Jill Biden says former president will live with stage 4 cancer 'for the rest of his life,' has slowed down
Former first lady Dr. Jill Biden gave an update on former President Joe Biden’s cancer on Saturday, saying that though the 83-year-old will live with cancer for the rest of his life, he maintains a busy schedule, but has slowed down.
Biden explained during a discussion with political commentator and "The View" co-host Ana Navarro for her new book "View From the East Wing: A Memoir," that while her husband was still president and had a team of doctors, she mentioned that he was getting up seven times a night to go to the bathroom, and she assumed that someone would follow up on that.
But she said when they left the White House in 2025 and his problem persisted, she said she told him he had to go see a urologist and in his first appointment the doctor said, "There’s something there," and the former president was given a CAT scan.
"I never imagined it would be prostate cancer," she admitted. "I just never imagined it."
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While she said in some cases prostate cancer can be "cured, "the problem with Joe — it's stage four, and it has metastasized to his bones. So that puts things on a whole different level. I mean, Joe will have to live with cancer for the rest of his life, which means he's on special medicines."
She said he also went through radiation, which involved going from where they live in Delaware to Philadelphia constantly for five weeks.
"You know, it takes a toll," she said, adding that on Friday night her husband was in South Dakota for a Democratic Party event, on Saturday he was at a friend’s wedding, and Sunday he’ll be in Philadelphia.
"He keeps his schedule, but he’s slowed down," she said. "I mean, stage four cancer is — and he's 83 — so, I think the mix of everything and the medications that he's taken has made life a little more difficult these days."
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When asked how she’s been handling the situation, Biden said: "It’s hard to be a caretaker," noting that the former president wouldn’t want her to phrase it that way, but explaining that she’s the one responsible for all the details.
"I have to make sure he gets the right medications," she explained. "I'm the one talking to the doctors. I'm the one setting up the appointments. I'm the one to make sure that he eats well."
Joe Biden announced his cancer diagnosis in May 2025.
Earlier this week, the former first lady told the "Today" show that her husband is "doing OK."
"He's out making speeches, and he's traveling on Amtrak," she added. "He was just at the Delaware Memorial Bridge for the veteran's ceremony. So yeah, he's doing a lot, but he has stage 4 cancer."
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Biden and Navarro also talked about some other issues she wrote about in her book, including when the former president made the decision to drop out of the 2024 race after his disastrous debate in June 2024.
She said he turned to her while they were at their home in Delaware and told her: "I have no choice."
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Biden added that it was also "hurtful" to her when she saw Democrats, many of whom had been their friends for decades, publicly calling for Biden to drop out of the race.
But she said Biden reconciled with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was believed to have been privately leading calls for him to leave the race, at the funeral for Tatiana Schlossberg, the daughter of Caroline Kennedy, in January.
The 75-year-old admitted that she still hasn’t spoken to Pelosi.
She also said she believes there has been a "double standard" in the conversations around her husband’s age and mental acuity when compared to President Donald Trump, who will turn 80 on June 14.
For the next president after Trump leaves office, Biden said she’s looking for someone with integrity, trustworthiness, and empathy, but didn’t name any names.
"They're the characteristics of the American people," she said. "That's who we are."