Rielle Hunter appeared on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), where she talked about her scandalous affair with John Edwards. Hunter had a relationship with the former presidential candidate and gave birth to his daughter. Edwards' political career was destroyed by the affair, which occurred while his wife Elizabeth was suffering from cancer.

Watch the video after the jump.

What do you do when you're Oprah Winfrey, you're ending your mega-successful show in about a year and you want your audience to surge during the May sweeps? First, you get Tom Cruise to return to your program. Then, you fill in around that.

That's exactly what Oprah is doing on her show. On the May 14 installment Cruise, along with Cameron Diaz, will show up to promote their upcoming action-comedy 'Knight and Day.' Don't look for too much couch-jumping by Mr. Cruise, though, as he has a movie to promote.

Surrounding Cruise's appearance are a bevy of personalities, both in and out of Hollywood, that will stop by to chat with Miss O. This includes Simon Cowell, Dolly Parton, former First Lady Laura Bush, Julia Roberts and, for all of you screaming teenage girls out there, Justin Bieber. The full schedule can be found after the jump.

Like so many other mistresses before her, Rielle Hunter will be appearing on a daytime talk show to discuss her side of the affair with former vice presidential candidate John Edwards. Wisely, Hunter decided to appear on the talk show of the Queen Mother of all the other talk shows: Oprah Winfrey.

Hunter has already had an interview with GQ Magazine that included some questionable photos that supposedly "had her in tears." Oprah managed to get the sought-after interview over other talk show hosts as Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters. It is said that John Edwards encouraged her to go on Oprah's show (but that's from the National Enquirer, so treat it with the journalistic respect it deserves).

The saga of a mistress in politics is old as the hills. Ask people like Gary Hart and Bill Clinton about the subject (all the aforementioned are Democrats, but a list of Republican affairs could be named just as easily). As Oprah continues to nab high-profile interviews like this one, daytime syndicated television is seeing just how tough things are going to be without her.

[via Mediabistro]

In the wake of her rant yesterday against Rielle Hunter's sexy GQ photo with stuffed animals, Elizabeth Hasselbeck jokingly read a reaction from a toy platypus today on 'The View' (weekdays, syndicated). Hasselbeck said the platypus was acting as a representative for the Stuffed Animal Rescue Foundation.

"The matter is complicated, as we know. On one hand, we would all be honored to be featured in GQ. However, we're concerned about the fact that the stuffed animals featured might not actually belong to Ms. Hunter," said Hasselbeck, reading from a prepared statement by the platypus. "At a time when there are so many needy stuffed animals out there, we wish more people would consider adopting abandoned animals from local stuffed animal shelters rather than buying them new."

Watch the video after the jump.

It seems that Kermit the Frog, like Sarah Palin, can now count on staunch support from Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

On 'The View' (weekdays, syndicated), Hasselbeck loudly criticized Rielle Hunter for a revealing photo that appears in the April issue of GQ magazine. Hunter, who had an affair with politician John Edwards that resulted in a love child, poses with an array of stuffed children's characters while wearing a dress shirt and nothing else.

Watch the video after the jump.