AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.

Click here to visit the new home of Politics Daily!

Hot on HuffPost:

See More Stories
Politics Daily
FEED
WOMAN UP

Elizabeth Edwards: Will There Ever be a Happy Ending for her Children?

1 year ago
  0 Comments Say Something  »
Text Size
Bonnie Goldstein
Bonnie Goldstein
Woman Up Editor
Author Bio »
Contact Author »
Subscribe :
If I were Elizabeth Edwards, I'd have a really tough time not hating the self-satisfied hussy who bragged to GQ Magazine about having sex with Elizabeth's husband. I'd think, as she must, "That carrion has no business living my happily ever after."
But despite no shortage of striving, Elizabeth's story was always more Greek tragedy than fairy tale. After their teenage son's fatal car accident, the grieving mother conceived two more children and helped her husband parlay his successful legal career on to a track for the White House. Then the impolitic politician betrayed and humiliated her, just as she was pronounced with incurable cancer. It's bad enough to die young without having some bimbo helping herself to your husband long before you are finished with him.
Today, the New York Daily News gossip columnists report that to protect her children from the clutches of their low-character father's mistress, it is Elizabeth's wish that their oldest child, Cate Edwards, a recent law school grad, legally become a guardian of her younger siblings, Jack and Emma, who are 10 and 12. I was relieved to see an ABC News report that Elizabeth denied the story.
I once imagined the resolution for political punditry's favorite soap opera family might follow the script of a 1998 tearjerker film with Susan Sarandon titled "Stepmom." Sarandon plays an ill, divorced mother of small children who forces herself to groom her replacement mommy, played by Julia Roberts, in preparation for the day her grave diagnosis eventually does its final damage.

By contrast, Elizabeth has demonstrated a take-no-prisoners approach to reprisal. Last year, the sick woman wrote an accusatory memoir and then brought her deeply chagrined husband to the set of "Oprah" (relocated to the Olympic-size North Carolina mansion the estranged Edwardses still cohabited) to account for himself. (To recap, in her memoir, 2004's second-place candidate for second lady called her husband's love child "it.")

The Edwards marriage had many low moments, but Elizabeth once pretty infectiously believed in redemption. Some part of her must surely still believe in more than revenge.
Based on her diagnosis, it seems certain Elizabeth's husband will outlast her. The three surviving children they have together will also move on with the living herd. They will remain a family, and that family now includes a half sister. I'm not suggesting that the first Mrs. Edwards should embrace the un-Julia Roberts, but, as their mother, she owes all three of her children their best chance at a guilt-free happily ever after.
Filed Under: John Edwards, Woman Up
Tagged: Cate Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards, Rielle Hunter, Stepmom
More articles from Bonnie Goldstein »

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum Comment Moderation Enabled. Your comment will appear after it is cleared by an editor.

7 Comments

Filter by:
RUTHIE

dear Elizabeth, I am so happy you are a christian, first of all. You have been a lady through it all and I admire you and you are in my prayers also, We never know when our lord is going to call us home but I just wanted to say you are not alone in this,I also pray for your children. May God bless and keep you. Ruth Williams

December 07 2010 at 7:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Elizabeth

Perhaps Mrs Edwards wants to be sure that her children are treated equally in perpetuity. Often, the stepmother gets the father to financially and emotionally desert the children of the first marriage in favor of the newest model. a divorce could assure the three choldren of the Current Edwards' Marriage a half interest in the marital estate, instead of whatever pittance the stepmother allowed late on. If Elizabth Edwards left the three children her 1/2, and they were entitled by law to a percentage of their father's estate, they would be better off. Elizabeth Edwards contributed ot the wealth of the couple, and therefore her children should be assured of their fair share, regardless of the claims of their half sister, who is certainly guilty of nothing, but is also not entitled to an unfairly large share.

June 03 2010 at 1:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sunmayden518

Elizabeth Edwards seems like a smart woman but, evidently, couldnt see the forest for the trees on this one. Or maybe she knew and played along in the hopes that she would be First Lady. Whatever, the reason lets hope their children are smarter in their choice of mates than their parents were.

June 02 2010 at 6:31 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
BVFYI

I'll LAUGH when Elizabeth Edwards has a Miracle outlive that "hussy" who stole the affections of Her husband and is trying to steal her children too.

June 02 2010 at 9:10 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
Michael Cotton

Not when you marry a cheater!!

June 01 2010 at 10:23 PM Report abuse +3 rate up rate down Reply
Bridget1

I think it would have been a wise decision for Elizabeth to designate her oldest daughter as guardian of her children. Having said that, I don't believe she would be legally able to do so unless she had sole legal custody . . . because John Edwards, as far as I know, still has every legal right to his own children.
Hopefully, he will respect them more in the future more than he did in the past.

June 01 2010 at 10:17 PM Report abuse +4 rate up rate down Reply

Follow Politics Daily


  • Comics
%PostTitle%
robert-and-donna-trussell
CHAOS THEORY
Featuring political comics by Robert and Donna TrussellMore>>
  • Woman UP Video
politics daily videos
Weekly Videos
Woman Up, Politics Daily's Online Sunday ShowMore»
politics daily videos
TV Appearances
Showcasing appearances by Politics Daily staff and contributors.More>>

News From Our Partners