Althouse: "I am a product of infidelity. Both of my parents cheated on each other, and as a kid it damaged me."

October 15, 2013

"I am a product of infidelity. Both of my parents cheated on each other, and as a kid it damaged me."

"I then grew up, fell in love with a married man, and caused even more damage. I believe history often repeats itself if you do not take responsibility and change it. Infidelity is wrong. It hurts people. It hurt me and then I in turn also hurt people. It is a chain of pain."

Says Rielle Hunter, just when no one wants to ever talk about John Edwards again, but the lady has a book to sell.

37 comments:

David said...: One of those commercial apologies?

Or is it an apology commercial?

No apology to the American people for conspiring to hide the secrets of an unelectable candidate for President.; 10/15/13, 2:54 PM
Strelnikov said...: In her case, it's a chain of stupid.; 10/15/13, 2:55 PM
AlanKH said...: She can credit her lack of sales largely to the fact that John Edwards is boring as hell. He's just an empty suit with expensive hair.; 10/15/13, 2:57 PM
rhhardin said...: Adeste infidelis; 10/15/13, 3:07 PM
MadisonMan said...: It's not my fault!!!; 10/15/13, 3:17 PM
damikesc said...: Remember, this is in regards to the VP candidate who the left DOESN'T treat as a moronic lightweight who has caused immense harm to America.; 10/15/13, 3:18 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: She may not be the ideal spokesman for this, but the fact that infidelity is harmful to a couple's children is worth talking about.; 10/15/13, 3:18 PM
Oso Negro said...: Why can't we just mainstream adultery as we have homosexuality? A couple of Hollywood sitcoms about cute cheaters to prep the battlespace, a catchy flag or symbol to demonstrate tolerance of free love, ban the Scarlet Letter from the high school curriculum as "hate literature" and we are well on our way.; 10/15/13, 3:19 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I had friends who went through that with their parents, and it was hell.; 10/15/13, 3:19 PM
Anonymous said...: Apparently, the new age spiritual quest couldn't stop the chain of pain.

Who will hear her cries?

You will, America. You too, Johnny. You stepped right in it.; 10/15/13, 3:26 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Just out of curiosity: Does Rielle Hunter know who her biological father is?; 10/15/13, 3:28 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Oh vomit. What a graceless society we live in.; 10/15/13, 3:42 PM
Renee said...: Sounds sadly normal for my community.; 10/15/13, 3:54 PM
MadisonMan said...: infidelity is harmful to a couple's children is worth talking about.

Agreed, but as you note, one who disrupts someone else's marriage is hardly a candidate for leading the discussion.

I'm not saying you have to be a Saint to lead the discussion. Just closer to the Saint side of the spectrum than Ms. Rielle appears to be.

I wonder: What's John Edwards' excuse in all of this? Just wretched narcissistic cretinism?; 10/15/13, 4:05 PM
cassandra lite said...: She was either going to go full apologia, or hint that Frank Sinatra Jr. was actually her kid's father.; 10/15/13, 4:14 PM
cassandra lite said...: She was either going to go full apologia, or hint that Frank Sinatra Jr. was actually her kid's father.; 10/15/13, 4:15 PM
cubanbob said...: Just read some of the comments on the Huff Post. It's like taking a peek at an alternative universe.; 10/15/13, 4:19 PM
Original Mike said...: @cubanbob - Your comment made me go and read some of them. Oy vey.; 10/15/13, 4:24 PM
Crunchy Frog said...: Too much love will kill you
If you can't make up your mind
Torn between the lover
And the love you leave behind
You're headed for disaster
'Cos you never read the signs
Too much love will kill you
Every time; 10/15/13, 4:30 PM
Unknown said...: So, mom and dad were, allegedly, cheating on one another . You choose to become involved with a married man, choose, and you want to blame your parents ? You somehow "lost" your ability to know right from wrong ? Ah, no, you are an amoral shit looking for absolution. Grow up and take responsibility for what you have done and stop trying to place the blame with those who were not involved. Geez, you screwed up, you, you chose to screw up, deliberately. You did, no one else is responsible for your choice except for you.
Geez, what a bunch of despicable cowards we've become with regard to personal responsibility. It's become, the parents/upbringing fault, or some addiction, or to many twinkies. And I mean "we" in the sense of the greater society. Cowards because we refuse to confront and accept responsibility for our choices and actions.; 10/15/13, 4:41 PM
Chef Mojo said...: (...)just when no one wants to ever talk about John Edwards again(...)

