You’ve seen her star turn opposite Denzel Washington in Ricochet. You’ve thrilled to her bikini-clad dancin’ in Overboard. Now TMZ has unearthed what may be Rielle’s finest moment onscreen: Her 2002 appearance on the Game Show Network’s Lingo! (If only To Tell the Truth hadn’t gone off the air…) Introducing herself to host Chuck Woolery, Rielle claimed to be “a writer” and added, “I also do a lot of yoga and chant. Mostly about how Elizabeth Edwards is a total bitch.” Okay, I might have thrown in that last part. No word yet on how much she won, but it couldn’t be nearly as much as she’s getting from this latest game.
Please submit your Love Connection jokes in the comments.
In other John & Rielle news:
- St. Croix lawyer Lee Rohn denies that Rielle stayed at Rohn’s house, and is promising to sue the National Enquirer for saying so. It took an entire month, but finally we’ve got an attorney in this story who’s threatening a lawsuit!
- E3 Gazette has an interesting theory about Frances Quinn Hunter’s real biological… mother?!? It sounds far-fetched to me, especially considering the way everybody involved has been behaving. But hey, anything’s possible.
- Roger Friedman thinks Rielle’s sister, Roxanne Druck, is the one who took the picture of Rielle and the baby on this week’s cover:
Roxanne, who lives in North Carolina, already has been identified as a source for previous Enquirer stories. She and Rielle had not spoken for 15 years prior to the Edwards scandal. Melissa, on the other hand, has so far been regarded as the loyal sister, who would never sell out Rielle for money.
Why not? Rielle has. And I’m not sure how Roxanne could have taken the picture if she and Rielle have been estranged for so long. If you hadn’t talked to your sister since 1993, but suddenly she wanted snapshots of the baby you’ve been flying all over the world to hide from the press, wouldn’t you think maybe something was up?
- Friedman also says the Midline Groove site wasn’t taken down as part of a coverup, but got knocked out because the server couldn’t handle all the traffic. Sounds plausible enough. If you’re still curious about what was on that site, click here.
- Per the Washington Post, John & Rielle became “business partners” with the help of Cary Woods, producer of such films as Cop Land, Scream, and Swingers. When Cary told Rielle, “This Edwards guy is so money,” she vowed then and there to prove him right.
- ABC’s Brian Ross, who “broke” the story, tells TVNewswer:
“The future of investigative journalism remains very bright. In many ways, the growth of the Internet makes for huge opportunity.”
- On the other hand, Tara Servatius at Creative Loafing Charlotte says:
In an age where 200 journalists find time to trail Sen. Barack Obama on an international trip, it is simply stunning that we must now turn to the National Enquirer to read the hard-core investigative work the mainstream media once did.
- DBKP keeps asking really good questions that nobody else is asking. Here’s one of their latest:
If there are no registration records for an aircraft in Fred Baron’s name, why is the [Edwards] campaign paying Frederick Baron for airfare?
More details here.
- You know who used to get a big kick out of Rielle? Princess Diana. Well, Di enjoyed the exploits of Alison Poole, the main character in Jay McInerney’s novel Story of My Life, who was based on Rielle. Can you see why the news didn’t think there was anything interesting about Rielle for weeks and weeks?
- Mark Pasetsky says that thanks to the cover of this week’s Enquirer, it will be their “biggest seller of the year.”
- Here’s one I missed from last week: Nell Scovell at Vanity Fair thinks Rielle might be blackmailing Edwards with some “footage of a presidential hopeful looking less than presidential.” Which is not outside the realm of possibility. After all, Rielle was sleeping with him, and she was hired to film him…
- The Colorado Politics Examiner asks:
Between Edwards and Elliot Spitzer, what is it with highly skilled lawyers that are itching to take on corporate America? Why do they have to be so stupid when it comes to women?
The answer to the first question is that they need all that money because of the second question.
