Hunter Biden: My Father's Cancer Has Spread to His Bones

Former President Joe Biden's prostate cancer has spread into his bones and other parts of his body, his son Hunter Biden said in a BBC Newsnight interview Friday. "It's very painful, and it's very debilitating in many respects, but he's still out there and he's still doing his thing," Hunter Biden said.

Why You Should Care

This is a straightforward, human story before it's a political one: an adult son speaking publicly about watching a parent's illness progress. Joe Biden, 83, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in May 2025, months after leaving office; his team described it at the time as "hormone-sensitive" and manageable. Friday's update — that the cancer has since metastasized into his bones — is a meaningfully more serious development, and it's the kind of news that resonates well beyond politics for anyone who's watched a family member navigate advanced cancer.

Complex to Simple

Prostate cancer that stays contained to the prostate is generally treatable, sometimes for years, with hormone therapy and other tools. Once it metastasizes, or spreads, to the bones specifically, doctors typically describe it differently — not necessarily as an immediate crisis, but as a shift from "manageable" to "chronic and progressive," meaning the focus moves from potentially curing it to managing pain and quality of life over the long term. It's the difference between a fire contained to one room and one that's spread into the walls of the house — still fightable, but no longer something you expect to fully put out.

What Both Sides Are Saying

In the same interview, Hunter Biden also discussed the pardon his father granted him in December 2024, covering federal gun and tax charges. He called himself grateful — "I was one of one, and I'm eternally grateful for it" — while separately acknowledging, per the Washington Post's account of the interview, that the pardon wasn't "fair" or good for the country as a precedent. That mixed framing echoes the broader public debate at the time: supporters saw a father protecting his son from a politically motivated prosecution, while critics — including some Democrats — argued it undercut Joe Biden's own past pledges not to use presidential power on his son's behalf.

What's Next

Former first lady Jill Biden said in June that her husband will "live with cancer forever," signaling the family has shifted toward talking about this as a long-term reality rather than a battle with a clear endpoint. Hunter Biden's memoir, "Promise Me, America," is set for publication after the midterm elections — expect more of the family's account of this period, medical and political both, to surface around that release.