Despite the very public shame and humiliation John and Elizabeth Edwards have endured since news broke about John’s affair with a campaign worker — and a possible illegitimate child — family friends say they have no doubt the couple will stick together.

"John and Elizabeth still love one another," friend John Moylan told People.com. "I think they will make it through."

But what if it turns out the baby born to John Edwards’ ex-mistress Rielle Hunter is his? Hunter is now demanding that John submit to a DNA test, reports the National Enquirer. Sources said Hunter is working with a lawyer to determine the paternity of her 14-month-old daughter, Frances. Elizabeth told Oprah Winfrey Thursday that it doesn’t matter to her whether the child is John’s or not. 

"Whatever the facts are doesn’t change my life … [it’s] completely extraneous to my life," Elizabeth said. If the baby was proven to be her husband’s, then, she added, "that would be part of John’s life, not mine."

Elizabeth’s interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" revealed that the wife of the former North Carolina senator staunchly maintains this affair will not define her life, saying he "is a really good man, who, you know, did a really bad thing. If you take that piece out, I do have a perfect marriage." While Elizabeth blames her husband for the affair (though she still says to this day he doesn’t know why he did it), she also railed against Hunter — to whom she kept referring as "this person" — for essentially preying on John and trying to ruin the wonderful life Elizabeth had built.

"Women — you need to have respect for other women," she said vehemently. "There’s no excuse for women to do this … don’t just try to come in and take somebody else’s life." As to whether Hunter’s daughter shares her husband’s DNA, Elizabeth said she and John don’t know for sure, but it doesn’t matter one way or the other to her.

Elizabeth still loves her husband, although whether she’s "in love" with him is a "complicated question." As for John, the former presidential hopeful said he really didn’t know if his wife of 30 years would leave him. Asked whether he was afraid she would, he said: "Um, yeah. I love her, I care about her."

"I think we’re getting to a good place. It’s not over but I think we’re getting to a good place," he told Oprah.

With more interviews planned and book tours on the way, some who know the family are wondering why Elizabeth — with John’s acquiescence — decided to air their dirty laundry.

"The risk is that it stirs up a lot of ugliness and unpleasantness,” Gary Pearce, a Democratic strategist who helped John Edwards win a 1998 Senate race, told The Charlotte Observer.