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Rielle Hunter: "I Love Johnny... I Never 'Hit On' Johnny"
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 15, 2010
Modified Mar 15, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 15, 2010
Modified Mar 15, 2010
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There's nothing like an exclusive interview from a former presidential candidate's baby mama! Rielle Hunter, John Edwards' former (?) mistress and the mother of his 2-year-old daughter, spoke to GQ's Lisa DePaulo and tells her lots of things. For instance, she's not engaged to Edwards, she's not being paid for the interview, she "loves Johnny," never "hit on" him and he told her, after they had sex at the Regency Hotel, "Falling in love with you could really f--- up my plans for becoming president." Hey, and having sex with her without a condom really did f--- up his marriage!!
Hunter also goes into how she met the one-time golden boy: After spying him at the Regency in 2006, she told her friend, "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." She gave her card to Edwards' aide (her card said, "Rielle Hunter. Being is Free"). Later that day:
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.
She also tells the story of how he invited her to his hotel room (her friends told her, "You cannot sleep with him! You cannot sleep with him, because you can help him!") and how "it was just this, this magnetic force field" with him and how he was "pretty relentless" that night.
Hunter also tells GQ, "I'm not a predator, I'm not a gold digger, I'm not the stalker. I didn't have any power in that way in our relationship," and is (still) critical of Edwards' wife Elizabeth, "Most of his mistakes or errors in judgment were because of his fear of the wrath of Elizabeth ... And you know, the wrath of Elizabeth is a mighty wrath." As for waiting so long to come forward, "I feel comfortable talking now, because Johnny went public and made a statement admitting paternity. I didn't feel like I could ever speak until he did that. Because had I spoken, I would have emasculated him."
Tagged
affair
john edwards
regency hotel
rielle hunter
scandal
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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