- Another odd little tidbit, this one from the LA Times: The director and producer of the new Steve Coogan comedy Hamlet 2 conducted interviews about the movie at the Beverly Hilton, “in the very room where Edwards’ ill-fated late-night Rielle Hunter meet-and-greet went down.” The LAT does not mention that the only reason they know the room number is because the Enquirer presented that detail in their 7/22 story. A story the LAT went out of their way to ignore for weeks. So, just to recap… Steve Coogan movie: News. Presidential candidate paying a late-night visit to his mistress and their baby, down to the freaking hotel room number: Not news.
More stuff as it comes in…
- Ouch: “The Democratic Party leadership, always staking out the moral high ground, took notice and removed John Edwards from their convention’s speaker list, replacing him with Bill Clinton. The life lesson that we need to learn from this move is that you cannot get away with being unfaithful if you have a likable wife.”
- DBKP keeps following the money.
- Who will the NYT steal their latest scoop from? No, sorry, let me correct that: From whom will they steal their latest scoop?
- Enquirer editor-in-chief David Perel takes to the Huffington Post and gives the entire mainstream media a good old-fashioned Bronx cheer.
- Fred Baron will be at the DNC next week. If you’re planning to attend as well, but you don’t have a place to stay or any spending money, I hear he’s really good with that sort of thing.
- I’ve been trying to think of other game shows Rielle should try:
Who Wants to Bleed a Millionaire?
Last Cosmic Standing
Win John Edwards’ Money
Are You Smarter Than a Tort Laywer?
America’s Next Top-Secret Mom
Whose Lineage Is It Anyway?
Let’s Make a Daughter
And of course: Press Your Luck - TNR has lots more good stuff.
Rielle claiming to be a “writer” is like me claiming to be the reincarnation of Houdini.
Re: Rielle’s acting skills.
“She’s in the attic!.”
You’ve got to read Story of My Life to get the punchline. It’s worth it. Also features sister Roxanne as a party-girl competitor. Did you watch American Psycho to catch the scene where Patrick Bateman mentions his fling with Alison Poole at the Kentucky Derby?
And as I’ve mentioned before, Diana suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder. It’s very interesting that she took interest in a character — “Alison Poole” — that exhibits textbook BPD traits.
Except Lisa Druck looks like Camilla.I mentioned before that she seems very BPD. If JE ever threatens to abandon her you can expect her to head for the media to state her case. And the book publishers of course. Just like Diana. Pursued by paps following dangerously close… just like Diana.
And THEN she can be the writer she pretended to be on that game show! Wow, she really is impressing me with her ability to “manifest” things that she talks about. But she has mostly been described as a spoiled, spacey, manipulative druggie kook who went after a married man and disparaged his ailing wife. Hardly as sympathetic a character as Di.
Roxanne said Lisa has always sought the spotlight but “not like this.” Guess she was shooting for first lady but ended up another in a long line of infamous mistresses. She makes Monica look like a million bucks. Monica was much younger and gets the benefit of the doubt for her inexperience. She also got her Masters and works for a living.
“I’m going to meet a rich and powerful man”
“I’m living in a mansion in Santa Barbara.”
“I’m a celebrity baby-mama.”
“I’m a published author.”
What will she “manifest” next? And how would she introduce herself if she went on a game show today? “Well, I am a stay-at home single mom for now but….”
Here’s an interesting video of Edwards speaking at Iowa State University on January 1, 2008.
He tries to hold his wife’s hand and she kind of pulls it away.
Also, he says “I understand that Jack came out, is that right” but doesn’t recognize his own son (and daughter at 3:53) sitting right in front of him on stage.
Kind of shows EE and him were leading separate lives and definitely traveling separately.
There seems to be some tension.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuv2Xzx5nXQ
I remain convinced that some of the answers and maybe coverup money lie hidden in the:
“College for Everyone” and its abrupt termination without notice on August 2, 2008, a week before John Edwards ‘confession’.
Many of its online references were deleted in the dead of night with no explanation as soon as they were cited publicly, a digital scrubbing almost identical to that received by Rielle Hunter’s website mirror, Bob McGovern’s contact information, etc, etc.
