President Joe Biden spoke openly about the dark times he endured after his first wife and daughter died in a car crash, describing to radio host Howard Stern on Friday how he contemplated suicide.
Biden attended a surprise interview during a visit to New York.
In one of the most revealing passages he spoke of his despair over the death of Neilia and her 13-month-old daughter Naomi in December 1972.
‘I do not drink. That is not a virtue. I just never drank,” she said.
And I used to sit there and think, I think I’ll get out a bottle of Scotch. We always had liquor in the house… and I was just going to drink and get drunk and I never dared do it.
In this file image, Senator-elect Joseph Biden and his wife Nelia cut his 30th birthday cake at a party in Wilmington on November 20, 1972, with their two sons Hunter and Beau.
Biden spoke with Sirius XM host Howard Stern
‘And I actually thought about, you know? You don’t have to be crazy to commit suicide. If you’ve been to the top of a mountain, you think you’ll never be there again.
‘And for a brief moment I thought maybe I would just go to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and jump. but I had two children.’
The live radio interview took listeners by surprise. Biden has attended a few interviews since she took office and the appearance was not on her public agenda.
He spent Thursday night in New York City after a fundraiser at actor Michael Douglas’ home in Westchester County.
The president spent Thursday night in New York City after attending a fundraiser hosted by actor Michael Douglas in Westchester County.
Then, before flying back to the White House, he stopped by a Manhattan studio to chat with Sirius XM radio host Stern.
He broke some news during the interview, and Biden said he would be “happy” to meet Trump on the debate stage.
Stern asked a series of heartbreaking questions about the car accident involving Biden’s first wife, Neilia, and their one-year-old daughter, Naomi.
But things soon moved on to the period when Biden was romantically available and women took notice.
President Joe Biden gave an hour-long interview to Howard Stern on Sirius XM, talking about his youth and career in politics, including his time as a single senator.
Biden with Nelia shortly after being elected senator in 1972. She died weeks later.
In the new interview, Biden said, “And just for a brief moment, I thought maybe I would just go to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and jump.” but I had two children
“They put me on the list of the ten most eligible bachelors,” he told Stern, who noted that he was a United States senator at the time.
‘And a lot of lovely women, but women, would send very lewd photographs and I would just hand them over to the Secret Service. And I thought someone would think I was…’ she said, without clarifying why the agency that handles presidential security would be involved.
He decided to stop his romantic activities.
“And I just gave up,” Biden said. Then, ‘I got a call from my brother. I have a little girl here in Delaware: Jill is nine years younger than me. She said you will love her. “She doesn’t like politics,” he continued, describing the events that set up her second marriage.
Stern asked a series of gentle biographical questions in an interview that culminated with the host sharing his own exasperation about how people could vote for someone who told a Georgia election official to “find 11,780” votes.
Biden recounted his time working as a lifeguard in a predominantly black neighborhood in Delaware.
Biden reported having rescued six people from distress, without boasting about his efforts.
—Did you ever save someone’s life when you were a lifeguard? she asked.
Biden said he would be “happy” to debate Donald Trump
“Half a dozen times,” Biden responded.
Stern was ready to see more on the big screen.
‘It’s very important. We should highlight that in the movie of your life,’ Stern advised.
Biden also regaled Stern with stories about his high school football career.
You were like the front row guy. “You were the one who caught the ball,” Stern told him.
‘State scoring runner-up! “What the hell?” Biden continued. “Wow,” said Stern.
Stern tried to elicit comments from Biden about the Supreme Court, whose conservative rulings have shaped electoral politics, even as he said the Violence Against Women Act he helped write was under threat.
“I have to be careful what I say about the court,” Biden said, calling the law one of his “proudest accomplishments.”
It was Stern who recalled the time Senate Republicans, led by Biden’s friend Sen. Mitch McConnell, thwarted Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.
‘These maniacs in the Sen said no way. And now we have a Supreme Court that is crazy,” Stern said.
‘It’s a really conservative court. Perhaps the most conservative court in modern history,” Biden said.
Biden said women sent him “lewd” photos during the time he was single after the death of his first wife, Nelia. He married Jill Tracy Jacobs (now first lady Jill Biden) in 1977.
Stern, who has interviewed Trump in the past, did not enter the Stormy Daniels trial taking place in her home state of New York. But she failed in the Jan. 6 charges against Trump.
‘What are we debating? A man picked up the phone and meant to falsify the election. Give me 11,000 votes. I don’t know how any American loves this country. That’s the end of the debate. You can’t run if you want to rig an election.
Biden criticized Trump’s inaction in the White House during the Capitol riot. He was abandoned. He was almost criminal,” he said.
In his commentary on the Trump debate, Biden went beyond previous coverage.
‘I am, somewhere I don’t know when. “I’m happy to debate him,” he told Stern.
In March, Biden had hedged, saying in March that “it depends on his behavior.”
‘Okay, let’s set it up!’ Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita posted shortly after the comment.