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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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Former first lady Jill Biden said Tuesday that her husband, former President Joe Biden, will live with cancer the rest of his life.
In an interview with The Associated Press (AP) ahead of the announcement of her new book Wednesday, Jill Biden said doctors had told her husband he would “live out his natural life."
“The fact that it is in his bones means that he will have cancer, you know, all his lifetime,” Jill Biden said.
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“Like most retired couples, he'll probably drive me crazy till the end of it,” she joked.
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Former President Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis was revealed in May 2025, four months after he left the White House having decided to drop out of the 2024 presidential race less than a year earlier. His office said at the time the aggressive cancer had spread to his bones, but few updates have been given on his condition since.
In recent months, the former president attended the Rev. Jesse Jackson's funeral, spoken at a handful of events, and was spotted taking a commercial flight. His wife said he was still heading into Washington, D.C., weekly for meetings or speeches.
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Jill Biden Announces New Book
In an announcement Wednesday, Jill Biden said she would be releasing a new memoir, titled View from the East Wing: A Memoir, on June 2. The book will give insight on her four years as first lady, including the last year in the White House when Republicans, including President Donald Trump, continuously raised questions about her husband's health and ability to take up a second term.
“It was kind of cathartic for me to write it, and I wrote about all the, you know, sometimes painful—but other times, most of it really beautiful moments that Joe and I shared during his presidency,” she told AP, declining to describe those moments. “It's also a story about my being able to balance life, you know, as a working woman and as a mother, a grandmother, a first lady.”
End of Joe Biden's Political Career
There will likely be a lot of interest in what she has to say about her husband's political career, and how his term as president included part of the COVID-19 pandemic, the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and a surge in southwest border crossings.
Despite insisting he would run for a second term age 80 in April 2023, political rivals, commentators and voters began questioning whether he would be fit enough to serve another four years. Those voices grew louder following the June 2024 presidential debate with Trump in which Biden struggled to answer questions and appeared to have a raspy voice.
After initially remaining determined to stay in the race, Biden dropped out a few weeks later and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to head the Democratic Party ticket.
The former first lady said she had been able to "put things in perspective" with the book, in an effort to present a more balanced view of Biden's time in office.
This article contains reporting by The Associated Press.
Update 3/11/26, 12:23 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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