Rielle Hunter: 'Edwards and I are no longer a couple'

Rielle Hunter, left, is shown Aug. 6, 2009, and former U.S. senator and presidential candidate John Edwards is seen May 10, 2012.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

Rielle Hunter says she and former presidential candidate John Edwards have ended their relationship in a painful but mutual breakup.

Edwards will still be involved with their daughter, Quinn, 4 , Hunter said.

"We are a family, but as of the end of last week, John Edwards and I are no longer a couple," Hunter said on ABC?s ?Good Morning America" on Tuesday. "We decided together to end it."

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Hunter said she and Edwards were still a couple until late last week, as details from Hunter's memoir became public.

Asked why the relationship ended, Hunter said, "I think that's private." She said "media scrutiny" is ?hard, and it wears you down after a while."

Edwards was not immediately available for comment.

Her book, "What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me," was released Tuesday through a Dallas-based boutique publisher, BenBella Books.

In the book, The Associated Press reported, Hunter describes intimate details about her affair with Edwards, whose campaign hired her as a videographer, and sheds light on his thoughts as federal prosecutors mounted a case against him on illegal campaign contribution charges.

Prosecutors had accused the Democratic politician of masterminding a scheme to use about $1 million in secret payments from two wealthy political donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.

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According to Hunter, Edwards told her he would probably wind up in a low-security prison in Virginia if he was convicted, and Hunter said she planned to move nearby with their daughter if that happened.

A federal jury last month acquitted Edwards on one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions but deadlocked on five related charges. A judge declared a mistrial, and federal prosecutors on June 13 said they opted not to retry Edwards.

Hunter's memoir also includes intimate details about her affair with Edwards as his wife, Elizabeth, was dying of cancer. On Tuesday, Hunter said she felt it was necessary to tell the truth about her relationship, even if doing so was painful for her, Edwards or his other children.

Saying that she still loves Edwards, and that she believes he still loves her, Hunter said Tuesday that she was unsure of the future.

"We'll see what happens," she said. "I have no plans."

This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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