“He didn’t ask me. But I would make a fair bet that I would have said no to such an offer. Or, I would have charged him some incredible amount of money.”

—Dave Matthews on hearing that John Edwards had promised Rielle Hunter that the singer would play a set for their rooftop wedding. Too bad that one’s not happening, right? [NY Daily News]

Andrew Young, the former John Edwards aide who claims in his book, The Politician, that he lied for the former presidential candidate, went on “Good Morning America” today with his wife, Cheri. The couple talked about how they always put John and Elizabeth Edwards first, saying they housed Rielle Hunter for eight months and even brought her along on family vacations. They even agreed to say Rielle’s baby was Andrew’s. Apparently, John told them he was going to come clean after Elizabeth died, because he didn’t want her to find out about the scandal. [GMA]

“We’ve been offered gigantic amounts of money and we’ve said no.”

— Andrew Young, John Edwards’ former aide who claims he’s got a sex tape starring the ex-senator and mistress/baby mama, Rielle Hunter. Ick, politicians should not make sex tapes! [New York Post]

John Edwards should have known better than to let his videographer/lovah bring her camera into the bedroom. Andrew Young—the former Edwards’ staffer who originally took the fall for having the affair with Hunter—described finding the tape in Rielle Hunter’s trash in his book and he’ll be appearing on “Nightline” and “20/20” tonight to describe exactly what was on it. Hunter is in court as we speak, trying to get a restraining order for the tape to be kept under wraps. If she doesn’t, who knows what could happen? Let’s just say that more than a few people would be interested in watching.

While politicians make sex tapes with far less frequency than Hollywood folk or rock stars (or maybe they’re just better at keeping them a secret?), Edwards is hardly the first to find himself in this situation. After the jump, a history of politicians and their naughty tapes.

Ruh-roh. Rielle Hunter has gone to court to suppress “a personal video recording that depicted matters of a very private and personal nature.” The alleged video recording is in the possession of Andrew and Cheri Young. Mr. Young was Edwards’ long-time assistant, and he gave an interview with ABC News describing what was on the tape he found in Edwards’ trash can. Though he never saw her face in the video, he described the woman as “visibly pregnant” and “wearing a bracelet” and a “thumb ring” resembling those often worn by Rielle Hunter. Thumb ring? Really? Eww. [ABC News]

Turns out that People got it right this week—Elizabeth Edwards has, in fact, reached her breaking point and is ditching her philandering hubby of 32 years. Yesterday, a spokesperson for Elizabeth confirmed that she is “moving on with her life after a excruciatingly painful period.” John has confirmed the story, too. He says, “It is an extraordinarily sad moment, but I love my children more than anything and still care deeply about Elizabeth.” Elizabeth is staying in the couple’s house, while John is shuffling between their beach home and an annex to the family house they refer to as “the barn.” She’s supposedly had divorce papers drawn up for more than a year, but just recently decided to move forward with the process. According to some reports, the final straw for Elizabeth was meeting John’s love child, Quinn, who is now 2 years old. Others say that John made the decision. A friend told the magazine, “John feels like, ‘I can’t live with you checking my cell phone, asking who I was with, where I went. That’s not how I want to live the rest of my life.’ I think they realized she still doesn’t trust him.” Regardless of how or why the decision was made, it certainly sounds like a good one. [People, MSNBC]

And you thought you’d heard all the dirty details after John Edwards finally confessed that he is Rielle Hunter’s baby daddy. Au contraire! The Politician, the book by Andrew Young—who you know as the Edwards’ campaign staffer who initially said he was the one doing the horizontal polka with Hunter, before it came out that Edwards was the culprit—comes out next week. NY Daily News has gotten its hands on a copy, and there are some serious zingers in there. For example ...

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. Two sources tell Gawker that during their affair, John Edwards and his mistress, Rielle Hunter, allegedly filmed a sex tape that contains “several sex acts.” Allegedly, Hunter is behind the camera at the beginning of it. Apparently Andrew Young, a former aide of Edwards’ who is publishing a tell-all book next month, is the one who found the sex tape at Hunter’s house.

Gawker hasn’t actually seen the alleged sex tape, so take this rumor with a grain of salt. But remember, Edwards admitted that he is the father of a love child, Frances Quinn, with Hunter, after denying it for two years.

Yuck. We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: poor Elizabeth! [Gawker]

I grew up in a liberal town in the very un-liberal state of North Carolina. In 1998, when John Edwards busted on the scene and took down Republican stalwart Lauch Faircloth, Edwards instantly became a local hero. For years, I thought he and his wife Elizabeth were the bee’s knees—a loving couple who’d had hard times (the death of a child, her cancer battle) but were still dedicating their lives to making the country a better place. Of course, after the revelation of John Edwards’ affair and subsequent love child, my impression of the couple shifted drastically. But a new book, Game Change, by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin—which delves not only into the Edwards’ lives but all the major political figures involved in the 2008 election from Obama to Palin—has completely squashed any teenage idolization I had left for the Edwards.

