Rielle Hunter: I wasn't Edwards’ first mistress

John Edwards' former mistress Rielle Hunter makes explosive claims in her new book, saying that she was not the first woman with whom he had an affair while he was married.

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"He told me that he had an entire hidden life that had gone on for decades and that he was currently involved with three different women," she wrote in "What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter and Me," according to People magazine, which snagged an advanced copy of the book. "One lived in Los Angeles, one in Florida and one in Chicago. Clearly this behavior of his was not going to change overnight."

Hunter added that she didn't believe Edwards' wife of 32 years, Elizabeth, was an "innocent victim" and that Edwards claimed the marriage had many problems.

In her memoir, out June 26, Hunter also details a phone call with Edwards just days before his indictment, the Associated Press reported.

When John Edwards faced the prospect of an indictment that could put him behind bars, he calmly told his mistress he would probably wind up in a low-security prison in Virginia more like a country club than a jail. She quickly told him she and their daughter would move there to be near him if that happened.

The book includes Hunter's mixed views on Edwards' parenting of their daughter Quinn and descriptions of Elizabeth Edwards' outbursts. At the end of the book, Hunter says she still has romantic feelings for Edwards but doesn't know how their relationship will turn out.

Hunter also provides a window into Edwards' psyche as federal prosecutors began their case against him. Days before his indictment Hunter asked: "So if you went to jail, what kind of jail would it be? One of those country clubs?"

"He said, 'Yeah.'"

"'Where?'" she asked.

"'Probably Virginia.'"

"So Quinn and I will move to Virginia. Virginia is a great state."

The only low-security federal prison in Virginia is in Petersburg, where former Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry once served time.

On the day of the indictment, the two shared a surreal phone call as a newspaper reporter banged on her door in Charlotte, while the man she refers to as "Johnny" throughout the book called her cell phone to say that he was also being pursued.

"'I've got helicopters circling my house,' Johnny said."

New York publishers had said they were not interested in Hunter's book, citing her negative image, so it is instead being released through a Dallas-based boutique publisher, BenBella Books, on June 26.

Story: Feds drop 5 remaining counts against John Edwards

Federal prosecutors spent a year prosecuting Edwards, culminating in a six-week trial that ended last month. Jurors acquitted Edwards on one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions and deadlocked on five other felony counts. The judge declared a mistrial. Federal prosecutors then said in a court order earlier this month that they wouldn't retry Edwards, and the charges against him were dropped.

Neither Edwards nor Hunter testified.

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Prosecutors had accused Edwards, 59, of masterminding a scheme to use about $1 million in secret payments from two wealthy political donors to hide his pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.

The trial publicized intimate details about Edwards' affair with Hunter as his wife, Elizabeth, was dying of cancer. Much of the book describes their unfolding relationship and the lengths to which Hunter went to sneak in and out of Edwards' hotel rooms, even after her contract as a videographer ended. She also describes paparazzi chases after news of their affair broke.

Hunter writes that Edwards is a doting father when he's around their daughter but that his obligations to his other children curtail their time together. The book features several pictures of the father and daughter together, smiling. Immediately after his trial, Edwards said during a news conference — with his adult daughter, Cate, by his side — that he loved Quinn "more than any of you can ever imagine." Quinn is now 4 and lives with Hunter in Charlotte.

"He is a great dad to her when he is with her," Hunter writes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.