Why John Edwards & Rielle Hunter Split: Cate Gave Dad ‘Her Or Me’ Ultimatum

By Radar Staff

Cate Edwards pressured her father John to call things off with Rielle Hunter, after the baby mama's new book disrespected the memory of Cate's late mother Elizabeth Edwards, calling her "a witch on wheels," among other things.

Insiders tell the National Enquirer that following the release of the controversial book What Really Happened, Cate "feels she received the ultimate slap in the face after she was by her father's side for six long weeks during the criminal trial."

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"She's told pals she'll be there for her little brother and sister (Jack, 12, and Emma Claire, 14, respectively) but isn't going to speak to her father unless he breaks it off with Rielle," insiders tell the National Enquirer.

This is not the first time Cate, 30, has made clear her thoughts of Rielle, as she forbid her father from inviting her to her wedding last fall. (John's and Rielle's daughter Frances Quinn was invited, but did not go.)

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As previously reported, in Rielle's new book she expresses little remorse about sleeping with a then-married Edwards, even deducing Elizabeth should have been wise to John's cheating because of her own desolate bed.

"If you aren't having sex with your partner," she explains, "chances are high someone else is."

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In another passage, Rielle tried to paint Elizabeth in a negative light in describing how the cancer-stricken political wife would press John about why he kept a mistress.

"The honest reply, 'She makes me happy,' was not received without punishment" from Elizabeth, Rielle writes.

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As previously reported, the book is full of details about their trysts, as well as the bombshell that John told Rielle he'd hooked up with at least three other women across the country.

In January 2010, the two-time presidential candidate finally admitted publicly that he'd fathered a daughter out-of-wedlock with his former mistress. Shortly after his admission, John and his late wife Elizabeth legally separated. Elizabeth died that December after a 6-year battle against breast cancer.