John Edwards’ Daughter Breaks Down During Testimony About Deceased Mom, Leaves Courtroom
More tears were shed at the John Edwards conspiracy trial on Wednesday—this time by his daughter.
Cate Upham, Edwards’ 30-year-old daughter, began crying during testimony from one of her father’s former aides about a 2007 argument between her parents, Edwards and the late Elizabeth Edwards.
Before Christina Reynolds, the ex-aide, recounted the confrontation, Edwards turned to his daughter—a Harvard Law School graduate—seated in the front row.
“I don’t know what’s coming,” Edwards said to Cate, according to the Associated Press. “Do you want to leave?”
She walked out of the courtroom wiping away tears, the AP reported. (As she left, Edwards was heard saying, “Cate, Cate.”) Cate returned to the courtroom after a recess.
Reynolds testified that in October 2007 after the National Enquirer broke the story about Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter, Elizabeth Edwards confronted the candidate at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
“Elizabeth was very upset,” Reynolds said. “She stormed off and collapsed into a ball in the parking lot.”
[Reynolds] and another staff member helped her into the bathroom of a private hangar. After collecting herself, Elizabeth Edwards came back into the hangar, found her husband and began yelling. She then pulled off her shirt and bra, leaving herself bare-chested, Reynolds said.
“You don’t see me any more,” Reynolds quoted the wife as saying.
Reynolds said Elizabeth told her that Edwards had confessed to the affair in the summer of 2007. Elizabeth Edwards died in December 2010 after a long battle with cancer.