MSNBC “Hardball” Host Chris Matthews became increasingly uncomfortable today as he interviewed GQ’s Lisa DePaulo, author of the newly released, splashy interview with Rielle Hunter, mistress to and mother of former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) daughter.

In an interview today on “Hardball”, DePaulo told Matthews that it was so revealing that Edwards used the word “love” on the first night he and Hunter were together. She told him she thought the GQ photographs were “fabulous,” that Hunter is a “sexy woman.” When Matthews questioned the spread, DePaulo cracked, “This is GQ, not Newsweek.”

Matthews: Why aren’t they walking down the streets of New York right now?
DePaulo:I don’t know, maybe they are.
Matthews then grew sheepish. “It’s none of our business,” he said, but then shifted into sharp reverse by wondering aloud why GOP South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford isn’t with “the woman in Argentina?” (That would be Maria Belen.)

DePaulo confronted Matthews on his discomfort. “You’re uncomfortable with this Chris,” she said. Matthews, with a squeamish look on his face, agreed, saying, “No, I’m not [comfortable].”

In the end, Matthews voiced clear appreciation for DePaulo’s work.

Matthews: Ha! You love your job, Lisa.
DePaulo: I do.

See DePaulo’s story here.