Jill Biden says she prays to late son Beau 'every morning' amid husband Joe’s cancer battle
WASHINGTON, DC: Former first lady Jill Biden has opened up about the deeply personal way she is dealing with Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis, revealing that she turns to her late son Beau Biden for strength.
Speaking on ‘The Jamie Kern Lima Show’ on Monday, August 17, Jill said she prays to Beau “every morning” and asks him to be with the family as Joe continues to deal with Stage 4 prostate cancer. “I think [Beau] listens, and now with Joe with his cancer diagnosis, I get a little frustrated, and I say, ‘Beau, where are you? I need you,’” Jill said.
The former president, 83, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer last May. Jill, 75, described how quickly the situation became serious, saying it got “so serious, so fast.”
Jill Biden says Beau remains close to her
Jill said she still feels Beau's presence in her life and sometimes visits the cemetery where he is buried when she needs extra strength.
“I do,” Jill said when host Jamie Kern Lima asked whether she feels Beau’s presence. “He’s with me every day even when I’m not thinking about him, he’s certainly part of my heart.”
Jill also said Joe feels the same connection to his son.
“For sure,” she said when asked whether Joe also feels Beau’s presence.
Beau was Joe’s eldest son with his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden.
Neilia and the couple’s 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, died in a car crash in 1972.
Jill later helped raise Joe’s sons, Beau and Hunter Biden, and she and Joe also welcomed their daughter, Ashley Biden.
Jill Biden recalls losing Beau to cancer
Beau died in 2015 at age 46 after battling glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.
At the time, he was building his own political career, making his death an especially painful loss for the Biden family.
Jill recalled how difficult it was to accept that Beau would not survive.
“I really didn’t feel Beau was gonna die. I couldn’t imagine that God was gonna take him,” she said.
“I never, ever gave up hope until Beau took his last breath and so I just felt so betrayed by it, and I just could not, I couldn’t understand it,” Jill added.
She also shared a moment that she believes made her feel Beau was still around after his death.
“The day that Beau died we had a memorial service and we got back to our house. We live on a man-made lake. And as we walked in, an eagle flew across the lake,” Jill said. “It’s those sorts of things. Whether they’re real or they’re not real, I do believe in that. I do see them in nature.”
Jill Biden shares update on Joe's cancer
Jill has also spoken about Joe’s health in another recent interview.
During an August 5 appearance on ‘Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa’, she said that although Joe’s cancer has metastasized to his bones and cannot be fully eliminated, he is “doing okay,” all things considered.
