Rielle Hunter Says She and John Edwards Have Split

Rielle Hunter dropped a bombshell on live TV that she and John Edwards have broken up. 

Hunter, promoting her new book, What Really Happened, first made the stunning revelation on Good Morning America. 

"As of the end of last week, John Edwards and I are no longer a couple," said Hunter. 

"Because of the book?" asked George Stephanopoulos.

"For me, for my part in it, it's because I'm no longer interested in hiding," replied Hunter.

"Hiding what?" asked Stephanopoulos.

"Hiding our relationship," answered Hunter.

Then, she went on The View and gave more details.

"It's very painful, and I have mixed emotions," said Hunter. 

Barbara Walters said, "What about John, whom you call Johnny, why did he want it over? Now you can settle down."

Hunter said, "You'd have to ask him that. I can tell you my reasons because I don't want to speak for him. But for my reasons, I'm not a mistress, I'm a mom, and I don't want to hide. Because we have such media scrutiny, and because of the children, our relationship is hard. It's hard for us to go restaurants. It's hard for us to go to the movies. It's hard." 

Hunter faced some questions.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck said, "When you say, 'I'm a mom, not a mistress,' there are layers there, right? Because, truth be told, you were a mistress." 

Whoopi Goldberg said, "You put an entire nation in a very awkward position."

Joy Behar asked, "You made a sex tape with him. Who's idea was that? Was that yours or his?"

Hunter could barely get in a word, as the co-hosts peppered her about the book in which she calls the late beloved Elizabeth Edwards a "witch on wheels," "crazy" and "venomous."

Goldberg said, "It's kind of a crappy thing to do."

"I wrote the book to tell the truth," said Hunter.

Another heated moment came when Barbara Walters took her to task for writing in the book that Walters had once "(screamed) at me on the phone, trying to bully me into doing her interview."

Walters said, "I have my own little bone to pick with you, having read the book, okay? You say that when you decided to do the interview with Oprah, which you told me was for spiritual reasons, that I screamed at you and I bullied you. In thirty years of doing interviews, I've never screamed at anyone. I make people cry, but I don't scream, and I didn't...I have no idea what you mean by bullying." 

Despite Walters' wrath, Hunter didn't back down. 

"This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that two people remember an event differently," replied Hunter.

Audience members told INSIDE EDITION, you could feel the tension in the studio.

Hunter and Edwards just spent Father's Day weekend together on a North Carolina beach, seeming happy and relaxed, with Edwards looking like the devoted dad to their love child, four-year-old Frances Quinn. But clearly, there was something going on behind-the-scenes. Just a few days later, apparently around the time Hunter started her media blitz, it was all over.

"You still do love him?" asked Stephanopoulos.

"I do," replied Hunter.

"And he still loves you?" asked Stephanopoulos.

"You'd have to ask him that, but I think he does," answered Hunter.