Shocking words from Joe Biden who admitted that he thought about suicide after the death of his first wife and their 18-month-old daughter, victims of a dramatic car accident in 1972. In a radio interview with Howard Stern, the president spoke of his pain, his sense of helplessness and his desperation for the loss of Neilia and little Naomi. “I would sit back and think: Now I’m going to open a bottle of scotch and drink it and get drunk,” said Biden, renowned for never drinking alcohol. “I thought that one shouldn’t be crazy to commit suicide. And I thought: I’ll go to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and jump”, added the president, saying that he had pushed away that idea only by thinking of Beau and Hunter, the other two children who survived the tragic accident. “I thought that I had two children and that I probably wouldn’t commit suicide. But I told myself that I would never be well again.”
Since then Biden has had a long and successful political career, he married First Lady Jill Biden with whom he had a daughter, who was given the same name as the little girl he lost years earlier. A series of goals accompanied, however, by other tragedies, such as the death of another son: Beau, a veteran of the war in Iraq, succumbed to cancer. Hunter is the only child left from his marriage to Neilia, a constant presence in the president’s life despite his problems, including drug addiction.
Sterna opened the interview by declaring himself a big supporter of Biden. She then peppered him with mostly friendly questions about his personal and professional life, including meeting his first wife and dealing with his growing stutter. The president opened up and responded openly, even calling himself an “idiot” for not taking school seriously enough when he was studying.
Biden’s appearance with Stern follows the controversy of the major American newspapers, especially the New York Times, for the small number of interviews given by the president. Criticisms that the Biden campaign flatly rejected, explaining that the show with Stern was an attempt by the president to meet and speak to voters through non-traditional means. Among these there is also TikTok, where the president will remain during the election campaign despite having signed the measure approved by Congress which provides for the ban of the popular app in the US if Bytedance, the Chinese giant to which it belongs, does not sell it on 9- 12 months.
