Edwards' wife didn't know extent of affair

NEW YORK, May 11 (UPI) -- Elizabeth Edwards says she did not know the extent of her husband's affair when he was running for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president in 2008.

In an appearance on NBC's "Today" show, Edwards said she did not urge her husband, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, to exit the race when she learned of his infidelity.

Although John Edwards had an affair with a former campaign staffer in 2006, he told his wife about the affair only days after he formally began running for president in December of 2006.

"When I found out and for a large part of writing the book, I only knew about a single night," she said. "A single moment of weakness. Though it was difficult to accept, most of us who seek to lead and most everybody who seeks to be led have moments of weakness in their lives and I did not think that was a fatal flaw and I was wrong."

In the interview, Elizabeth Edwards, who is battling cancer, said she would likely not have supported her husband's bid for the White House had she known more details of the affair.

"I probably would have been more adamant about him not running than I was," she said. "The whole time he was running I only knew about this one thing."