One might expect the son of a US President to keep his skeletons hidden firmly in the closet, but Joe Biden's son Robert Hunter is opening up about some of his darkest moments in a new memoir.
The book, entitled Beautiful Things, is scheduled to be published in the US on Tuesday, April 6 by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
It starts with a simple question: "Where's Hunter?"
"I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love," the author writes in a brief extract released with the announcement.
Advance copies have already been circulated among a handful of high-profile writers, drawing early praise from Stephen King and Dave Eggers, among others.
King has described it as "harrowing and compulsively readable", while Eggers called the book "astonishingly candid and brave".
But what is it about? What will Joe Biden's eldest son share with the world?
Here are five key moments from his life we'd expect to read about in Beautiful Things.
His addictions
First and foremost, this book will centre on the lawyer and former lobbyist's alcohol and drug addictions, plus his path to sobriety.
"My son, like a lot of people, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem," the president has said in the past. "He's overtaken it. He's fixed it. He's worked on it, and I'm proud of him. I'm proud of my son."
In a joint statement issued on Thursday, February 4 by the president and First Lady Jill Biden, they said of the memoir: "We admire our son Hunter's strength and courage to talk openly about his addiction so that others might see themselves in his journey and find hope."
Considering the US is amid a full-blown opioid crisis, this candour couldn't come at a better time.
King, who is also a recovering alcoholic, said: "In AA we say it doesn’t matter if you come from Yale or jail, all addicts are the same... Hunter Biden proves again that anybody – even the son of a United States President – can take a ride on the pink horse down nightmare alley."
The loss of his mother and sister
Hunter is the son of Neilia Hunter Biden, Joe's first wife. Sadly, she and Hunter's 1-year-old sister, Naomi, died in a car accident in 1972.
Hunter, who was 2 at the time, and his brother, were both present at the crash and were left critically injured.
This tragic loss at such a young age will undoubtedly come up in the book.
Take a look through the gallery below to see more of Joe Biden's family:
-
US President Joe Biden, with his wife Jill Biden and members of his family as they salute the crowd on stage after delivering remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7, 2020. AFP -
Wife: Dr Jill Biden. Jill and Joe met in 1975, when Joe was a senator, after they were set up on a blind date by Joe’s brother, Frank. They married in June 1977 and had one child together, daughter Ashley, as well as raising Hunter and Beau, Joe’s two sons with his first wife, Neilia. Getty Images -
First wife: Neilia Hunter Biden. The President-elect and Neilia were married in August 1966, and had three children, sons Hunter and Beau, and daughter Naomi. Neilia and 13-month-old Naomi were killed in a car crash on December 18, 1972, when their car collided with a trailer-truck. Hunter and Beau sustained injuries, but survived the crash. Getty Images -
Son: Beau Biden. Joe and his first wife, Neilia, welcomed son, Beau in February 1969. He attained the rank of Major in the US army, and was deployed to Iraq in 2008. He later became a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office. He passed away in 2015 from brain cancer at the age of 46. AFP -
Son: Robert Hunter Biden, known as Hunter. Joe and Neilia welcomed Hunter in February 1970. The lawyer and businessman shares three children, Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy, with his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle. He dated his brother Beau’s widow, Hallie, following Beau’s death, and has a further two children, whose names have not been made public, one with Lunden Alexis Roberts, and a son with his wife Melissa Cohen. Reuters -
Daughter: Ashley Biden. Joe and Jill’s only daughter has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. And the 39-year-old, who is married to plastic surgeon Howard Krein, worked as executive director of the Delaware Centre for Justice from 2014 to 2019. She also founded the fashion company Livelihood in 2017. Getty Images -
Granddaughter: Naomi Biden. The eldest of Biden’s grandchildren was named after her late aunt and is the daughter of Hunter and Kathleen. The 27-year-old graduated from Columbia Law School in May 2020 and was a classmate of Tiffany Trump while at the University of Pennsylvania. -
