( CNN ) -- Rielle Hunter , the woman at the center of the John Edwards sex scandal , has been known variously as a spiritual seeker , an aspiring actress , a party girl and a political operative , according to media reports . A video image shows Rielle Hunter arriving at the federal courthouse in Raleigh , North Carolina , on August 6 . Last year , after months of denials , Edwards admitted having an affair with Hunter while he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2006 . Edwards ' campaign paid Hunter $ 114,000 to make a series of short webisode videos about his presidential campaign , and she traveled extensively with the candidate 's entourage . Edwards denies that he is the father of a baby Hunter bore in February 2008 , saying the affair was over before she became pregnant . Former Edwards aide Andrew Young claimed the baby was his . But Young later said that the former senator is the father and that his paternity claim had been made at Edwards ' request . Hunter has not said who the father is . Watch Hunter and baby arrive at federal court » . `` Rielle is the black sheep of the family . We were all raised the same way . She chose a different path , '' Hunter 's sister , Roxanne Marshall , told People magazine in August 2008 . Hunter , born Lisa Druck in Fort Lauderdale , Florida , was known for her partying ways as a young adult in New York , novelist Jay McInerney told People . He said Hunter , whom he dated for a while , and her friends inspired his book `` Story of My Life . '' After moving to Los Angeles , California , in 1991 , she married Alexander Hunter III , according to the Raleigh ( North Carolina ) News & Observer . They divorced in 2000 . Watch how a scandal might not wreck a career » . Hunter explored New Age spiritualism . She called her co-stars in the play `` Savage in Limbo '' together and burned herbs in the theater `` to clear the space of bad spirits and bring in the good ones , '' actress Elizabeth Dennehy told People . `` But it was all meaningful and earnest . '' Hunter changed her first name to Rielle in 1994 because `` it just came to her , '' publicist Pigeon O'Brien , a longtime acquaintance , told People . The movie Web site imdb.com lists Hunter under several names , as a writer , producer and actress , having appeared on screen in four films . She 's the co-founder of Midline Groove Productions , a New Jersey-based production company . Hunter told the television show `` Extra '' that she met Edwards by chance in 2006 when she was 42 . `` It was a random meeting . He was in a business meeting in New York , and I was in the same place , '' she said . Edwards ' wife , Elizabeth , related to talk show host Oprah Winfrey how her husband described the beginning of the affair . `` She was standing in front of the hotel and said to him , 'You are so hot . ' I ca n't deliver it , because I do n't know how to deliver such lines , '' she told Winfrey . `` But 'You are so hot ' are the words she said to him . '' The tabloid National Enquirer first reported in October 2007 that Edwards had engaged in an affair , but he denied it for months . He finally acknowledged the liaison in an August 2008 interview with ABC 's `` Nightline '' as the Enquirer 's reporting gained momentum , including the publication of a photo the tabloid said showed Edwards holding the baby . Hunter has shunned publicity since the affair became public . She spent an entire day in August at the federal courthouse in Raleigh , North Carolina . A federal grand jury is investigating payments to Hunter 's production company , but officials would not say whether the grand jury was meeting on the day of Hunter 's visit to the courthouse . Since the birth of her daughter , according to ABC , Hunter has assumed aliases and resided in various expensive homes in North Carolina and , more recently , in Santa Barbara , California . Edwards has denied giving any money to Hunter for anything other than her campaign work . Fred Baron , the finance chairman for the Edwards presidential campaign , told ABC that he used his personal resources to help Hunter move out of North Carolina and did not tell Edwards about the assistance , which consisted of access to jets , homes , cars and cash .
Rielle Hunter was party girl who became spiritual , acquaintances say . Filmmaker says she met former Sen. John Edwards by chance . Edwards ' wife says Hunter approached him at hotel , said , `` You 're so hot '' and they had a brief affair in the late 1990s before he married Elizabeth Taylor later that year.