In a twist that we sort of saw coming but still can’t believe, John Edwards has admitted to fathering mistress Rielle Hunter‘s 22-month-old daughter, Quinn. Though he lied about being the child’s father throughout his presidential campaign and beyond, Edwards seems to have realized that he couldn’t fake a paternity test. Apparently he’s been paying child support for the last year, and Elizabeth has known about this for about as long. Oh what a tangled web you’ve woven, Mr. Edwards. [Today]

Newsweek turned to some unusual candidates to weigh in on the top headline-grabbing sex scandals. Porn star Sasha Grey, former madam Heidi Fleiss, and sex columnist Dan Savage, in addition to Rachel Maddow and Jonathan Ames, throw their two cents in on Mark Sanford’s mistress, Eliot Spitzer’s daliances, and John Edwards’ affair. According to Grey, perverted politicians aren’t the problem, it’s their wives. “Americans act so shocked when they hear about politicians, celebrities, and athletes having affairs,” Grey posits, “but I have to believe that many women who are married to men with power are aware of affairs, and accept it.” Instead, Grey suggests, we should all embrace our freaky side. “Consensual sexual preferences shouldn’t govern our politics, media, or way of life,” she opines. “Ideally, we should all openly have something extra on the side.” If she’s right, 2010 should be a doozy. [ Newsweek]

A dishy new book proposal by a former aide says former Senator John Edwards wasn’t merely cheating on his long-suffering wife Elizabeth Edwards. According to Andrew Young, the senator promised Rielle Hunter he’d marry her after Elizabeth died from cancer in a rooftop ceremony in NYC with the Dave Matthews Band playing.

Urgent memo to Senator Edwards: Making romantic plans for after your wife’s death = tacky! [New York Times]

This week’s humpday brought on lots of, well, humping. If it’s not about baby daddys, baby mamas, or new relationships, it’s not in the tabloids this week. And let me remind you—it is the time of the season for loving. If you haven’t had a summer fling (or five), it’s time to claim yours and get in some kissing under the boardwalk. And because you should be busy with your summer lovin’, I’m going to recap this week’s tabloids so you can’t use reading them as an excuse to stay in tonight.

Maybe I should start reading the National Enquirer more often. They may have been right about John Edwards being the father of Rielle Hunter’s baby. Last August, Edwards confessed that he’d had an affair with Hunter, his campaign videographer, and went on to divulge way too much information on ABC’s “Nightline” about their trysts. But he’s always held fast that he couldn’t be the father of Hunter’s now 18-month-old baby because they were done before the baby was conceived. North Carolina news station WRAL says inside sources have told them that Edwards is close to stepping up to the plate and admitting he’s the baby’s father. Poor Elizabeth Edwards. I’m not sure which is worse—having a husband who cheated and denies having a love child or having a husband who has a love child. [Gawker]

We take anything we hear reported in the National Enquirer with a huuuge grain of salt, but the trashy tab was correct about John Edwards’ affair with former campaign employee Rielle Hunter. Therefore, we’re inclined to give a listen to their wild ‘n crazy rumors. The Enquirer says Edwards allegedly took a secret paternity test that proves that he’s the father of Hunter’s 18-month-old daughter, Frances, and is allegedly arranging child support payments. Vicious rumor or another rare fact in the Enquirer? Time will tell. [National Enquirer]

Despite the fact that, like, dozens of politicians have been busted cheating on their wives since, John Edwards is still in the news for his affair with Rielle Hunter. According to the book proposal from former Edwards aide Andrew Young, a sex tape featuring Edwards humping Hunter exists. Young would know—he’s the man who famously took the fall for Edwards when he asserted that Hunter’s child was his not the Senator’s. But in the book proposal he admits that was a lie and that the child is Edwards’. He also says that Hunter told him that she and the Senator discussed getting married once Elizabeth Edwards passed away from cancer and that he actually found and has seen the sex tape the two made. Um, can I?

Much has been written in the media this week about men cheating on their wives. We have the tale of two Jo(h)ns: John Edwards, whose scorned wife, Elizabeth Edwards, appeared on “Oprah” yesterday to promote her new book, Resilence, in which she addresses her husband’s much publicized affair, and Jon Gosselin, costar of the hit TLC reality show “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” whose rumored affair has become tabloid fodder. The former is a tale as old as journalism itself: a man in power cheats on a wife who, from the outside, seemed a supporting and loving spouse undeserving of her husband’s unfaithfulness. The latter is another familiar tale: a man under an enormous amount of pressure is regularly and publicly emasculated and treated like dirt by his wife and seemingly seeks solace with another woman. In both cases, the men are vilified—but is it possible that maybe, just maybe, at least one of the women had it coming?

Oprah’s interview with Elizabeth Edwards has aired, and Elizabeth came across as poised and loving, especially considering all she has dealt with and is still going through. On the show, Elizabeth told Oprah she found out about John’s affair a few days after he announced his intent to run for the presidency. When he first told her, he said it had happened once. Then, a year and a half later, he told her the rest of the story. The two are still working to redevelop their trust.

Among the other topics Elizabeth and Oprah discussed were her fight against cancer, how women need to respect other, and how John and she are working on their marriage. When Oprah asked whether she’s still in love with John, Elizabeth said, “... I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t in love with him.” After the jump, another clip from the show.