A political spouse for nearly 50 years, Jill Biden said she has never publicly discussed her feelings about the three-week stretch when her husband ended his political career, instead saving her thoughts for the pages of her soon-to-be-released memoir.
Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, on Wednesday announced that her book View from the East Wing: A Memoir is scheduled to be published on June 2.
Jill Biden told the Associated Press in a brief telephone interview that the book is a "reflection of my four years as first lady" and that writing it was somewhat healing.
"It was kind of cathartic for me to write it and I wrote about all the, you know, sometimes painful - but other times, most of it really beautiful moments that Joe and I shared during his presidency," she said.
Jill Biden declined on Tuesday to discuss any of those moments, good or bad - including watching her husband work his way to the decision to end his five-decade-long political career by dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
In April 2023, then-president Joe Biden was 80 and the oldest president in US history when he announced he was running for a second term.
His age and fitness to serve another four years - which would take him to age 86 - became a source of concern for the public.
Some fellow Democrats began to pressure him to step aside after he turned in a disastrous debate performance against Trump in June 2024 in which he struggled, in a raspy voice, to land his debating points and often appeared to lose his train of thought.
Aides blamed the poor performance on a cold.
Joe Biden at first insisted that he would stay in the race, but after a few weeks he withdrew from the campaign and endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris, his vice president.
Harris became the party's presidential nominee but lost to Trump in the November 2024 election.
Jill Biden said that, with the book, "I have put things in perspective," presenting what she describes as a "more balanced view" of her husband's time as president.
The memoir is also a tribute of sorts to women who, like herself, juggle multiple roles.
"It's also a story about my being able to balance life, you know, as a working woman and as a mother, a grandmother, a first lady," she said.
During her four years in the role, Jill Biden, 74, made history as the first first lady to continue the career she had before entering the White House.
She had taught English and writing for decades at the community college level, and she continued teaching twice a week at a Northern Virginia school while serving as first lady.
