Jill Biden’s new memoir will offer her perspective on the decision to end Biden’s 2024 re-election bid

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden has broken her silence on Joe Biden’s decision to abruptly end his 2024 presidential reelection bid under pressure from Democrats concerned about his age, health and ability to survive against Republican Donald Trump in a rematch of their 2020 campaign.

Jill Biden, a political spouse of nearly 50 years, said she never publicly discussed her feelings about the three-week period in which her husband ended his political career, instead keeping her thoughts in the pages of her soon-to-be-released memoir.

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Gallery Books, a Simon & Schuster subsidiary, announced Wednesday that her book, “A View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” is scheduled for publication June 2.

Jill Biden told The Associated Press in a brief phone interview that the book is “a reflection on my four years as first lady” and that writing it was somewhat healing.

“Writing it was kind of cathartic for me, and I wrote about all the sometimes painful, but other times, mostly really beautiful moments that Joe and I shared during his presidency,” she said.

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Jill Biden on Tuesday declined to discuss any of those moments, good or bad — including watching her husband work his way toward the decision to end his five-decade political career by withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race.

In an announcement video shared on Instagram, she said she wanted to “set the record straight.”

The final chapter of her husband’s political career

In April 2023, then-President Joe Biden was 80 years old and the oldest president in US history when he announced his candidacy for a second term. His age and ability to serve another four years—which would bring him to the age of 86—became a source of concern to the public. Some of his fellow Democrats began pressing him to step down after he flip-flopped in a disastrous debate against Trump in June 2024, in which he gruffly struggled to get through his debate points and often seemed to lose his train of thought. Aides blamed the poor performance on a cold.

Joe Biden initially insisted on remaining in the race, but after a few weeks he withdrew from the campaign and supported Democrat Kamala Harris, Vice President. Harris became the party’s presidential nominee, but lost to Trump in the November 2024 elections.

Jill Biden said that through the book, “she set the record straight,” offering what she describes as a “more balanced view” of her husband’s time as president.

The memoir is also a tribute to women who, like her, juggle multiple roles.

“It’s also a story about my ability to balance life, as a career woman and as a mother, grandmother and first lady,” she said.

During her four years in the position, Jill Biden, 74, made history as the first first lady to continue her career before entering the White House. She taught English and writing for decades at the community college level, and continued to teach twice a week at the Northern Virginia School District while serving as First Lady.

Joe Biden is ‘doing well’ after cancer diagnosis

The former president’s office announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He is receiving treatment.

Jill Biden said her 83-year-old husband’s diagnosis was a “huge shock.”

“The fact that it’s in his bones means he’s going to have cancer, you know, for the rest of his life,” Jill Biden said. She said doctors say he will “live his normal life.”

“Like most retired couples, it would probably drive me crazy until the end,” she joked.

Read more: Biden is receiving radiation and hormone therapy to treat prostate cancer, an aide says

She said he visits Washington at least once a week to hold meetings or give speeches.

A unique period in American history

The former first lady also writes in the book about serving during a unique time in US history, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to the publisher.

Her husband was sworn in on the steps of the Capitol on January 20, 2021, just two weeks after a mob of Trump supporters, fueled by his false claims that the Republican lost due to election fraud, stormed the building in a violent attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden’s victory.

Joe Biden’s first year in office has been dominated by the federal pandemic response, and while he has remained mostly in the White House, Jill Biden has donned a face mask and traveled around the country encouraging people to get their vaccines. She also continued her advocacy on behalf of military families, education, community colleges, cancer prevention, and women’s health initiatives.

Before becoming First Lady, Jill Biden was Second Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, when her husband was Vice President Barack Obama. She currently chairs the Milken Institute’s Women’s Health Network.

Jill Biden is also the author of the 2019 book “Where the Light Enters,” in which she writes about meeting, marrying, and building a life with Joe Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware. She also wrote three books for children.