John Edwards' Ex-Mistress Rielle Hunter Issues Apology And Releases A Revised Copy Of Her Memoir

"I fell in love with John Edwards and wanted to be with him and that desire trumped everything else. And then instead of apologizing when I should have, I went on to hurt more people by writing a book."

Remember Rielle Hunter (real name: Lisa Jo Druck)?

Hunter was the former John Edwards campaign employee who had an affair with the politician in 2006 while his wife Elizabeth was dying of cancer. She also gave birth to Edwards' child, Francis Quinn, who is now 5 years old.

Edwards was indicted by a grand jury last year on charges that he used nearly $1 million in campaign finances to cover up their extramarital affair. The charges were eventually dropped.

Hunter told her story in a memoir released last year titled, What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me.

Hunter has kept fairly quiet for the past year, but today she issued an apology in The Huffington Post for the seven-year-old affair. Her piece is titled, "I, Rielle Hunter, Apologize."

"I behaved badly," she starts off. "That may seem obvious to you but it's taken me a long time to admit that, even to myself."

After news of the affair broke, Hunter had a lengthy Q&A in GQ and appeared on Good Morning America, The View, Oprah, ABC News, and more.

But today, she officially apologized:

"I am very sorry for my wrong, selfish behavior. Back in 2006, I did not think about the scope of my actions, how my falling in love with John Edwards, and acting on that love, could hurt so many people. I hurt Elizabeth and her kids. I hurt her family. I hurt John's family. I hurt people that knew Elizabeth. I hurt people who didn't know Elizabeth but loved her from afar. I hurt people who gave their hard earned dollars to a campaign -- a cause they believed in. I hurt people who are married and believe in marriage.

The apology coincides with today's release of Hunter's revised book, which has been renamed, In Hindsight: What Really Happened: The Revised Edition: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me.

"My publisher came up with the idea of me going through my book and annotating all of my regrets and mistakes," she writes.

But in her apology, Hunter suggests having second thoughts about having ever written the memoir in the first place.

"I fell in love with John Edwards and wanted to be with him and that desire trumped everything else. And then instead of apologizing when I should have, I went on to hurt more people by writing a book," she wrote while promoting her new book.

For anyone wanting more of a Rielle Hunter refresher, her first book is now available on Amazon for a steal.

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