John Edwards Not Engaged to Rielle Hunter
Reports of Proposal 'Not True," According to Rielle Hunter's Lawyer
Jan. 7, 2011 — -- Despite rumors to the contrary, former presidential hopeful John Edwards is not engaged to Rielle Hunter, sources close to the couple tell ABC News.
"I do not believe it to be true," Hunter's attorney, Alan Duncan, told ABC News when asked about a report in The National Enquirer that Edwards had proposed over a December vacation, just weeks after the death of his estranged wife Elizabeth Edwards.
Another source close to the couple also disputed the alleged engagement, telling ABC News that the couple was not planning to wed.
According to the Enquirer, the same publication that first broke the news of Edwards' extramarital affair with Hunter in 2007, Edwards told Hunter he wanted to "become one big, happy family."
A spokeswoman for the Edwards family declined to comment on the report.
Hunter is the mother of Edwards' 2-year-old daughter, Quinn. Edwards first denied the affair with Hunter before admitting the indiscretion in August 2008. Then, in January 2010 he admitted that he was, in fact, Quinn's father.
Reports of an impending wedding come just days after news that will of Edwards' estranged wife Elizabeth Edwards excluded the former North Carolina senator.
This is not the first time a wedding between Edwards and Hunter has been rumored.
Last year, following the announcement that Edwards is Quinn's biological father, the Enquirer ran a similar story reporting the couple's engagement that was also debunked.
Also last year, Andrew Young, a former aide to Edwards, told ABC News that Hunter talked about plans for a rooftop wedding in New York.
Elizabeth Edwards, who died Dec. 7 after a six-year battle with breast cancer, appointed her eldest daughter Catharine as the executor of her will, which makes no mention of John Edwards.
The will also stipulates that Cate Edwards, 28, will serve as guardian for her two younger siblings -- Emma Claire, 12, and Jack, 10 -- if anything happens to John Edwards.
"All of my furniture, furnishings, household goods, jewelry, china, silverware and personal effects and any automobiles owned by me at the time of my death I give and bequeath to my children who shall be living at the time of my death," the will states.
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