Edwin Edwards, new fiancee have possible future as reality TV stars
Published: Monday, June 27, 2011, 6:33 PM Updated: Monday, June 27, 2011, 8:25 PM
BATON ROUGE -- He is a twice-divorced great-grandfather, weeks away from his 84th birthday, who served 16 years as governor of Louisiana and recently returned home from an unplanned eight-year sojourn in federal custody.
Edwin Edwards and his fiance, Trina Grimes Scott.She is a buxom blonde from Alexandria, a Republican in her early 30s, whose likes include Willie Nelson, the Real Housewives of Atlanta, and traveling with her sweetheart.
And one day soon this happy couple - Edwin Washington Edwards and his new fiancee, Trina Grimes Scott - could be the latest semi-celebrities to take their act to reality TV.
Less than six months after his release from the Oakdale federal penitentiary, Edwards let it be known over the weekend that he has a new fiance and a potential new career in the works.
Edwards and Scott are working with Shaun Sanghani, an Alexandria native and Tulane graduate who, according to his website, also has produced a Travel Channel series called "Girls, Guns and Gators" and has several other projects in the works.
For someone who reportedly was surprised to learn on his release from prison in January that cell phones now came with cameras, Edwards made the announcement in a most modern fashion: on Facebook, where the silver fox had collected more than 4,600 "friends" as of Monday afternoon.
The former governor also used his Facebook page to announce that he and Scott are working on a "possible upcoming television project" with Sanghani.
Neither Edwards nor Scott could be reached for comment. But Edwards' biographer, Leo Honeycutt, said the two became friendly after Scott read his book, "Edwin Edwards: Governor of Louisiana," and started writing him letters in prison.
"Then she started to go see him and it just sprang from there," Honeycutt said.
On her own Facebook page, Scott writes that she and Edwards have been together for "about a year," and said she has been encouraged by the number of people who have contacted them since the news became public.
"He's such a pleasure to take care of! It's so great to see all the wonderful things people are posting about him," Scott wrote to one well-wisher.
It would be the third marriage for Edwards, who was married for 40 years to Elaine Edwards before divorcing in 1989 and marrying his girlfriend, Candy, in 1994. They divorced in 2004, while Edwards was serving his 10-year sentence on federal corruption charges in connection with the awarding of state casino licenses.
Sanghani, in an email message, said the show is in the very early stages of development and has not yet been pitched to any TV networks. Calling Edwards "one of the most animated political leaders of the last century," Sanghani said the show would focus on his post-incarceration personal life.
"At 84, he is as strong as ever and still in colorful form," Sanghani wrote. "We hope to capture that same charisma and charm in his personal life as he re-enters society after a lengthy prison sentence. While we cannot comment on any specifics, SSS Entertainment looks forward to developing this project alongside him and his new family as we work to unveil a side of him nobody has yet publicly seen."
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Jan Moller can be reached at jmoller@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5207.
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