Jill Biden says she's sorry she didn't talk more about son Hunter's drug
addiction
[June 03, 2026]
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
NEW YORK (AP) — Jill Biden says she's sorry she didn't talk more about
her son Hunter’s drug addiction during her time in the White House,
explaining that she now realizes that being open about his substance
abuse and his recovery can offer hope to others in the same situation.
In a wide-ranging interview with “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg to
promote her White House memoir, the former first lady said Tuesday that
she had put life in perspective after her husband, former President Joe
Biden, was diagnosed with prostate cancer that spread to his bones.
She said she is no longer angry about the way Democrats pressured her
husband to end his reelection bid after performing disastrously in a
2024 debate against Republican Donald Trump.
“No, I’m not angry. I mean, what’s the purpose of anger now?” Jill Biden
said at the first event for her book, held at the 92nd Street Y in New
York following publication earlier Tuesday.
‘I think we were partly in denial’
Jill Biden wrote in the memoir, “View from the East Wing,” that
addiction wasn’t something she and her husband talked about. “I think we
were partly in denial,” she acknowledged, adding that she wondered why
someone who had a family that loved him, a good education and a
lucrative career would turn to drugs.
“It’s hard for me to say this, but Hunter was a drug addict,” she said
Tuesday.
She said Hunter's spiral into addiction was “a really hard time for our
family to go through.” Hunter Biden started abusing alcohol and drugs
after his older brother, Beau Biden, died in 2015 of an aggressive form
of brain cancer. Hunter has now been sober for several years, she said.
“I'm sorry that I didn't talk about it a little bit more,” she said on
stage.
Jill Biden spoke about how proud she is of Hunter for turning his life
around, becoming an artist and helping other recovering addicts.
“And I hope that by talking about it more as I go forward I hope that it
offers other people hope,” she said. “It is such a tough, tough thing to
deal with.”
Hunter Biden wrote about his addiction to drugs and alcohol in a memoir
of his own, published in 2021.
His addiction led to federal charges that he lied about his drug use on
forms he used to buy a gun. He was convicted after a trial and faced
prison time but ultimately received a pardon from his father, who had
repeatedly insisted that he wouldn’t use the powers of the presidency to
spare his son — until he changed his mind just before turning the office
over to Trump, who had talked about exacting “retribution” against those
he perceived to be his political enemies.
Fighting cancer has been tough, too
Jill Biden has said she was angry over how the Democratic Party treated
her husband after the debate — but has since put that aside after Joe
Biden was diagnosed a year ago with an aggressive form of prostate
cancer that spread to his bones.
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Educator and former First Lady of the United States Jill Biden in
conversation at The 92nd Street Y on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in New
York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
“I think Joe's cancer diagnosis, it really puts life into
perspective and you really do appreciate each and every day and a
lot of anger that you have, you think, 'What's the point?' You know,
‘What is the point?’ she said. ”And I think that's why Joe and I try
to, you know, just take each day that comes and try to find the
joys."
The former president, 83, was in the audience for the event, along
with many other Biden family members, and received a couple of
standing ovations from the packed house.
She said when the doctor told them that her husband of nearly 50
years had a problem, “I never ever thought it was going to be
prostate cancer.” She said that type of cancer is one thing, but it
becomes “a whole different ballgame” after it attacks the bone.
She didn't go into the details, but suggested the former president's
cancer treatment is taking a toll on him.
“Joe's here tonight. You see him. He looks handsome as ever,” she
said. "But, you know, cancer drugs, cancer treatments have their
consequences and I think those consequences are pretty tough.”
Living in a ‘fishbowl’
Biden, who turns 75 on Wednesday, described some of her favorite
memories of life in the White House, including weekends at Camp
David and working with military families.
She said the hardest part of the role of first lady, in her
experience, is the loss of privacy.
“You really do live in a fishbowl,” she said. “Everybody knows
everywhere you are. It's the truth. I couldn't even walk downstairs
to my office."
She mimicked how U.S. Secret Service officers would speak into their
devices as she walked through the White House, using their code name
for her.
“'Capri on elevator. Capri walking down hallway. Capri walking up
steps. Capri walking outside,'” Jill Biden said, as the audience
laughed. She also cited the scrutiny of her clothes, including one
time she was photographed in Washington with her hair pulled into a
ponytail by a scrunchie.
’I wore a scrunchie and they wrote about it," she said. "Who cares?”
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