Granddaughter: Finnegan Biden. Hunter and Kathleen’s 20-year-old daughter is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania. She regularly appeared on the campaign trail with her grandfather. AFP -
Granddaughter: Maisy Biden. Younger sister to Naomi and Finnegan, Maisy, 18, is close friends with former First Daughter, Sasha Obama. She enjoys playing basketball, and is an old hand on the campaign trail, having accompanied her grandfather on trips when he was Vice President. AP Photo -
Granddaughter: Natalie Biden. Sixteen-year-old Natalie is the daughter of the late Beau. She campaigned for her grandfather throughout the election, revealing: 'Pop told us that this election would be totally different from any other election ever. He was worried how it would affect his kids.' Reuters -
Grandson: Robert Hunter Biden II. Natalie’s younger brother (second from left) was named after his uncle. Although he is rarely pictured in public, he appeared with his sister and cousins reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in a video at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Twitter / demconvention -
Sister: Valerie Biden Owens (right). Highly active in her older brother Joe’s political campaigns since he first ran for the Senate back in the '70s, Owens served as a US senior adviser to the United Nations General Assembly and is vice chair of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. AFP -
Brother: Frank Biden. The youngest of the four senior Biden siblings, the troubled 66-year-old businessman lives in Florida. He was arrested in 2003 for DUI and petty theft. He was arrested again in 2004 for driving with a suspended license, and was ordered to attend rehab. 'No one anticipated this. It’s spontaneous,' he told the 'Palm Beach Post' of his brother’s win. 'It's overwhelming.' Getty Images -
Brother: Jim Biden. Seventy-year-old Jim has been at his brother’s side throughout the campaign. 'He has been at his older brother’s side at nearly every critical juncture in Joe’s personal and political life,' notes political website Propublica. 'As fundraiser for his brother’s first Senate race in 1972, he helped launch Joe’s political career.' Getty Images -
Daughter-in-law: Hallie Biden. The widow of the late Beau Biden, who she married in 2002, 45-year-old Hallie began dating her brother-in-law Hunter in 2016, a year after Beau died. 'We were sharing a very specific grief,' Hunter told 'The New Yorker'. 'I started to think of Hallie as the only person in my life who understood my loss.' Reuters -
Daughter-in-law: Melissa Cohen. The South African filmmaker married Hunter in May 2019, and the pair has a child together, a son, whose name or photos they have chosen not to reveal. Hunter proposed less than a week after their first date, with then-Vice President Biden telling Cohen: 'Thank you for giving my son the courage to love again.' AP Photo -
Son-in-law: Howard Krein. Married to Joe’s daughter, Ashley, the pair was introduced by her half-brother, Beau, and they married in 2012. Krein, 39, is assistant professor of otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University and a founding partner and co-director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Centre. AFP
The death of his brother
Hunter has endured his fair share of loss, including the death of his brother, Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III, in 2015 from brain cancer.
Beau had an undeniably huge impact on Hunter's life. In fact, the book's title is taken from an expression the pair used after his fatal diagnosis had been revealed. The phrase is meant to emphasise what is important in life.
The birth and lives of his children
Hunter has five children. Three daughters – Naomi, 27, Finnegan, 20, and Maisy, 19 – he had with his first wife, Kathleen Buhle, who he divorced in 2017.
In 2018, Hunter fathered a son, Lunden Alexis Roberts, with a woman in Arkansas, who he has agreed to pay monthly child support to. How much of this situation, which resulted in a high-profile paternity case with the courts, will be documented in the memoir remains to be seen, however.
In 2020, he welcomed another son, Beau, named after his late brother, with his second wife Melissa Cohen Biden.
The love of his life
He and Kathleen were together for more than two decades, but Melissa is now the love of Hunter's life.
"I instantly fell in love with her. And then I've fallen in love with her more every day," he said, reported ABC News.
The feeling was so immediate, in fact, that they married in Los Angeles within six days of meeting each other. The ceremony took place in Melissa's apartment with neither of their families in attendance, and wedding photos taken on a friend's mobile phone.
Joe Biden has thanked Melissa for "giving my son the courage to love again".
