Rielle Hunter says John Edwards' marriage to the late Elizabeth Edwards was damaged before she became involved with the two-time presidential candidate.
"Their marriage was ruined before I got there," she told ABC's 20/20. "Years before I got there."
Reflecting on public perception that John and Elizabeth Edwards had a healthy marriage, she added, "I was disgusted with myself for being in love with a man who was going on national TV with his wife -- and lying."
Elizabeth Edwards passed away after years of struggling with cancer in 2010.
The remarks from Hunter come ahead of the release of her memoir What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter, and Me.
Reuters reported on the contents of the book earlier this week:
Hunter wrote that Edwards confessed to having the other affairs but that he led her to believe that she was the last.
Hunter blames Elizabeth Edwards for driving John Edwards to cheat. She describes Elizabeth Edwards in unflattering terms, calling her "crazy," "venomous," and a "witch on wheels."
Hunter told 20/20, "I feel for both my daughter and for all the kids involved, the full truth needs to be in the public domain." She added, "Their father's not a demon and their mother's not a saint. And I'm not a home wrecker. We're real human beings. And there is a real dynamic that was going on, good and bad. And we all made mistakes."
The statements from Hunter surface in the wake of the high-profile legal case involving Edwards coming to a close. The AP reported earlier this month:
Federal prosecutors dropped all charges... against John Edwards, triggering criticism that the year-long prosecution of the former presidential candidate was a waste of time and taxpayer money.
After a six-week trial in North Carolina, jurors acquitted Edwards May 31 on one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions and deadlocked on five other felony counts. The judge declared a mistrial.
The U.S. Justice Department said in a court order that it will not seek to retry Edwards on the five unresolved counts.
Below, a look at intriguing revelations from what Hunter had to say about her relationship with Edwards in a 2010 interview with GQ.