Facing jail time, JOHN EDWARDS loses control as mistress RIELLE HUNTER told him “I HATE you! You’ll never SEE your child again,” say sources.
JOHN EDWARDS’ criminal trial has exploded behind the scenes into a vicious fight between the disgraced former senator and his mistress Rielle Hunter – and she now fears that he’ll beat her like he once beat his late wife Elizabeth, say sources.
“Rielle never completely trusted John after she learned about his horrific, marriage-ending fight with Elizabeth, which involved punching, slapping and screaming,” said a source. “It was the final straw in the couple’s 32-year marriage, and now it’s also destroyed the relationship between John and Rielle.”
In February 2010, The ENQUIRER revealed Elizabeth had privately told a friend that “John beat me” and forcefully punched her in the ribs. The source, who passed a polygraph, added that Elizabeth had slapped John and repeatedly screamed at him during fights over his infidelity.
Now, Rielle is afraid of suffering the same kind of abuse, especially after John’s once-loyal aide, Andrew Young, testified in the trial that John called her a “crazy slut” when he first learned she was pregnant with his love child, Frances Quinn, now 4.
Young also testified that Edwards claimed there was a “one in three chance” that Rielle’s baby was his.
After hearing about the insulting comments, a close source says the 48-year-old divorcee called John and screamed: “I hate you! You’ll NEVER see your daughter again!”
Edwards, 58, is now on trial facing charges that he illegally used campaign donations to cover up his affair with Rielle, who worked as a videographer on his 2008 run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Young, who is a key witness, helped with the cover-up, and even claimed he was the father of Rielle’s baby despite being a happily married dad of three.
“Rielle was fit to be tied when she heard what John had said about her,” the close source told The ENQUIRER. “She was in tears, sobbing that once again she was being dragged through the mud and being made a public laughingstock because of his hurtful comments.”
A second source added: “She really berated him. John just took the verbal assault – he was too tired and beat down to even fight back.”
But John did lash out after prosecutors played a voice mail message Rielle left on Young’s phone in which she made fun of terminally ill Elizabeth.
Rielle was watching TV news footage of “Johnny” and Elizabeth at the time and laughs about how far apart they’re standing. Sadly, Elizabeth lost her brave battle with breast cancer on Dec. 7, 2010.
“John was absolutely furious when he heard the audio,” said the source. “He ripped into Rielle later, saying, ‘I spent a year trying to bring all of us together as a family and finally got my kids to be civil to you, and then you’re heard laughing about their dead mother! ’”
And every time John raised his voice, Rielle thought about Elizabeth getting punched in the ribs by him, the source revealed.
John was also rocked by the court’s disclosure that Young had a one-night stand with an unnamed trial witness – because he was convinced it WAS Rielle!
Another insider revealed: “John got word to Andrew that if, in fact, Rielle was the woman Young slept with, then he hoped he’d ‘rot in hell’ for betraying him.”
The insider added that Andrew, who is barred by the court from speaking directly to John or any other witnesses, later told a pal: “John has a lot of nerve – he was the one who betrayed me!
“I lied for him in order to protect his run for president. He should to go to jail!’”
Now John feels like the odds are stacked against him.
“He’s already lost his good name, his family, his political career and most of his friends,” noted the second source. “And now Rielle is finally seeing him for what he is too.”
