Washington, Jan. 22 (ANI): Former Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards has finally admitted fathering an illegitimate child with a campaign staffer, while his wife battled cancer.

The baby was conceived with former campaign worker Rielle Hunter just two months after his wife Elizabeth learned she had incurable cancer in March 2007.

"I am Quinn's father. I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves," The Telegraph quoted Edwards, as saying.

He also acknowledged that he had reached a financial agreement with the child's mother to cover up the illicit affair.

"It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter, and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me," he added.

Edwards, a wealthy lawyer, spent 18 months denying any affair with Hunter, who had introduced herself to the candidate in the bar of a New York hotel in February 2006.

Earlier, Andrew Young, a close aide of controversial former US senator John Edwards, is due to release a tell-all book and reveal how President Barack Obama's rival for the democratic candidature last year asked him to pretend to be the father of his love child.

In a book proposal floated to St. Martin's Press, Young will claim that his erstwhile boss assured him he would be "taken care of for life" if he pretended to be the father of a child his mistress Hunter bore.

Young agreed, despite the fact that he had a wife and children of his own.

Edwards' wife, who has breast cancer, has said that it does not matter to her whether her husband fathered a child with Hunter or not.

"That would be a part of John's life but not a part of mine," she said. (ANI)