Hunter Biden: My father's cancer has spread, 'it's very painful'

In an interview with BBC's Newsnight program broadcast Friday evening, Hunter Biden, the youngest son of former US President Joe Biden, provided an update on his father's cancer diagnosis, describing the disease as "debilitating" and "very difficult, very sad" to witness.

"The only thing I want to say about my father's health right now is that I wish he complained more, because the situation is not good. The cancer has spread, metastasized into the bone and beyond. It's very painful," Hunter Biden shared.

In May 2025, former President Biden revealed that doctors had found he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones during a health check a few days earlier.

'Shocked' by debate performance

The announcement about Biden's condition came about 10 months after he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race. At that time, despite being almost certain to secure the Democratic nomination, concerns about his age were growing.

The turning point came on June 27, 2024, when Biden faced Republican candidate Donald Trump in the first presidential debate. Biden appeared stiff on stage, taking short and unsteady steps, and showed signs of losing focus mid-answer. At one point, responding to a question about the national debt, he stammered before declaring, "We finally beat Medicare."

His wife, Jill Biden, later said she had worried her husband was having a stroke. Meanwhile, Trump capitalized on the unanswered questions about Biden's health to cast doubt on the legitimacy of his policy decisions.

Hunter Biden said he watched the debate alone and "like everyone else, I was shocked. I could tell as soon as my father walked out that something was wrong. I've never seen him with that blank stare." He also speculated that the cancer diagnosis the following year may have contributed to his father's performance.

Controversial pardon

Hunter Biden himself was the subject of much controversy during his father's presidency. Republicans have long accused him of exploiting his father's political position for personal business dealings.

Hunter Biden also struggled with drug addiction. In June 2024, he was convicted on three felony counts related to illegally possessing a firearm while under the influence of a controlled substance and lying about his addiction on a gun purchase form. That same year, he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges involving $1.4 million from 2016 to 2019.

Despite once pledging not to pardon his son, Joe Biden reversed that decision in the final weeks of his term. On December 1, 2024, he signed a "full and unconditional" pardon for Hunter, covering all offenses from 2014 through that date. Biden explained his son was being "selectively and unfairly prosecuted" and that "in trying to break Hunter, they tried to break me."

The pardon was part of a series of other unusual clemency decisions by Biden before leaving office, including for his brother James Biden, health adviser Anthony Fauci, and lawmakers involved in the investigation of the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. He justified these decisions by citing fears that the incoming Trump administration would pursue political prosecutions.

In the interview, when asked about criticism surrounding the pardons, Hunter Biden acknowledged they were controversial: "Was that good for our Constitution? Was it good for the American people? Was it good for my father's legacy? No, none of those. It's open to criticism and rightly so, I can't pretend otherwise."

However, Hunter Biden argued that his father's concerns about Trump had proven true: "I think Donald Trump has demonstrated exactly the man my father thought he would become, in terms of the revenge and retribution he would seek against his political opponents."