The co-hosts of "The View" called Rielle Hunter out on-air on Tuesday, with Barbara Walters personally confronting her about one of the claims she made in her new book.
Hunter, who had an affair and a child with John Edwards, recently revealed that she and Edwards have broken up. She appeared on "The View" to discuss her memoir, in which she had harsh words for Edwards' late wife Elizabeth. "I'm not a mistress, I'm a mom and I don't want to hide," she said on Tuesday.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck took issue with that statement. "Truth be told, you were a mistress," she insisted. "I mean he was married to Elizabeth Edwards to her death."
Whoopi Goldberg also objected to what Hunter said about Elizabeth Edwards. "In your book, you trash a dead lady," she said. "Did it not occur to you that that might not be the right tone to take particularly if you're trying to get people to see you as part of this sort of new couple? It's kind of a crappy thing to do." She added that the book made Hunter "look bad," "schemey" and "kind of heartless."
Hunter explained that the public's perception of her was wrong. "You had unprotected sex with a married man and had a baby and then allowed people to pretend it wasn't happening," Goldberg challenged. "You put an entire nation in a very awkward position! You have to see where people are coming from, surely."
Joy Behar continued the tough questioning, asking, "You said [to John Edwards] 'you're so hot'... Isn't that asking a guy to be unfaithful to his wife when you come onto him like that?" Hasselbeck wanted to know how Hunter would feel if another woman said that to him during their relationship.
Later in the show, Walters raised a different point. She objected to Hunter's claim that Walters had once yelled at her after she decided not to do an interview with Walters. "In 30 years of doing interviews, I've never screamed at anyone..." she said. "I have no idea what you mean by bullying, so that's my objection." Hunter said she remembered a different experience.
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