Elizabeth Edwards: Whether She's in Love With Husband Is a 'Complicated Question'

Edwards tells Oprah that fidelity was the most important thing to her.

ByABC News
May 5, 2009, 9:17 AM

May 5, 2009 — -- In an interview with Oprah Winfrey scheduled to air Thursday, Elizabeth Edwards said the question of whether she is in love with her husband and former presidential candidate John Edwards -- who admitted to having an affair -- is a "complicated" one.

On whether their marriage is a day by day thing, Edwards said, "Neither one of us is out the door, so I guess it's day by day, but maybe it's month by month."

Edwards is scheduled to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" to talk about her new memoir, her husband's infidelity, her marriage and how she handled her bout with breast cancer. The interview was taped at the Edwards' 28,000-square-foot home in Chapel Hill, N.C.

It coincides with the release of her memoir, "Resilience," in which Edwards lashed out at Rielle Hunter, the woman with whom her husband had an affair. She called Hunter's life "pathetic," and also said that her husband, a former Nouth Carolina senator, should not have entered the 2008 presidential race.

As for how her husband's affair began, Edwards said Hunter, now 45, was the one who spotted and then approached her husband.

"What John said is that this woman spotted him in the hotel in which he was staying," she said. "He was meeting someone in the restaurant bar area, and she verified with someone who he worked with that it was John. John went to dinner at a nearby restauran, and when he walked back to the hotel, she was standing in front of the hotel. She said to him, 'You are so hot.'"

A Harpo spokeswoman told The Associated Press that the only caveat to the interview was that Winfrey could not mention John Edwards' mistress by name. Winfrey also spoke with John Edwards but excerpts of his interview were not provided.

In an accompanying article in "O" magazine, Edwards opened up about Hunter and how she was different from her own family.

"This person is very different from me, and really very different from him," she said. "We're basically old-fashioned people. So, this was a pretty big leap for him. Maybe it's being so different is what was attractive."

Edwards, who has three children from her 31-year marriage, told Winfrey she had no idea whether John Edwards was the father of Hunter's baby.

"And there is great speculation that your husband John Edwards is the father of that baby," Winfrey said.

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

Edwards told Oprah she only asked John Edwards for one gift before they got married 31 years ago. "I wanted him to be faithful to me," she said. "It was enormously important to me."