'I lied about affair,' admits Edwards

Former US presidential candidate John Edwards, who won nationwide praise and sympathy as he campaigned side by side with his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth, finally admitted to an affair he had previously described as “tabloid trash”.

Mr Edwards said yesterday he had told his wife and family long ago, but “I had hoped that it would never become public”.

However, he denied fathering a daughter, born to the woman with whom he had the affair, and offered to be paternity tested.

A former Edwards campaign staff member professes to be the father.

The former North Carolina senator, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, confessed to ABC News that he had lied repeatedly about the affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter. Ms Hunter’s daughter Frances was born on February 27 this year and no father’s name is given on the birth certificate filed in California.

In a statement, Mrs Edwards confirmed that her husband had confessed the affair to her in 2006, but that after a “long and painful process” she was now standing by him.

After the story broke yesterday, Mr Edwards released a statement that said: “In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognised my mistake, and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness.

“Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public.

“I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices,” he said. “With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006, and today I take full responsibility publicly.”

Mr Edwards declared his presidential candidacy in December 2006.

His wife announced in March 2007 that her cancer, formerly in remission, had returned and there apparently was no cure.

Mr Edwards dropped out during this year’s primaries after it became apparent he could not keep up with front-runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He recently endorsed Mr Obama and has been mentioned as a possible running mate.

He was John Kerry’s running mate in 2004 when Mr Kerry lost to President George Bush.

In his statement, he said: “In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.”

In her statement yesterday, Mrs Edwards said: “This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well,” she said.

“Because of a recent string of hurtful and absurd lies in a tabloid publication, because of a picture falsely suggesting that John was spending time with a child it wrongly alleged he had fathered outside our marriage, our private matter could no longer be wholly private.”

Pleading for privacy, she said: “I am proud of the courage John showed by his honesty in the face of shame. I ask that the public, who expressed concern about the harm John’s conduct has done to us, think also about the real harm that the present voyeurism does and give me and my family the privacy we need at this time.”

The National Enquirer tabloid first reported the affair in October 2007, in the run-up to the Democratic primaries. But Mr Edwards denied it, calling it “completely untrue, ridiculous”.

Last month, the Enquirer carried another story with a headline referring to an Edwards “love child”, stating that its reporters had found Mr Edwards in a Los Angeles hotel where he had met Ms Hunter after her child’s birth. Mr Edwards called it “tabloid trash”.

He said in his statement yesterday he had “used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it”, and called that “being 99% honest”.

David Bonior, Mr Edwards’ campaign manager for his 2008 presidential bid, said he was disappointed and angry.

“Thousands of friends of the senator’s and his supporters have put their faith and confidence in him, and he’s let them down,” said Mr Bonior, a former congressman from Michigan. “They’ve been betrayed by his action.”

Asked whether the affair would damage Mr Edwards’ future aspirations in public service, he replied: “You can’t lie in politics and expect to have people’s confidence.”