RALEIGH, N.C. - Former presidential candidate John Edwards said yesterday that he still cares deeply about his wife despite the couple’s separation.
“It is an extraordinarily sad moment, but I love my children more than anything and still care deeply about Elizabeth,’’ Edwards said in a statement.
A friend of Elizabeth Edwards confirmed yesterday that the couple is separated. Elizabeth’s sister, Nancy Anania, said she remains strong.
“She’s doing as well as you could expect,’’ Anania said. “I’m really proud of her that, somehow, she’s got strength that you rarely see in a person.’’
The statements were made as a former aide to Edwards prepares to release a tell-all book that gives an unflattering portrait of the couple and the tumultuous relationship they tried to maintain after he first acknowledged his affair on the campaign trail. They statements also were issued one week after John Edwards finally made a public declaration that he fathered a child, now almost 2 years old, with his mistress.
Former aide Andrew Young initially claimed that he fathered the child with John Edwards’s mistress. John Edwards publicly declared last week that he was the father of the child with Rielle Hunter, who worked as a videographer before his second presidential campaign in 2008.
Young’s upcoming book details how Edwards went to great lengths to hide the affair. Young also claims the couple sought to politicize her cancer diagnosis.
The statement released on behalf of Elizabeth Edwards said she will not engage in a dialogue on “false charges’’ in the book.
