Leaving her husband, former U. S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N. C., is "terrifying," said Elizabeth Edwards, promoting the paperback release of her book, "Resilience."

Edwards, who turns 61 Saturday, told Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today", "I'd been trying to reinvent the role of wife for the last two years, trying to find a place where I could be happy and still be John's wife despite his infidelity. Each day it seemed another piece of my history chipped away. ... There was no peace. And at the very end of 2009, I finally gave up trying."

She had "married a marvelous man" but that "he changed over time. It was hard for me to see it or admit it for a very long time. … He is no longer the person I married," Edwards told Lauer.

During his 2008 campaign for the Democratic nomination for U. S. president, John Edwards developed a relationship with videographer Rielle Hunter, with whom he had a baby girl.

She is selling the family's home in Chapel Hill, N. C., and is planning to move on with her life, Elizabeth Edwards further said. (With Inputs from Agencies)