As John Edwards' legal saga builds to an apparent climax at a Raleigh courthouse, the woman who tipped the National Enquirer to his affair has spilled the details in a story for the Huffington Post.
Pigeon O'Brien, who has been living in Asheville, describes how she'd been a friend of the woman then named Lisa Druck since the 1980s. After Druck changed her name to Rielle Hunter, and got involved with a man named John from North Carolina, O'Brien found herself keeping an increasingly uncomfortable secret.
Leaks spouted from various sources. Her phone rang with queries. That's when she says she decided to spill what she knew.
"I made one phone call simply to take the pressure off myself because I couldn't live with it anymore," O'Brien told me this morning.
The Enquirer contracted O'Brien to silence -- she said she doesn't recall how much she was paid -- and went on to expose the affair in 2007. The next year it disclosed that he had fathered Hunter's daughter.
A grand jury in Raleigh is reportedly near the end of a two-year investigation into whether Edwards violated campaign finance laws in covering up the affair. This week the former U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate added former White House counsel Greg Craig to his legal team.
Hunter has been living in Charlotte with her daughter. Edwards is holed up at home in Chapel Hill. O'Brien is watching the story unfold from the sidelines.
"I just think it's important to realize the truth comes out in a million different ways," she said.
Pigeon O'Brien, who has been living in Asheville, describes how she'd been a friend of the woman then named Lisa Druck since the 1980s. After Druck changed her name to Rielle Hunter, and got involved with a man named John from North Carolina, O'Brien found herself keeping an increasingly uncomfortable secret.
Leaks spouted from various sources. Her phone rang with queries. That's when she says she decided to spill what she knew.
"I made one phone call simply to take the pressure off myself because I couldn't live with it anymore," O'Brien told me this morning.
The Enquirer contracted O'Brien to silence -- she said she doesn't recall how much she was paid -- and went on to expose the affair in 2007. The next year it disclosed that he had fathered Hunter's daughter.
A grand jury in Raleigh is reportedly near the end of a two-year investigation into whether Edwards violated campaign finance laws in covering up the affair. This week the former U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate added former White House counsel Greg Craig to his legal team.
Hunter has been living in Charlotte with her daughter. Edwards is holed up at home in Chapel Hill. O'Brien is watching the story unfold from the sidelines.
"I just think it's important to realize the truth comes out in a million different ways," she said.
39 comments:
Stool pigeon?
Pigeon: I cannot live with myself anymore!! sob sob
Natl Enquirer: Here is some cash
Pigeon: Ok, I am good now
how do you NOT remember how much cash someone gave you... surely it was $5 to $10 bucks...heck, I'd remember that... lol
Just couldnt live with herself anymore...... Doesnt remember how much she was paid......YEAH RIGHT!! Pigeon?? Who nam,es their kid Pigeon?
Larry Flint of Hustler Magazine pays $1 million for scoop like the Edwards affair. The Nat'l Enquirer has to be close to that.
Now knowing that, Anon 11:04, you need to edit your comment to read "Rich Stool Pigeon".
Anon 11:05, yours needs to read "OK,I am RICH now."
And Anon 11:18, We wouldn't remember either...we would not be done counting yet!
"The truth comes out in a $MILLION different ways." pretty much says it all doesn't it???
Bet she's not the godmother.
No one really cares about this now.
Don't you have anything better to write about? Like cleaning toilets or something?
Fact is she is a sleazy rat. However, even rats add some value to a society. The way he treated his family and the voters makes him a dirt bag ambulance chaser. I'm glad she outed the creep. He's a monster. And if he could make millions off other people's miseries, why can't she? He for got "if you live by the sword you die by the sword".
The public should have known when he could not even win the vote in the community of less than 1200 that he lived in "Robbins '?' " . That Edwards is a looser!
this just proves there is always someone willing to SELL you out!!!! In a million different ways no less. what BS!!
oh... I see she can't remember how much she got paid..... I guess even getting rid of guilt has a price, huh?
If I had know about Edwards and his ho in the beginning of their affair I would have squeeled on him too.
Slow news day... the C/O 'posting' something else about Edwards.
Pigeon?!?!?!?
A "million" different ways?!?!
Tom Wolfe could not have written it better!
Slow news day? Well, it is related to a current court case. Anyway, I read it. And you read it. I've never been more disappointed in a presidential candidate than I was/am with him. Although I think ratting him out to the Enquirer was really low-ball, I'm glad we found out his true character before there was a chance he could've really been elected.
