Before John Edwards admitted to fathering a child with mistress Rielle Hunter, he reached out to Hollywood friends including Sean Penn, Madeleine Stowe and Crash director Paul Haggis, a witness testified Wednesday.
Campaign speechwriter Wendy Button retook the witness stand after testifying the previous day about help she provided Edwards in drafting a statement during the summer of 2009. He intended to "come clean" about his lies regarding the affair and admit paternity of his child with Hunter, she said.
Edwards went through 13 drafts of the statement, getting feedback from his lawyers and a wide-ranging group of friends that included the actor Sean Penn, Button said. Edwards didn't release a statement admitting paternity until January 2010.
