LONDON – In an emotional, wide-ranging interview broadcast by the BBC on Friday evening, Hunter Biden has shared a devastating update on the health of his father, former U.S. President Joe Biden, confirming that the 83-year-old’s prostate cancer has metastasized to other parts of his body, including his bones, and triggered persistent, debilitating pain that he largely hides from public view.
At 83 years old, Biden made history as the oldest person to ever occupy the Oval Office, and his advanced age was a constant source of public concern and political scrutiny throughout his four-year presidential term. The former president and his White House team faced sharp criticism over allegations that they concealed the full severity of his health issues during his time in office. That criticism intensified after a poor performance in a pre-election debate against eventual successor Donald Trump forced Biden to drop his 2024 re-election campaign.
Biden first publicly announced his prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2024, fewer than four months after he departed the White House following the inauguration of Donald Trump. Hunter Biden told the BBC that the diagnosis has taken a heavy emotional and physical toll on the entire Biden family, and that watching his father navigate the illness is an incredibly difficult experience.
“It’s really sad to watch,” Hunter Biden said of his father’s condition. “The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further. It’s very painful and it’s very debilitating in many respects. The only thing that I’d say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more, because it’s not good.”
Despite the advanced progression of his cancer and the severe symptoms it causes, Hunter Biden emphasized that the former president has not stepped back from public life. He remains actively engaged in speaking out on policy and political issues that he has long prioritized, holding onto his deep faith in the future of the United States. “He’s still doing his thing,” Hunter Biden said. “He so believes in this country.”
Separately, the former president is set to release a new memoir titled “Promise Me, America” following the conclusion of U.S. midterm elections.