Elizabeth Edwards to appear on Oprah Winfrey show

[May 05, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Elizabeth Edwards tells talk show host Oprah Winfrey that it's a "complicated question" if she still is in love with her husband, former presidential candidate and U.S. Sen John Edwards, after his admitted affair.

In an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to air Thursday, Winfrey asks Edwards, "Are you still in love with him?"

Edwards responds, "You know, that's a complicated question," in an excerpt provided in advance to The Associated Press by Harpo Productions.

Winfrey also asks Edwards, "Is it a day-by-day thing?" And Edwards says, "Neither one of us is out the door so I guess it's day-by-day, but maybe it's month-by-month."

The talk-show host visited the Edwards family at the Chapel Hill, N.C., home where the couple live with their children, Cate, Jack and Emma Claire. Winfrey interviewed Elizabeth Edwards about her relationship with her husband, his affair and her battle with terminal cancer. The interview will appear on Winfrey's television show, and there will be a companion piece in the June issue of "O" magazine.

Elizabeth Edwards' memoir "Resilience" is to be published this month.

A Harpo spokeswoman said the only caveat to the interview was that Winfrey could not mention John Edwards' mistress, videographer Rielle Hunter, by name. Winfrey also spoke with John Edwards; however, excerpts of his interview were not provided.

John Edwards went public with the affair in August after the National Enquirer reported he was the father of Hunter's daughter. He has denied paternity.

Elizabeth Edwards addressed that speculation with Winfrey.

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

She also describes Hunter as being different from both her and her husband.

"We're basically old-fashioned people," Edwards said in "O" magazine. "So, this was a pretty big leap for him. Maybe it's being so different is what was attractive."

Edwards was laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign when he hired Hunter to shoot videos of him. He said the affair with Hunter began and ended that year, although Hunter was seen on the campaign trail until the final days of 2006.

Edwards wrote in her new book that news of her husband's affair made her cry, scream and throw up in a bathroom. She told Winfrey she had asked her husband for one gift when they were married 31 years ago.

"I wanted him to be faithful to me," Edwards said. "It was enormously important to me."

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On the Net:

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http://www.oprah.com/tows/

[Associated Press]

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