A betting man might conclude that one of the undisclosed primary donors to John Edwards’s Center for Promise and Opportunity (a section 501C-4), and its spinoff the College for Everyone program, was or is Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young’s money man.
The CFE’s Executive Director was Pamela Hampton-Garland (formerly Pamela Garland). “
Here’s a good question.
If John Edwards affair with Rielle Hunter was over in 2006, why was her partner at Midline Groove, Mimi Godfrey Hockman, setting up Youtube accounts which briefly hosted the Webisodes on January 1, 2007?
(Note: Hockman’s birthdate is widely believed to be March 15, 1963, so in January 2007, she would be 43, not 32)
Cached:
http://i38.tinypic.com/o5uge8.jpg
Original:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MidlineGroove
Any Elvis Costello fans? The JE story keeps my favorite song of his running through my mind:
John Edwards-MAN OUT OF TIME
So this is where he came to hide
When he ran from you
In a pricey hotel bathroom stall
And dirty dead man’s shoes
The pretty things of Santa Barbara
Lying for a minister of state
Are a far cry from the nod and wink
Here at traitor’s gate
‘Cause the high heel he used to be has been ground down
And he listens for the footsteps that would follow him around
To murder my love is crime
But will you still love
A man out of time
There’s a tuppeny hapenny millionaire
Looking for a fourpenny one
With a tight grip on the short hairs
Of the public imagination
But for his private wife and kids somehow
Real life becomes a rumour
Days of dutch courage
Just three French letters and a German sense of humour
He’s got a mind like a sewer and a heart like a fridge
He stands to be insulted and he pays for the privilege
I finally got around to reading People Magazine’s August 25, 2008 issue with Pigeon O’brien’s comments on page 58.
Now I don’t have it right in front of me (and correct me if I’m wrong Pigeon), but she said approximately:
~”they broke up many times, especially when Elizabeth was rediagnosed, but they always got back together”.~
Elizabeth Edwards was rediagnosed with breast cancer on March 22, 2007 (two days after Rielle Hunter’s birthday).
I found this out simply by googling the words “announced”, “2007″, and “cancer”, thereby making Elizabeth Edwards the defacto “most announced” cancer victim of 2007.
If John Edwards was still sexually active with Rielle after March 22, 2007 he is CLEARLY a likely potential father if we work the gestation timeline.
Might Rielle been screwing around with her old flame, ex-cocaine addict (his statement) musician Krishna Das? Of course, but lets assume she was being faithful to John Edwards for the sake fo this arguement and not sleeping around with both Edwards and Andrew Young (as asbestos lawyers for Andrew Young, Rielle Hunter, and John Edwards independently made statements in December 2007).
People also had photos of a John Edwards Wedding Recommitment Ceremony that was allegedly on his and Elizabeth’s 30th Anniversary (which would have been July 31, 2007), a day they also visited their favorite Wendy’s. To me this seems like EE is drawing a line in the sand.
Thus, it is my belief that the Rielle Hunter affair ended sometime between March 22, 2007, and July 31, 2007, not 2006 as publicly stated by John Edwards in his now debunked confession.
From Newsbusters:
On April 9, 2007, less than twenty days after her cancer announcement, Elizabeth Edwards made a rather bizarre and very public attack on a very private citizen, her neighbor Monty Johnson.
In this interview she called Johnson a “rabid republican”, and “Edwards views Johnson as a “rabid, rabid Republican” who refuses to clean up his “slummy” property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres”
This may have been a strategy to redirect attention away from questions about Rielle Hunter, and makes me believe that EE may been getting questions from or believed John Edwards was exposed from his March 20, 2007 visit to Rielle Hunter at the Beverly Hills Hilton, 20 days earlier.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-09-edwards-gop-neighbor_N.htm
Now what’s this stuff about JE and a Duke Grad that Radar and Wonkette are gabbing about?
Wonkette thinks John Edwards had two girlfriends.
Allegedly one looked an awful lot like his daughter Cate.
