Joe Biden
To him, the White House feels "surreal"
Joe Biden and his wife Jill on his inauguration as US President
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In a new interview, US President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, of all kinds of private things.
Joe Biden (78, "Promise me") has been President of the United States of America since January 20, 2021. Together with his first lady, Dr. Jill Biden (69), he now tells, among other things, about his first days in the White House. The two also discuss their relationship and whether they would have ever been so successful without each other.
Between family pictures and the oval office
"It's surreal, but it's comfortable," Biden explains in an interview with the US magazine "People" when asked whether he already feels at home in the White House. He and his wife, with whom he has been married since 1977, had been there for eight years – Biden was Vice President under Barack Obama (59) – but most of the time he spent in the Oval Office next to the President. The private apartments are now new to him.
Meanwhile, Biden's wife says that the couple had been welcomed by great staff and that they have already made themselves a bit homely: "We have family photos everywhere, our books, some pieces of furniture from our home."
Cohesion is what makes the Bidens strong
Everyone always says that in a marriage the burden must be borne 50/50 by both sides, the president says. "Well, sometimes it has to be 70/30." He thank God that his wife intervenes when he is not doing so well – and that he can intervene if she has something to struggle with. He is also glad that Jill, the teacher, always kept her job – except for a two-year break shortly after their wedding. "It's important that she has things that mean a lot to her, her independence. And yet we share the same dreams."
Apparently the first lady can only confirm that. The two have already endured so much together, "the highs, the lows and certainly also tragedies and loss". In 2015, Joe Biden's son Beau died of complications from a malignant tumor. Beau was from the President's first marriage to Neilia Hunter Biden, who was killed in a car accident in 1972 that also killed Biden's daughter Naomi. According to the 69-year-old, there is a quote that says that sometimes you get stronger in broken areas. "That's what we're trying to achieve."
Sometimes they argue too
President Biden believes the two could do their jobs without each other, but not as well as together. He met his current wife at a very important point in his life and she brought his family back together. "She's the glue that held everything together and I knew I wanted to marry her soon after I met her." But of course they also have minor disputes from time to time. The first lady laughs, "Well, after 43 years of marriage, there isn't so much to argue about."