Rielle Hunter Bashes Elizabeth Edwards in New Book

In her new book, What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me, Rielle Hunter describes to anyone who really cares, her version of the affair with the former presidential candidate which ultimely derailed his political career and resulted in the birth of their child.

In her tell-all, Hunter says that Edwards had other mistresses during his marriage to his cancer stricken wife, Elizabeth Edwards.  She also had little good to say about Elizabeth, calling her a “witch on wheels,” “abusive,” and “venomous.” In fact, she blames his now dead wife for Edward’s affairs, saying it was her abusive behavior that drove him to other women. Classy.

Hunter, a former spiritual advisor, met Edwards in the lobby of a hotel in 2006.  She tells 20/20, that she walked up to him and blurted out, “You’re so hot.”  He was immediately intrigued and invited her up to his hotel room. She believed it was that encounter where their love story began, as the attraction was instant.  “Something happened internally with me.  I responded,” she told Chris Cuomo in the interview which aired last night.  But she shows little remorse towards the woman who was married to Edwards.  “Their marriage was ruined before I got there.  Years before I got there,” Hunter said.

When Hunter discovered she was pregnant with their child, Edwards was “gracious,” she recalled and insisted on supporting her.  In February 2009, their daughter Quinn was born, but the road that followed was not easy as Edwards refused to publicly acknowledge that he was Quinn’s father.  That admission wouldn’t come until much later, when Edwards political career was in ruins.

But if Hunter is trying to gain sympathy from the public, she may be surprised.  While she insists she has “no desire to bash” Elizabeth, the most troubling parts of her book are when she does just that.  She believes that Elizabeth used her children and cancer as weapons to gain sympathy from her husband and the public.

Naturally, family and friends of Elizabeth released a statement in which they it’s “unfortunate that the character of this wonderful woman is being falsely criticized by someone who never knew her.”