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A video image shows Rielle Hunter arriving at the federal courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, on August 6.

(CNN) - Rielle Hunter, the woman at the center of the John Edwards sex scandal, has been known variously as a spiritual seeker, an aspiring actress, a party girl and a political operative, according to media reports.

Last year, after months of denials, Edwards admitted having an affair with Hunter while he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2006.

Edwards' campaign paid Hunter $114,000 to make a series of short webisode videos about his presidential campaign, and she traveled extensively with the candidate's entourage.

Edwards denies that he is the father of a baby Hunter bore in February 2008, saying the affair was over before she became pregnant.

Former Edwards aide Andrew Young claimed the baby was his. But Young later said that the former senator is the father and that his paternity claim had been made at Edwards' request. Hunter has not said who the father is.

"Rielle is the black sheep of the family. We were all raised the same way. She chose a different path," Hunter's sister, Roxanne Marshall, told People magazine in August 2008.

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Elizabeth Edwards spoke to CNN's Larry King about the paternity of Rielle Hunter's 18-month-old daughter, Frances.

(CNN) - Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, told CNN she believes a DNA test will be conducted to confirm the paternity of the child of Rielle Hunter, with whom her husband conducted an affair.

"My expectation is that at some point, something happens, and I hope for the sake of this child that it happens, you know, in a quiet way," she told CNN's Larry King Wednesday night.

John Edwards originally denied that he was the father of 18-month-old Frances, but has not denied recent reports that he may soon make a formal statement conceding his paternity.

His wife told King Wednesday that life continued as usual in the Edwards household. "Things are going fine. We are getting the children ready for a new school year, everything seems to be going pretty smoothly at my house. Thanks for asking," she said.

Mrs. Edwards, who is battling incurable cancer, told King that "the numbers don't look that optimistic, but I feel good." She said recent test results showed her in relatively good health. "I'm still out here fighting," she said.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (CNN) – A woman who had an affair with former Sen. John Edwards was seen entering the federal courthouse in here Thursday morning.

The reason for Rielle Hunter's appearance at the courthouse was not immediately clear.

Edwards has acknowledged that he is under federal investigation over payments to Hunter's production company. He has denied wrongdoing.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) – She’s lost her first born child, continues to battle cancer, suffered through coping with her husband’s extramarital affair, and been an integral part of two unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

But notwithstanding all of the sympathy from voters built up in favor of Elizabeth Edwards, two reporters suggested Sunday that the famous political spouse’s current media blitz could bankrupt her goodwill with the American public.

“She was painted as this martyr figure,” CNN American Morning Entertainment Reporter Lola Ogunnaike said on CNN’s Reliable Sources.“

“They had what seemed to be this ideal marriage. And it turns out that she was complicit in basically this cover- up. She knew all along that he'd had an affair, that he cheated on her, and decided that they would go along with this massive cover-up, and she ultimately decided that his political career was worth more than being honest.” Ogunnaike added.

Washington Post reporter Lois Romano said Mrs. Edwards recent efforts to rehash her husband’s extramarital affair in multiple interviews and her forthcoming book is filling some sort of need but is risky.

“There's clearly something in her personality that is pushing her to get the last word,” said Romano. “I think she is at risk of diminishing her own stature. I mean, people held her up as the soul of this relationship, and now she's turned it into a spectacle again,” Romano also said.

Romano also suggested that Mrs. Edwards’ book tour might backfire. “Well, I think what we're going to see here is we're going to see the curve of the public follow us [the media]. Right now . . . the public is still generally in support of her,” Romano said. “Let's see what happens after two weeks of this.”
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WASHINGTON (CNN) – She’s lost her first born child, continues to battle cancer, suffered through coping with her husband’s extramarital affair, and been an integral part of two unsuccessful presidential campaigns.

But notwithstanding all of the sympathy from voters built up in favor of Elizabeth Edwards, two reporters suggested Sunday that the famous political spouse’s current media blitz could bankrupt her goodwill with the American public.

“She was painted as this martyr figure,” CNN American Morning Entertainment Reporter Lola Ogunnaike said on CNN’s Reliable Sources.“

“They had what seemed to be this ideal marriage. And it turns out that she was complicit in basically this cover- up. She knew all along that he'd had an affair, that he cheated on her, and decided that they would go along with this massive cover-up, and she ultimately decided that his political career was worth more than being honest.” Ogunnaike added.

Washington Post reporter Lois Romano said Mrs. Edwards recent efforts to rehash her husband’s extramarital affair in multiple interviews and her forthcoming book is filling some sort of need but is risky.

“There's clearly something in her personality that is pushing her to get the last word,” said Romano. “I think she is at risk of diminishing her own stature. I mean, people held her up as the soul of this relationship, and now she's turned it into a spectacle again,” Romano also said.

Romano also suggested that Mrs. Edwards’ book tour might backfire. “Well, I think what we're going to see here is we're going to see the curve of the public follow us [the media]. Right now . . . the public is still generally in support of her,” Romano said. “Let's see what happens after two weeks of this.”
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(CNN) – Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has long denied that he is the father of videographer Rielle Hunter's daughter - but outspoken wife Elizabeth Edwards says she isn't sure.

In an interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey set to air Thursday, Elizabeth Edwards says doesn't "have any idea" if her husband, who has admitted having an affair with Hunter, is also the father of Hunter's child.

"The other woman has a baby," Winfrey said during the interview.

"That's what I understand," Edwards said, interrupting the media mogul.

"And there is great speculation that your husband, John Edwards, is the father of that baby," responded Winfrey.

"That's what I understand. 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," said Edwards.

In "Resilence," a new book by Edwards due out later this month, she describes her visceral, physical reaction to her husband telling her about the affair in late 2006, soon after he announced his second presidential bid.

"After I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up," Edwards writes in her forthcoming book.

Related on TIME.com: How I survived John's affair

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A book based on Edwards' mistress is soaring in book sales.

(CNN) - Author Jay McInerney may have John Edwards to thank for a likely influx of book royalties.

His twenty-year old novel, based on the life of Edwards' mistress when she was a young adult, is soaring in sales rankings - so much so that the book's publisher has commissioned an additional 2,500 copies for print on Monday.

McInerney has said the book's main character, described as an "ostensibly jaded, cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year old," was inspired by Rielle Hunter - the film producer who Edwards recently acknowledged having an affair with in 2006.

The book, about the New York singles scene amidst the excess of the 1980s, is now 299 on Amazon.com and 393 on Barnes&Noble.com - moves of a couple hundred places in only a handful of days. Before news of the affair broke, the book was thousands of spots lower.

Edwards, the former presidential candidate and 2004 vice presidential candidate, said he had a brief affair with Rielle Hunter in 2006 when she was employed by his political action committee to make "webisodes" about his campaign.

Despite breathing new life into one of his novels, McInerney said earlier this week he is no fan of the former North Carolina senator.

"To say that he slept with her but he wasn't in love with her - that's not very chivalrous," the author told the New York Daily News. "He's trying to distance himself from her."

"I don't feel my questions have been answered with regard to Edwards," he also said. "It was a half-assed confession."