What does Marius Penczer know?
Sixteen days before it was reported that Edwards staffers had begun reaching out to Spin Doctors around the world*, Penczner left abruptly without notice.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/10/edwards_media_consultant_part.html
(*http://www.nypost.com/seven/10162007/gossip/cindy/edwards_camp_getting_jittery.htm)
Recommitment ceremony? That’s as ironic as his Father of the Year Award.
Congratulations, John Edwards, I believe that soon you will have achieved the #1 political sex scandal of all time!
See for yourself how these other sex scandals pale in comparison:
http://www.politickernj.com/files/Top53SexScandals.pdf
I love that when this scandal truly breaks open to middle America, he will be shunned. The narcissistic, shallow boy will be shunned - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunning. How deliciously ironic.
I’m not sure I can think of anyone worse than John Edwards in the scandal category.
Teddy? He was young.
John K? He at least had an affair with quality women and didn’t get any of them PREGNANT while his WIFE IS DYING OF CANCER!
Bill? Well, he never, how to say, “did” Monica and his transgressions have always been, eh, around the zipper and not, um, outright, well, you know, vaginal penetration.
Gary? What happens on a boat, stays on a boat!
Jim? Sexual repression isn’t a good thing, especially when your wife encourages a gay-threesome.
Gary? Killing a young co-ed is pretty bad but not as bad as GETTING A SKANK HO PREGNANT WHILE YOUR WIFE HAS CANCER!
And to think anyone on the planet actually believed this Ken doll turned trial lawyer who made a billion was a stand-up guy.
But, clearly Rielle Hunter (formerly know as Lisa Jo Druck) is a videographer of Academy Award caliber. You go, you Hunter girl!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v3JT9sJm9c
Oh. Sorry. Here’s Rielle being so real:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUq11oiBAHE
And here’s some of her most fine work where Edwards seriously believes that anyone gives a flying hoot where, when, or why he would announce his candidacy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCFv0yuD_2M
Can we please get some classy, stand-up, passionate (women) leaders to step up and give this country the values, morals, ethics and leadership it so desperately needs?
Here’s some interesting stuff coming out in an article in The New Republic about the National Enquirer’s investigation of the Edwards affair -
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=5d1e4170-2469-49cc-b000-327c6fde2515
[Please don't cut-and-paste most of a copyrighted article. The link is sufficient. -- MGMT.]
Great find Who da daddy, that New Republic article ^^above^^ is a very good roadmap and it meshes with every known timeline detail I am familiar with.
I’d like to get Kris’ take on that article.
I work a full time job and wish I could dig around. This is like eating Lay’s Potato chips… you guys are amazing. Fortunate Son, Kris, Who Da … You have followed this by following the bread crumbs in the forest as they disappear… great stuff.
“Then Hitchen pounced. “Mr. Edwards, Alexander Hitchen, from the National Enquirer. Would you like to say why you were at the hotel this evening to see your mistress Rielle Hunter and your love child?” he asked. Edwards froze and “turned pale…”
Who da daddy, you’re Who da man! THAT is pure comedy gold.
Fortunate Son - your comments regarding the digital scrubbing of references to the “College for Everyone” and questions regarding who were the undisclosed primary donors to Edwards’ “Center for Promise and Opportunity” were very interesting. Here’s a link to a blog that was asking alot of good questions about these issues back in June of 2007:
http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1594
Apparently there is a difference between Edwards’ DC-based “Center for Promise and Opportunity” and the North Carolina-based “Center for Promise and Opportunity Foundation” which is a separate nonprofit entity that is in charge of awarding the scholarsips for the “College for Everyone”. The DC-based center is the 501C-4 one and many reporters had questions regarding who was donating to it - see the BusinessWeek article by Eamon Javers:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_22/c4036012.htm
“While Mr. Edwards said the organization’s purpose was “making the eradication of poverty the cause of this generation,” its federal filings say it financed “retreats and seminars” with foreign policy experts on Iraq and national security issues. Unlike the scholarship charity [in North Carolina], donations to it were not tax deductible, and, significantly, it did not have to disclose its donors — as political action committees and other political fund-raising vehicles do — and there were no limits on the size of individual donations.”
