"Today" show co-host Matt Lauer talks with Elizabeth Edwards Tuesday,...

"Today" show co-host Matt Lauer talks with Elizabeth Edwards Tuesday, June 29, 2010 about her new book "Resilience." Credit: AP Photo

Elizabeth Edwards says she wants her children to love their father and see him in a positive light despite the affair that wrecked their marriage, The Associated Press reports.

The separated wife of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said in an interview on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that the two-time presidential candidate isn't the same person she married more than 30 years ago. But she noted her battle with cancer when saying it's important to her that their children see him in a positive light.

"I have three living children for whom this is a father I want them to love and on whom they're going to have to rely perhaps if my disease takes a bad turn," Elizabeth Edwards said.

Elizabeth Edwards said their new parenting dynamics are "going pretty well." Two of their children are still preteens.

John Edwards has acknowledged fathering a child with his mistress as he campaigned for president. Elizabeth Edwards said the decision to end the marriage was difficult because she had leaned on him for so long.

"I was going to be on my own in a way that I maybe hadn't ever really been, and that was pretty terrifying, particularly facing a disease, young children and a fairly uncertain future," she said.

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