Rielle Hunter Opens Up About Affair to Oprah Winfrey

April 28, 2010 — -- Rielle Hunter spoke publicly about her affair with former presidential candidate John Edwards, telling Oprah Winfrey that his wife wanted Edwards to sit down for an interview with ABC News' Bob Woodruff, where he admitted the affair, when everyone else advised against it.

"Everyone who was close to, well, who knew all the facts and knew the truth said, 'Please, don't do that interview. Please don't do that interview,'" Hunter told Winfrey in an interview scheduled to air Thursday.

"[Elizabeth Edwards] really wanted him to do that interview," said Hunter, a one-time videographer for Edwards' presidential campaign. "She wanted him to say, 'You know, you've got to get out in front of it. You've got to, you know, say the truth and speak the truth,'" Hunter said.

But Elizabeth Edwards did not know the entire story, Hunter said.

"And she didn't know the truth. So it's like you can't do the interview and not speak the whole truth," Hunter told Winfrey.

"She didn't know until after the interview. He came clean with her after that interview."

Edwards admitted his affair during the August 2008 "Nightline" interview, calling it a "very serious mistake." But he denied having a child with Hunter, saying it was impossible "because of the timing of events."

A representative for John Edwards declined to comment for this story.

Hunter also told the talk-show host that she did not play a central role in the break-up of the Edwards' marriage.

When asked why Hunter is speaking out now, Winfrey said that despite being told by many people to avoid the interview, Hunter believed she has been portrayed poorly and wanted to tell her side of the story.

Hunter posed for the pictures in GQ magazine last month wearing only a man's button-down, white shirt, a string of pearls and panties. She posed on a bed with stuffed animals piled around her in some of the photos. Her panties are exposed in one frame.

But Edwards' mistress said that she thought the photo spread in GQ would include headshots as well and not just sexy, body-baring photos.

"Rielle is a smart woman," GQ reporter Lisa DePaulo said. "She knows what she wore and what she was doing in the photo shoot."

A teary-eyed Hunter told ABC News' Barbara Walters last month that she was repulsed by the sight of the sexy photos and thought all but one would be headshots, Walters said.

But GQ released a video of the shoot to "GMA" and at one point the videographer asked Hunter, "You want to take a look at this?"

Click here to read the full GQ interview.