Today's prurient gossip story

Rielle Hunter speaks for the first time in GQ interview about John and Elizabeth Edwards, Andrew Young, and the big-money donors

Rielle Hunter at her home in Charlotte, N.C. (Photo by Mark Seliger / Courtesy of GQ)

For more than two years after Rielle Hunter emerged at the center of the John Edwards love-child scandal, the former campaign videographer kept quiet -- while Edwards denied fathering her daughter (before finally acknowledging it); while Elizabeth Edwards wrote a book describing her as an aggressive homewrecker; while campaign aide Andrew Young wrote one describing her as a loony, needy loose cannon.

Now, though, she's talking, in an extensive new GQ interview obtained by The Washington Post. It's a doozy.

Hunter says she's still in love with "Johnny" and believes he loves her. That they went to bed together the day they met. That his marriage was "toxic," that he feared "the wrath of Elizabeth." That it was Young's idea for the coverup in which he claimed paternity. That she had no idea how much money -- now the subject of a grand jury inquiry -- was being funneled to her from top campaign donors.

Elizabeth Edwards, who has separated from her husband, did not respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for John Edwards did not return e-mails for comment -- but in the interview, Hunter says that he is "supportive of me talking now."

The nearly 10,000-word Q&A is accompanied by photos of Hunter styled as Jennifer Aniston might be for a glossy mag: Glowing skin, blond hair, curled on a bed in a white shirt and strand of pearls, bare-legged with a glimpse of panties. There is also a picture of Hunter holding her daughter.

(More here. OK, looks like Rielle didn't like the pix. From WashPost....)

Rielle Hunter pictures in GQ are "repulsive," made her cry -- but now see video of the photo shoot too!



Ever pose for a magazine in your panties and totally regret it later?

That seemed to be the kind of day Rielle Hunter was having Monday, after photos from her sensational GQ interview hit the Internet and went worldwide. On "The View," Barbara Walters said she had talked to John Edwards's former mistress, and she was "in tears."

"She found the photographs repulsive," said the veteran ABC broadcaster. "When I asked if that was the case, why did she pose the way she did" -- big white shirt, strand of pearls, bare legs curled up on a bed -- "she said she trusted Mark Seliger, whom she said is a brilliant photographer, and quote, 'I went with the flow.' " Of all the photos Seliger took, Hunter told Walters she never imagined GQ would run more than, say, one sexy one. "She cried for two hours," Walters said.

(Original here.)