Rielle Hunter the Classiest Person in Edwards Mess

Believe it or not, Rielle Hunter has emerged as the classiest person in the John Edwards sex scandal. Hunter’s been relentlessly attacked and caricatured in the two years since the story broke: Andrew Young’s book savages her, and quotes Edwards calling her a “crazy slut"; in her book, Elizabeth Edwards would only refer to her as “that woman.” Hunter doesn’t have a book. She’s the only one who hasn’t tried to spin or exploit the scandal.

That doesn’t fit with our image of Hunter. Jonathan Darman of Newsweek, who met Hunter while she was working for Edwards, assumed she’d be just the type to hit the talk shows, score a book deal, maybe sell handbags Lewinsky-style. Hunter seemed to love famous people, and crave the spotlight. Yet since the story broke, she’s given not one interview, said literally nothing except in court documents. Maybe motherhood changed her, “or maybe it was a tranquility that was there all along.” (More Rielle Hunter stories.)