adjust to a lower standard of living while raising their children. The women with children will note whether Hunter shows any regret or remorse for causing pain and suffering to the Edwards’ children which Hunter, in her GQ article, totally ignored.

A majority of these women are repulsed Hunter carried on an affair when Elizabeth was diagnosed with cancer. They may question as to why Hunter didn’t break off the affair at that point. In the interview, when asked asked about this period, Hunter concerned herself with Elizabeth whom Hunter claimed made John Edwards stay in the presidential race and Elizabeth not “owning up to her part” in the affair. Not once did Hunter address whether she should or could have ended the affair when she learned Elizabeth had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Some women may wonder why Hunter, an “expert” on dysfunctional marriages and what causes them, didn’t break it off and demand Johnny see a counselor or get a separation, solutions other than carrying on a torrid affair with Hunter.

A majority will listen to Hunter and gauge Hunter’s remorse or guilt which in the GQ article Hunter failed to show. These women know “Rielle Hunter” types and they won’t be impressed if Hunter uses the same old tired mistress cliche of “broken marriages”, “if only the wives understood their men like I do” and “it’s the wife’s fault I’m the mistress”.

If Hunter uses the same narrative as in the GQ article, blaming all the collateral damage on Elizabeth, blaming Elizabeth for the Edwards’ dysfunctional marriage, blaming Elizabeth for Edwards’ cheating then demanding Elizabeth “take responsibility”, Rielle Hunter will face the wrath of a million plus “Elizabeth’s.” The wrath could turn into volcanic proportions if Hunter slams Elizabeth when asked about Elizabeth’s cancer even if Hunter claims she has “compassion” for Elizabeth.

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