I'm always up for reminding people, especially lefties, that this scumbag came within a state of being elected Vice President.; 10/15/13, 4:43 PM
Unknown said...: " Just read some of the comments on the Huff Post." Scary thing is, those folks reproduce and teach their children that rubbish. Alternate universe doesn't begin to describe the asinine morals and ethics these people hold to.; 10/15/13, 4:47 PM
David said...: cubanbob said...
Just read some of the comments on the Huff Post. It's like taking a peek at an alternative universe.

The commenters all seem to take the words of the apology at face value. That shows either considerable generosity or considerable lack of perspective. The words of the apology were indeed perfect. Too perfect, especially coming from a person whose life history involves considerable manipulation and lying.

And nobody, not once single comment, places the apology in the context of a woman who is selling a book.

Maybe this explains lefties. The words matter more than the performance. Say the right words, and you are ok.

It is also interesting how many of the commenters seem to feel that Ms. Hunter was apologizing directly to them.; 10/15/13, 4:47 PM
Original Mike said...: The title of the book is "...What Really Happened: The Revised Edition"?

Priceless.; 10/15/13, 4:51 PM
FleetUSA said...: I'm glad she "took out" JEdwards from ruling this country.; 10/15/13, 5:10 PM
Peter said...: Oh yuk. If she transgressed then she did so against particular individuals (and perhaps against God, if she's a believer) but not against the general, faceless public.

"Why can't we just mainstream adultery as we have homosexuality?"

Method #1: "We're the experts, and we've decided adultery is "healthy" (sexual jealousy is "sick"). [Subtext: we no longer speak of "right" or "wrong," only "sick" and "healthy"].

Method #2: "Those promises were made along time ago; that was then and this is now- people change." [Subtext: The adulterer is the reasonable one; anyone who objects is unreasonable.]; 10/15/13, 5:18 PM
wildswan said...: I think I would encourage Rielle Hunter to turn this into a series. Every five years she brings out a new book with a new take on the scandal and that will make the book and the response to the book a cultural artifact. Because she seems to me perfectly mirror the times or rather what it is like to be her age in these times and have no principles.

The Scandal
Me and the Scandal
Me and the Scandal Revised
The Real Rielle
Jesus Christ, Reielle!
OMigod - Me and the Scandal in Thailand with the Buddha
Me and the Scandal(with My Daughter)
The Secret of Rielle. by Her Daughter
Rielle Speaks from Beyond. by A Christian Scientist; 10/15/13, 5:21 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: The title of the book is "...What Really Happened: The Revised Edition"?

Priceless.

Ha! I thought you were joking until I clicked over to look for myself.; 10/15/13, 5:25 PM
Original Mike said...: It's like they say, Freeman; "You can't make this stuff up."; 10/15/13, 5:30 PM
wildswan said...: It was a dark and stormy night when John Edwards phoned me from his boyishly handsome barber shop and we were both crying so hard I hardly knew how much money to ask for but as I heard the snip of the hairdresser's shears I seemed to know that more than hair was falling to the ground, that the polls and the fund raising were falling also and that fate had stepped in on us and snipped with her abhorred shears our luxuriant life as if we were nobodies with nobodies' hair.; 10/15/13, 5:40 PM
MadisonMan said...: That shows either considerable generosity or considerable lack of perspective. The words of the apology were indeed perfect.

They were so generous I started to feel guilty for my snarkiness.; 10/15/13, 5:41 PM
Martha said...: Meanwhile Elizabeth is still dead. She died before Rielle's apology. We do not want the apology. Maybe Elizabeth would have.; 10/15/13, 6:07 PM
Martha said...: Meanwhile Elizabeth is still dead. She died before Rielle's apology. We do not want the apology. Maybe Elizabeth would have.; 10/15/13, 6:07 PM
Original Mike said...: "They were so generous I started to feel guilty for my snarkiness."

Let me try.

Hunter: "I apologize. What I did was awful. Horrible. There is absolutely no excuse for my behavior and I feel awful about it.

Please buy my book."

Nope. I don't feel a bit guilty.; 10/15/13, 6:15 PM
avwh said...: "Maybe this explains lefties. The words matter more than the performance. Say the right words, and you are ok."

This would explain why the left LOVES Obama - all he's done is words. ("Performance, eh, who cares? We've got the power, that's all that matters."); 10/15/13, 7:37 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/16/13, 12:57 AM
Unknown said...: It really is a shame people dont think about the consequences before they are unfaithful and hurt others, especially when children are involved!; 10/16/13, 2:01 AM