In Spite of It All, Cate Edwards Stands by Her Dad

Those who have followed the John Edwards saga were probably surprised to see daughter Cate by his side as he entered a North Carolina federal courthouse last week to plead not guilty. But—despite the fact that dear old dad cheated on Cate’s cancer-stricken mother and then kept his love child hidden from the family—insiders say there was never any question that Cate would be loyal to her father. “Cate sticks with her dad,” one close family friend tells the New York Times. “Despite all the things that have happened, she wants her father to succeed and her family to stay together.”

The 29-year-old has been the glue that holds her family together ever since her brother Wade died 15 years ago. Since then, she’s weathered more than her fair share of challenges, from her father’s affair to her mother’s death. Though no one can know if Elizabeth herself would have stood by her estranged husband during his trial (the Daily Mail reports that she recorded a “secret death-bed video testimony” that helped prosecutors to indict him), friends say Elizabeth made it clear that “Cate should never feel like she is betraying her mother’s memory” by supporting John as a father. (More Cate Edwards stories.)