GQ.COM EXCLUSIVE: More Rielle Hunter
In the April GQ, Lisa DePaulo interviews Rielle Hunter, the woman at the heart of the John Edwards saga and the mother of Edwards’s 2-year-old daughter. That’s a lengthy, in-depth Q&A, but it doesn’t contain everything DePaulo and Hunter discussed. Here are some choice bonus moments, in which Hunter riffs on Oprah, Obama, Hillary Clinton, the sex tape, and the current status of her relationship with Edwards.
You’ve had an interesting life, Rielle, even before John Edwards.
I have had an interesting life. [laughs] And I have gained a lot of wisdom.
Let’s talk about that. This isn’t your first brush with American culture. You were Jay McInerney’s muse; you were married to Kip Hunter, the son of the Boulder, Colorado, D.A. during the JonBenét Ramsey case… What is it about you?
I live my life for wisdom, I don’t live my life for security. My priority is awareness and growth and evolution, and helping others do the same. And because of that being my priority, my life changes a lot. I don’t live a culturally safe life.
But really, why do you think interesting, complex men are attracted to you?
[long pause] Because I know who I am.
Why do keep your ex-husband’s name?
I like the name. I like Hunter better than Druck [her maiden name]. And I hold my ex-husband in high regard.
So that explains the Hunter. Which the blogosphere has had a field day with. But you also changed your first name—from Lisa to Rielle?
I did change my name. In 1993. Because I was an actress at the time, and I thought Rielle Hunter was a better stage name than Lisa Jo Druck. For my acting career. Which never included Overboard, by the way. [laughs
] All over the Internet, they have me in this movie Overboard [with Goldie Hawn]. That’s not me.
That’s not you in a bikini dancing on a yacht in all those YouTube clips?
Correct. That’s not me. It’s so astonishing to me how factually incorrect things are on the Internet. I just read on Newsweek.com that I was at a dinner party talking about how Elizabeth Edward’s cancer was caused by “bad energy. ” Factually incorrect. I was at that dinner party. I would never say that someone’s cancer was caused by bad energy. My father died of cancer. I sat with him; every single chemo treatment, I went with him. I sat with him when he was dying. I would never say that someone’s cancer is caused by bad energy, period.
You are quite often described as New Agey. Is that a fair label?
In political circles, if you use the word consciousness, people say it’s New Agey. It’s fascinating to me how people see me. I would never describe myself as that. I’m spiritual by nature, but I’ve read claims that my language is all peppered with New Age jargon and that I’ve said all kinds of wacky things that I’ve never said.
There’s been another hot rumor, originally reported by the Star, that seems to have taken on a life of its own on the Internet, that you had a fling with Jeff Goldblum. Did you?
I think Jeff Goldblum is a fantastic, gracious, wonderful man. I have never had a romantic fling with him. Ever. But it’s funny you ask that next, because the connection I have with Jeff Goldblum is of a spiritual base. I’ve known him for many years, and at one point I was attempting to create a TV show for him about a loser guy who was perceived as a guru. Sort of a takeoff of the Peter Sellers movie Being There.
In that Newsweek blog, Jonathan Darman also reported that you told him that you “traveled the world with the hairstylist Sally Hirshberger” and “lived in Meg Ryan’s home for a time.” Is that true?
I never lived in Meg Ryan’s home at any time, nor did I ever say that. I used to be close friends with Sally Hershberger—and her name was spelled incorrectly in Newsweek, by the way—and I did spend time with her when we had the same spiritual teacher. Jonathan painted this picture that I was name-dropping, which is not what the conversation was at all. Here’s another thing that’s fascinating about “journalists,” and I want to put that in quotes. Jonathan Darman sees me a certain way, and it’s not remotely close to who I am. In his first piece about me, he said I “wore bright nail polish” and looked like I could “work a room.” You know, it’s that kind of thing. I’ve never worn nail polish. I wore it once in my life, when I was 18 years old, the summer when I was 18 years old. I mean, it’s just total projection.
What did you learn from your spiritual teachings?
The recognition of the space of peace that exists—that I never lose sight of now—no matter what’s going on in my life. The awareness of that space never goes away. That’s what I got. And that, my friend, is priceless.
During the campaign, did you offer John advice? Or did he ask you for advice?
He drives our relationship. He’s the man. [laughs] He’s in the driver’s seat.
So you wouldn’t have said, for instance, “You really should get out of the race”?
You know, if he would ask me… He’d kind of run things by, like, “What do you think about this?” He did that about endorsing Obama. He was like, “You think I should endorse Obama?” And I said, “Do whatever you want to do. I have no opinion whatsoever on that.” And I didn’t. I had no opinion. And if I have an opinion, I’ll give it to you, but I had no opinion.
