Disgraced Cheater John Edwards Banned From Bunny Mellon's Funeral: Did Her Big Donation Fund His Affair?
April 3 2014, Published 11:19 a.m. ET
Former US senator John Edwards charmed Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon into donating $700,000 towards his 2008 presidential campaign, but when the generous 103-year-old passed away last month, the disgraced cheater was banned from her funeral.
Mellon's family was outraged when prosecutors charged that Edwards, 60, used some of her money to support his mistress Rielle Hunter — the woman he cheated on his wife Elizabeth with and subsequently had a child with.
And family members say it was mortifying for Mellon, a lifelong friend of Jacqueline Kennedy, when her private life was uprooted two years ago and she was forced to testify at Edwards' trial at the age of 101.
Not only was Edwards banned from Mellon's funeral, but he and his daughter Cate were actually turned away on Friday at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, Va., Page Six reports.
"The service may have been open to the public, but he was not welcome," NY Social Diary blogger David Patrick Columbia said.
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However, Edwards insisted on paying his respects and watched the funeral on a big screen in an adjacent parish house — and then tried to overturn the family's wishes by following the funeral procession to the cemetery.
"He was working the crowd near the graveside after the service," Columbia said.