John Edwards' Mistress Seeks Share of Aide's Bestselling Book Profits

The ongoing court battle between Rielle Hunter, mistress of two-time presidential candidate John Edwards, and Andrew Young, a top aide to the former Senator from North Carolina, added a new twist to an already-sordid tale yesterday: lawyers for Hunter argued that she should have some of the profits from The Politician, Young's number-one bestselling tell-all about Edwards' tumultuous life on the campaign trail.

Hunter first filed suit against Young and his wife in North Carolina state court in February seeking to reclaim the original and all possible copies of a sex tape featuring herself and Edwards, which Young wrote about in his book. Hunter said in a deposition on May 28 the video is her property, but Young maintains that Hunter lost her rights to it after moving out of a home he was renting, and that he and his wife found the tape in the trash once she had left.

Now the AP reports that Hunter seeks a share of the profits from the book, published in January by St. Martin's Press, on the grounds that the book's success hinged on Young's assertions of a sex tape, and as a result she's entitled to any money made on the back of that assertion. Hunter's lawyers did not disclose how much money she sought from Young.

Young's lawyer, Robert Elliot, disputes Hunter's claim, saying the tape may belong to the Edwards campaign. "Nobody's making money on the Edwards sex tape and nobody's ever made money on the Edwards sex tape," Elliot said in court on Wednesday. Neither Young nor Hunter were present at the hearing, and Edwards himself still faces legal trouble as a federal probe into his campaign finances is set to reach a conclusion soon.