Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has admitted that he had an extramarital affair during his White House campaign, according to excerpts of an interview Friday with US broadcaster ABC, dpa reported.
Edwards, who was 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry's running mate and a possibility for the spot again under Barack Obama, admitted to an affair with Rielle Hunter, a 44-year-old filmmaker who produced documentaries for Edwards' campaign.
Edwards' wife Elizabeth was diagnosed in 2004 with breast cancer, which resurfaced in March 2007, this time as an incurable bone tumour.
Edwards told ABC that the cancer was in remission when he began the affair with Hunter. The couple have two school-age children and an older daughter.
Edwards had categorically denied media reports of the affair during his campaign for the White House, and the exact details and length of the relationship were still unclear. Edwards confirmed to ABC that he had visited Hunter at a Los Angeles hotel as late as last month.
Edwards denied that he was the father of a child that Hunter gave birth to in February, though he has not yet taken a paternity test. A former campaign aide, Andrew Young, has reportedly admitted to fathering the child.
ABC was to broadcast a full interview with Edwards Friday night.