Edwards soap opera now a head-scratcher

As Elizabeth Edwards continued to air details of her husband's affair Thursday, she opened the gates to a tabloid torrent that left even friends and supporters questioning her motives.

In an hourlong interview with Oprah Winfrey, she talked about former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' affair with a campaign worker. And in a new book out today, she calls the former mistress, Rielle Hunter, "pathetic."

The media campaign, with more TV appearances and book signings scheduled, breaks months of silence about the affair. It also sparked a backlash.

Hunter has said she wants a DNA test to prove the paternity of her year-old child. Her sister kept the issue alive Thursday on "Entertainment Tonight." Blogs are breathlessly following the latest turns of what has become North Carolina's long-running soap opera.

Meanwhile, some of the Edwardses' friends are scratching their heads.

"The risk is that it stirs up a lot of ugliness and unpleasantness," said Gary Pearce, a Democratic strategist who helped John Edwards win a 1998 Senate race.

"Who knows why people do things. She may feel that she has an audience and something to say that helps people who are going through tough times. And I'm sure some people will say, 'Why is she rehashing all this publicly? Is this too much information?'"

In the interview and in her new book, "Resilience," Elizabeth Edwards described her pain at finding out her husband had cheated.

She said she didn't find out it was a prolonged affair until he acknowledged it last summer.

When the affair became public, former Edwards' aide Andrew Young claimed to be the father of Hunter's daughter. Hunter refused to let her child take part in a paternity test. Edwards said months ago that he would submit to a test.

"I would welcome participating in a paternity test, would be happy to participate in one," he told ABC's "20/20" in August. "I know that it's not possible that this child could be mine because of the timing of events."

He hasn't replied to Hunter's latest request.