President Joe Biden (right) embraces First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden and daughter Ashley Biden after being sworn in during his inauguration.Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty
Hunter Bidenwrites in an exceedingly candidnew memoirthat while dadJoe Bidenwas vice president, he showed up at Hunter’s apartment to talk to him about his alcohol addiction.
The revelation is one of many harrowing accounts from Hunter’s forthcoming book, which hones in on some of the tumultuous details of his life, including hisromantic relationship with his late brother’s widowand hisalcohol and drug addiction.
TheNew York Timesobtained an advance of the book, which is due out April 6.
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“I’ve been so desperate for a drink that I couldn’t make the one-block walk between a liquor store and my apartment without uncapping the bottle to take a swig,” he writes.
Hunter Biden (left) and Joe Biden.Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images
At another point, theTimesreports, Hunter writes about sifting through a homeless encampment in Los Angeles while looking to score drugs before he had a gun pointed in his face.
Elsewhere in the book, he recounts his former crack addiction and how he invited his dealer to live with him at his Washington, D.C., apartment, before his father — then the vice president — came knocking at the door to help.
“He never let me forget that all was not lost,” Hunter writes, according to theTimes. “He never abandoned me, never shunned me, never judged me, no matter how bad things got — and believe me, from there they would get much, much worse.”
Despite playing no formal role in the Biden campaign or as his dad’s adviser, Hunter emerged from the 2020 presidential election as perhaps the most controversial and most targeted member of his family.
Conservatives relentlessly focused on his past business dealings, which had raised ethical worries despite no evidence of wrongdoing. Many Republicans also pilloried Hunter for his personal problems, including his drug abuse and string of eyebrow-raising romances.
Donald Trumproutinely attacked Hunter throughout the 2020 campaign, specifically focusing on his history of addiction and his past business work. (Trump’s fixation on trying to find dirt on the Bidens and Ukraine was also at the heart of his first impeachment for abuse of power.)
For his part, Hunter writes in his book that Trump, 74, is “a vile man with a vile mission,“The Guardianreports.
President Biden, however, made it a point to hold his relationship with his son up as an example for how families should handle addiction with concern and care. “I’m proud of him,” he said during one debate, describing how Hunter “had a drug problem” and overcame it.
Last month, Biden told CBS News that reading his son’s memoir made him feel like his “boy is back.”
“The honesty with which he stepped forward and talked about the problem and the hope that it gave me hope reading it,” the president said.
Hunter Biden.Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images
Controversy Surrounding Ukraine
According to theTimes, he maintains in his book that “I did nothing unethical, and have never been charged with wrongdoing,” but notes how the job “landed me in the heart of the decade’s biggest political fable,” becoming the centerpiece in Trump’s first impeachment.
“Did I make a mistake? Well, maybe in the grand scheme of things, yeah,” hetold ABC Newsin 2019. “But did I make a mistake based upon some ethical lapse? Absolutely not.”
The 1972 Car Crash
According to theTimes, Hunter writes in detail about the last images he can remember of late mother Neilia and sister Naomi, who were in the front seat when a tractor-trailer collided with the family’s car at an intersection in a Christmastime crash.
When Hunter, then 3, woke up in the hospital, he writes about the memory of his then-4-year-old brother mouthing, “I love you. I love you. I love you” over and over again.
“That’s our origin story,” Hunter writes.
Dr. Jill Biden, Hunter Biden, his infant son with wife Melissa Cohen and other members of President Joe Biden’s family attend a farewell ceremony at the Major Joseph R. “Beau” Biden III National Guard/Reserve Center in Delaware in January.Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Hunter’s Love Life
After Beau died, Hunter developed a relationship with his widow, which he also describes in solemn detail, according to theTimes.
“Our relationship began as a mutually desperate grasping for the love we had both lost, and its dissolution only deepened that tragedy,” Hunter writes. “It made the obvious clear: What was gone was gone permanently. There was no putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
After he and Hallie split, Hunter married South African filmmaker Melissa Cohen in awhirlwind romancein 2019 that saw them tie the knot days after meeting.
In the book, Hunter credits Cohen with helping break his crack addiction, according to theTimes.
Hunter recalls telling Cohen he was a crack addict, before she said: “Not anymore. You’re finished with that.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
source: people.com
