'Beautiful Things': Five life events you'd expect to read about in Hunter Biden's new memoir

President Joe Biden's oldest son will release his book in April

Hunter Biden, right, is the oldest son of US President Joe Biden. AP Photo

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.

The cover for 'Beautiful Things' by Hunter Biden. AP

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:

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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

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.

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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".