Fortunate Son: So far I just have a few questions regarding the New Republic’s article detailing the Enquirer’s investigation process:
Enquirer Reporter Rick Egusquiza says that in September of 2007 “we saw some of the videos. It was clear back then, the flirtation was going on. Edwards was like a blushing kid to her”. Note that Egusqiza says “SOME of the videos”. I thought that by September of 2007, according to Sam Stein:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/26/edwards-mystery-innocuous_n_66070.html
“now, however, nearly all traces of the webisodes - as they became known - are gone. Links to them on the Internet no longer work. The Edwards campaign won’t release the videos, and the production company behind the films is citing confidentiality agreements in refusing to talk.”
Later in that same article, Sam states: “I was able to email Mimi Hockman, Rielle Hunter’s partner, to ask if I could screen the tapes. She directed me to a Business Week website where the last remaining webisode link still functioned. But beyond that, I was rebuffed”.
Thus, by September of 2007 when Sam wrote this article, he was ultimately able to find ONE remaining webisode, whereas Egusquiza says that the Enquirer was able to view “SOME of the videos”. Now, of course, after Stein had published that above article on September 26, 2007, it seems the webisodes resurface by October of 2007, according to Stein:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/10/scrubbed-edwards-filmmake_n_67868.html
“After the Huffington Post wrote about the webisodes, the videos resurfaced, both on YouTube and Webcastr.com, although the anonymous individual who reposted them (user name: “MissingVideos”) has not responded to emails.”
So, maybe the Enquirer actually viewed the Webisodes once they were put back up by that “Missing Videos” poster; but it seems like the Enquirer had access to the Webisodes before that date, when all but one were scrubbed from the Internet. Maybe this means the “tipster” was someone who had access to them/worked on them?
Could John Edwards be so stupid as to visit his mistress in St. Croix last week?
http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2008/08/john-edwards-scandal-the-curious-august-14-flight-of-n179ax/
Kris, your eliminations would point to . Nick Chatfield, , who said “on the first call to my editor that he wished the movies were available because he could use the publicity”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/26/edwards-mystery-innocuous_n_66070.html
Many have also pointed out to posts that say Elizabeth Edwards was calling anyone who had worked on the video trying to get Rielle Hunter’s phone number.
I can’t imagine Elizabeth Edwards didn’t know what was up the second she watched the webisodes.
Jonathan Darman did. America did.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/44245
“Could John Edwards be so stupid as to visit his mistress in St. Croix last week?”
FS, at this point I’d say John Edwards is capable of anything.
I’m interested in his possible affair with a Duke graduate. Wouldn’t it be funny if he was cheating on his mistress?
Gee, it looks like Stein’s piece on not seeing the videos was published 9/26. The Youtube videos were posted 9/27. The Enquirer article in October. Which is an interesting timeline in itself. I don’t see Nick Chatfield doing it. It seems like a fairly bold and high-profile move… but who it is seems pretty mysterious. If they weren’t the tipster, they were someone watching what was going on with keen interest. It might be noted that while YouTube content is posted by individuals, Webcastr content is not. So it seems that Webcastr has merely archived these newsworthy pieces which were posted by MissingVideos at YouTube. So original credit here (or blame?) goes to MissingVideos. I guess neither site has received a copyright violation notice or a cease-and-desist. Huh.
Krisha Das! Amazing reference, FS. But he might be celibate, despite his groupies’ desires. A lot of spiritual people are. It’s possible, right?
If I were anybody in a position to correct anything, I’d argue that the better Elvis Costello song would be “Brilliant Mistake.” (Google it.) But who am I to say anything? Just guessing like anyone else.
And CAry Woods was pals with golden suicide couple, Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake. If only Theresa could have directed Edward’s videos–maybe she’d be alive and a mom.