Edwin Edwards, the former four-term Democratic Louisiana governor and convicted felon, is living the American Dream by getting his own reality TV series on A&E.
“The Governor’s Wife” will follow Edwards, 85, and Trina, the 34-year-old woman he met while in prison for bribery and extortion charges and married last year when he got out of the clink.
According to Entertainment Weekly, “The show will focus on Edwin and Trina’s May-December relationship and follow Edwin’s daughters (Anna, a 62-year-old, four-time divorcée and Victoria, a 60-year-old ex-showgirl) along Trina’s sons (Logan, 15 and Trevor, 13).”
The Louisiana politician is perhaps the most Louisiana of politicians since Huey Long. Edwards served as governor from 1972 to 1980, 1984 to 1988 and then from 1992 to 1996. His political career is peppered with corruption ad scandal, as Louisiana’s leaders are wont to do.
He was accused of taking illegal campaign contributions during his first term, but avoided any punishment during that time.
The day before he was elected for the second time in 1983 Edwards famously said, “The only way I can lose this election is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.”
His third term was marred by corruption soon after it began. Edwards faced bribery, mail fraud and obstruction of justice charges in 1985. He once rode to the courthouse on a mule from his hotel. The charges were eventually dropped after a mistrial and acquittal, according to his Wikipedia page.
But by his fourth term, Edwards’ corruption couldn’t be ignored. He was finally indicted by the federal government on charges of racketeering, extortion, bribery, wire fraud and mail fraud and was sentence to 10 years in jail in 2002.
Like every good comeback story these days, Edwards’ begins with a reality TV series about he and his wife who is 50 years his junior. If his life is any indication, the show should be a riot. (You know you want to watch: It airs Feb. 27 on A&E.)