President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is publishing a memoir about his struggle with addiction that will be released in April.
“I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love,” Hunter Biden writes in the book, according to its publisher, Gallery Books. “Beautiful Things” will be released April 6.
The Associated Press first reported the announcement.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden support their son Hunter’s upcoming memoir and that they “admire his strength” in openly discussing his addiction.
Reading a statement from the Bidens, Psaki said: “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.”
Psaki added that the book will be personal and about Hunter’s “own personal journey.”
During the first presidential debate, Biden defended Hunter, 49, when former President Donald Trump brought up how he was discharged from the Navy Reserve in 2014 after failing a drug test.
“My son, like a lot of people, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem,” Biden said at the time. “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.”
Hunter Biden, who was present at his father’s inauguration last month, has maintained a low profile since he won the election. In December, CNN reported that federal authorities are actively investigating his business dealings. Federal prosecutors in Delaware, working with the IRS Criminal Investigation agency and the FBI, have issued subpoenas and sought interviews.
Last July, Hunter Biden opened up about his struggle with addiction in an interview with The New Yorker’s Adam Entous.
“Look, everybody faces pain,” Hunter Biden had said. “Everybody has trauma. There’s addiction in every family. I was in that darkness. I was in that tunnel – it’s a never-ending tunnel. You don’t get rid of it. You figure out how to deal with it.”
In the extensive and deeply personal interview, Biden detailed his abuse of alcohol and drugs, which included first using cocaine while in college at Georgetown.
The youngest Biden son, whose older brother, Beau, died after a battle with brain cancer in 2015, has been in and out of rehab several times. In 2014, he was discharged from the Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine.
During one stretch where Hunter Biden was drinking heavily, he said, his father came to his Washington apartment unannounced to check in on him, saying, ” ‘I need you. What do we have to do?’ “
In the New Yorker interview, Hunter Biden also discussed his past relationships, including with his former wife, Kathleen, and brother’s widow, Hallie. Hunter Biden married a 32-year-old South African woman in May.
“I called my dad and said that we just got married. He was on speaker, and he said to her, ‘Thank you for giving my son the courage to love again,’ ” Hunter Biden said. “And he said to me, ‘Honey, I knew that when you found love again that I’d get you back.’ “
CNN’s Arlette Saenz and Allie Malloy contributed to this report.