You really weren’t that into politics.
No, I wasn’t. It’s interesting though—had I not been with Johnny, I probably would have been an Obama supporter. Although I really love Hillary. I have a great respect for Hillary. Given what I’ve been through in the last four years, I view her life very differently. I think she’s an extraordinary woman, because of what she’s been through and how she’s been ripped apart by the media. I just find her to be absolutely extraordinary. I have the greatest compassion for her, her life. I’ve never met her, but I have the greatest respect for her.
Even though she was the one hurt by a mistress? You relate to her?
I do my best to relate to everyone. I feel at this point in my life, I have a greater understanding of all of the people involved in that triangle—Bill, Hillary, and Monica.
Darman in Newsweek also wrote that the National Enquirer’s stories featured “information gleaned from [your] inner circle.” And Andrew Young also implies in his book that you or your best friends fed the tabloids. Is any of that true?
No. None of that is true. I’ve been accused a number of times by many people of leaking information and selling information to the tabloids. And I just want to say that I’ve signed under oath a document that says that I have never leaked any information. I have never sold any information. To any tabloids. All of those things do not come from me.
So you signed that under oath for what purpose?
For Johnny’s lawyers. To prove that I was not the source of leaked information. Because I was tired of being accused by them.
They accused you, too? When?
When the National Enquirer got ahold of the child-support information statement, one of many that were filled out for negotiation purposes. I have no idea how they got ahold of that. And the one they got ahold of was inaccurate. I never demanded $18,000 a month for child support, nor was I ever suing John Edwards for child support, nor was I ever threatening to go to open court to sue him for child support. I was watching the guy from Game Change talking the other day on TV about how we settled because Johnny was afraid of me going into open court and airing the dirty laundry. One hundred percent fiction. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Where do the leaks come from?
You know, I don’t know who—I can never get to the bottom of it. And I’ve had many sleepless nights wondering who was at the bottom of it, how they got information. And now I just let it go. It doesn’t matter to me. I know it’s not me and I know it’s not the few people I speak to. My few friends.
What about the betrayals from your own family? You have a sister who has been all over television—
I don’t view my sister as a betrayal. I haven’t spoken to my sister in seventeen years. And there’s a reason I don’t speak to my sister. Because she’s the kind of person who would go on national TV and make up stuff that she doesn’t know anything about and talk about her family members like that. And I find that really sad. But I haven’t spoken to her in seventeen years.
But she’s out there on places like Entertainment Tonight talking about your relationship with John Edwards.
It’s 100 percent speculation or assumption. She has no idea about anything relating to me.
That has to be kind of hard.
Let me put it this way. The emotional reactions I had based upon my family and their actions is past tense. Now it doesn’t get to me. I don’t have reactions. I wish them nothing but the best.
Speaking of not letting things get to you, as I sat with you at your house, there was a weird blue van parked across the street and a creepy guy with a tripod on the sidewalk. How do you live this way?
Well, quite a while ago, I made a decision that I was no longer going to run from this kind of activity. And I was going to have to integrate it into my life. Or have them ruin my day. Or ruin my daughter’s day. And you know, it’s a little bit irritating from time to time. But it’s just part of my life now.
Oprah Winfrey recently had Andrew and Cheri Young on her show. When asked about the sex tape, Cheri gave a description to hoots from the audience. How did you feel about that?
I am astonished that someone who’s being sued for invasion of privacy would then take the step of describing the thing they are being sued about on Oprah.
Oprah also said on that show that John Edwards must have been out of his mind to make a sex tape while he was running for president, a comment that was picked up all over the Internet. What did you think about that?
That’s such a great question, because Oprah Winfrey, how she thinks and what she says, influences hundreds of thousands of people. First of all, that judgment
she has is based on factually incorrect information, and it inspires other people to jump on the bandwagon and have that same judgment. And second, people’s judgments and opinions have only to do with themselves. This has to do with Oprah’s belief systems about sex, about public office, about men. It has all to do with Oprah and has nothing to do with John Edwards.
Talk about the factually incorrect part.
In my signed affidavits with the court, I state, under oath, that the tape was made in September ’06 and it was destroyed [mangled and cut] in December ’06 in order to prevent anyone from seeing it. John Edwards was not running for any office, nor was he holding any public office at that time.
Does that make a difference?
So the judgment is that men should never make a sex tape? That’s a judgment about sex. I happen to believe what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedroom is between two consenting adults, and are private.
One final question. How do you describe your relationship with John Edwards right now?
Private.