Disgraced Democrat John Edwards was spotted enjoying a lunch date with his reported new girlfriend — 35-year-old single mom Danielle King.
The 60-year-old attorney, who is said to have kicked baby mama Rielle Hunter to the curb over her recent tell-all book about their steamy, extramarital affair, was seen leaving upscale restaurant Panzanella, near his home in Chapel Hill, NC, on Oct. 18.
According to the National Enquirer magazine, he and the blonde have been secretly dating for about a year.
King, who is a bit more than half Edwards’ age, wore a figure-hugging gray dress and heels for the liaison, while Edwards kept it casual in a polo shirt and jeans.
The new love interest works as a clinical coordinator at Duke University’s Cancer Care Research Program, the Enquirer said. King is said to have gotten close to Edwards and his two young children, and has become a fixture at the family’s idyllic, rural mansion.
King has even posted a picture of herself and Edwards’ son Jack on her Facebook profile page on the teen’s birthday.
“Happy Birthday, bud. I love you so so so so so much,” she wrote in the caption. “Thank you for being you and making my world, and everyone else’s, a better place.”
Although they are living together, the two arrived at the Italian eatery separately and were careful not to get too touchy-feely while enjoying their meal.
Onlookers said the two were “very smiley” and “engrossed in conversation” during lunch.
“They gazed into each other’s eyes as if they were the only two people on the planet,” one witness told the magazine.
Afterwards, Edwards bid Danielle goodbye and popped by a nearby supermarket to stock up on groceries.
The apparent romance suggests that his scandalous relationship with Hunter, who ruined his political career when their affair emerged after she gave birth to his daughter Frances Quinn, is firmly in the past.
Edwards, a former Democratic vice-presidential candidate, reportedly paid his paramour Hunter to live in a separate Chapel Hill home while he was running for office in 2008.
When his wife, Elizabeth, died in 2010 after a battle with breast cancer, Edwards had Hunter move into his family home.
Their relationship ended after her book about the torrid affair. But Hunter had second thoughts after publishing the tome.
“Instead of apologizing when I should have, I went on to hurt more people by writing a book,” she wrote in a blog post.