COLD CUTS: John Edwards (above) and Rielle Hunter were not very lovey-dovey when they dined with their daughter at a Charlotte, NC, restaurant. (AP)
Rielle Hunter (INFphoto.com)
COLD CUTS: John Edwards (inset right) and Rielle Hunter were not very lovey-dovey when they dined with their daughter at this Charlotte, NC, restaurant. (
)
CHARLOTTE, NC — The honeymoon is over for Rielle Hunter.
The once white-hot romance between disgraced John Edwards and the mistress who gave birth to his love child has fizzled just as fast as his presidential prospects, The Post has learned.
Friends and insiders say that the unemployed Hunter and the widowed former North Carolina senator, whose trial for allegedly using nearly $1 million in campaign cash to cover up the affair begins today, are creating as many sparks these days as a dull political debate.
“They didn’t seem romantic,” said a server at Rooster’s Wood Fire Kitchen in Charlotte — featuring a popular $8 steak burger — where the couple used to dine together with daughter Frances Quinn, 4, at least once every three weeks.
“They looked like a married couple. You would think that if you didn’t know them. He sat across from her in a booth.”
There was no kissing, no hand holding. Instead, “he would bring his daughter into the atrium and show her the fountain,” the server said.
Edwards does pay child support and visits his daughter every so often — one of Hunter’s neighbors said he’s seen Edwards playing with Frances Quinn in the back yard on the trampoline “a few times in the past six months.”
And the trio spent this past Christmas together — they were even seen at the local church for morning services.
But Edwards — who carried on his affair with Hunter while his wife, Elizabeth, was suffering from cancer — won’t take it much further than that.
“No, she wasn’t ever engaged to him,” confirmed Rosemarie Terenzio, a friend of and publicist for Hunter.
“They see each other often,” Terenzio said, adding that Edwards often travels the 120 miles from his Chapel Hill home to visit Hunter’s three-bedroom, 2,850-square-foot, $1,710-a-month house.
“They raise her together. They do so extremely amicably.”
Despite being the most talked about baby in North Carolina, Hunter’s daughter lives a relatively normal life, according to people close to the mom.
The girl has lots of friends, and Hunter takes her to play dates.
When Edwards isn’t around, Hunter is usually seen at her regular “$5 Karma Class” at Laughing Buddha Yoga Studio.
While there, her instructors say she acts like she’s still jetting around on Edwards’ presidential campaign — wearing sunglasses inside and avoiding other customers.
“She’s a little flaky. She’s very strange,” said a fellow yogi.
Hunter, a former campaign videographer for Edwards, will likely be called to testify in the trial — which could help explain why the relationship seems to have fizzled.