Hunter Biden acknowledged that his years-long struggle with addiction placed a significant emotional burden on former President Joe Biden and the rest of his family, saying in a newly released interview that the stress of his addiction inevitably affected his father’s health and quality of life.
The comments came during an interview with BBC Newsnight, published Friday, in which Hunter Biden reflected on the personal consequences of his addiction and the support he received from his father throughout his recovery.
Former President Joe Biden ended his 2024 reelection campaign less than four months before Election Day amid growing concerns over his age and fitness for office. In May 2025, his personal office announced that he had been diagnosed with what it described as an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.
During the interview, BBC Newsnight host Paddy O’Connell asked Hunter Biden whether he believed his own struggles had made life and his father’s health worse.
“He must have feared he was going to lose another son,” O’Connell said, referencing the death of Joe Biden’s son Beau Biden in 2015 after a battle with brain cancer.
Hunter Biden did not hesitate in his response.
“Of course I did,” he said. “That’s what addiction does. You know, I dig that most people would sit here and try to run from that question or be offended by it, but absolutely.”
Hunter Biden’s battle with crack cocaine addiction has been widely documented over the years. He detailed much of that struggle in his 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things, which chronicled his addiction, recovery, and the impact those experiences had on his personal life.
In the BBC interview, Hunter Biden said the effects of his addiction reached far beyond his father, impacting numerous members of his family.
“Not just to my dad, but to my mom [former First Lady Jill Biden] and my aunts and uncles, to my children, to my relationships down the line,” he said.
Still, he emphasized the unwavering support his father continued to provide even during the most difficult periods of his addiction.
According to Hunter Biden, Joe Biden never abandoned him despite holding him accountable for his actions.
“But, in particular, to my dad, who never let go,” Hunter Biden said. “Even through that, even with the knowledge of that, he never, ever, ever let me go.”
Hunter Biden said his father consistently made it clear that he would always be welcomed back once he was ready to seek recovery.
“He always left the door open,” he said, adding that unconditional love does not mean a lack of accountability or consequences.
“My dad never let me off the hook,” Hunter Biden said. “But what my dad did was always make it clear that when I was ready to come back, the door was open, and that he loved me just as much no matter what.”
Hunter Biden credited that continued support as a defining factor in helping him overcome addiction.
“That is the singular thing that saved me — that the door was left open,” he said.
He also reflected on the common belief that people struggling with addiction must hit rock bottom before they can recover, saying his own experiences led him to a different conclusion.
“A lot of people always say that you’ve got to let an addict hit rock-bottom,” Hunter Biden said. “Well, the addicts that I know that hit rock-bottom are either dead or in jail.”
Instead, he said his father offered guidance and support throughout his darkest moments.
“What my dad did when I fell down this well of despair is he shined a light down and helped guide me out,” Hunter Biden said.
While describing that support as “a beautiful thing,” he acknowledged that it came with a lasting emotional cost, saying the stress created by addiction “never goes away.”
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