PS: Bet her parents didn't name her Pigeon.
HEY Pigeon if you sold your friend out for cash....what else will you sell out for cash?
Pigeon was wrong to keep the secret and I don't approve of profiting off someone else's misery, either. She should have told John and Rielle she is going to let the main street media know if he doesn't end it. It is interesting to hear this side of a dirty tale and confirms what I always thought was the case. Rielle Hunter is, and always has been, trash who will do anything, say anything, to get what she wants...all in the name of "truth." It has always been clear to me she set out to trap John Edwards and she sure did a good job of it. He is the biggest fool on this planet. Nice to know everyone, including old friends, have figured out what Rielle Hunter really is. The poor children involved, what a sad future they face, especially the child born out of this disgusting sex romp. Anyone wonder if the sex tape was Rielle's insurance policy?
Doesn't anyone realize Rielle may well have told all to Pigeon in order to get this story out. There are many indications Rielle worked lots of angles to make sure the public knew about her.
You guys missed the best part of it all...LISA DRUCK??????
Pigeon O'Brien is no better than John Edwards, in some ways worse.
Better watch out Pidge, somebody may try to put a roofie in your St. Patrick's Day green beer.
Anonymous 3/03/2011 01:39:00 PM
said...
"You guys missed the best part of it all...LISA DRUCK??????"
______________
Didn't miss it. Just wondered if I was the only one who was surprised by that revelation.
Gee, Pigeon should have gone with Rielle when she went to the courthouse to change her name--she certainly could benefit from a different name! She is right in there with the rest of the characters in this story--a sleezy scumbag making money off the dirt of her friend. Although it is possible that she got paid twice--once by Rielle to put the dirt out and then by National Enquirer. Maybe she's not a stool pigeon after all!
Well, if it walks like a Druck...
Anyone else realize someone else may well have been the first tipster as they had FAR more to gain from keeping Edwards from being president: Wall Street?
If he'd become president, the Wall Street investment bankers who caused this depression sure wouldn't have gotten bailout-funded bonuses as they got from Obama. They'd have been put in prison where they belong.
So did Wall Street, panicked by the possibility of an Edwards presidency, do a Larry Flynt and hire private eyes to trail him the way the Miami Herald caught Gary Hart?
Anyone else realize someone else may well have been the first tipster as they had FAR more to gain from keeping Edwards from being president: Wall Street?
If he'd become president, the Wall Street investment bankers who caused this depression sure wouldn't have gotten bailout-funded bonuses as they got from Obama. They'd have been put in prison where they belong.
So did Wall Street, panicked by the possibility of an Edwards presidency, do a Larry Flynt and hire private eyes to trail him the way the Miami Herald caught Gary Hart?
you should sober up before you post.
Wonder how many of us could keep that kind of secret knowing how much we could make off of it?? I'm honest enough to say that I would have done the same thing...giggling all the way to the bank.
This is why I never tell a woman a secret. They always go and tell someone else. It's their nature. Men take secrets to their grave.
Anonymous said...
Pigeon?? Who nam,es their kid Pigeon?
SOUTHERNERS!
Northerners name theirs "Stool Pigeon"
Southerners can't spell the whole word so they just name theirs "Pig."
"Here pig-pig... come on sit on daddy's lap and give daddy a kiss girl."
Northerners can spell real good so they name theirs Miss Piggy
I guess he Drucked her once too often!
telaphone, telegraph, tell-a-woman
I can only imagine what the medicine cabinets of these three morons looks like. But I'm pretty sure most of the medicine is used to cure most of the things kids learn how to protect from in "health class"
We have absolutely no right to know who kisses whom in a darkened car or pokes someone on Facebook. But other personal choices tell us if this person is fit to govern. What is this person's essential character? What might this person do once given trust? Does this person respect women as human beings? Does he take responsibility for his actions?
the above quote is from miss o'brien's original article. why didn't she write about this "character-respect-responsibility" thing about president clinton??
Amazing how "selective amnesia" can be caused by the blinding glare of dollar signs...Pigeon and Druck-Hunter (or whatever pseudonym Lisa/Rielle is passing herself off as now) need to drift on off into the sunset. With any poetic justice they will be run over by one of the ambulances Johnny Boy used to chase when he still had a law degree...
"Pigeon"? Seriously? "Lisa Druck"? Seriously? WOW!! Does Pigeon expect us to believe that she doesn't remember how much she got paid by the National Enquirer? What's happening to that NC water? It's a lot of crazy going on down there!
This can't really work, I believe like this.
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