Jill Biden is finally speaking about one of the most wrenching moments of her public life — when her husband Joe Biden suspended his 2024 presidential campaign amid intense pressure from members of his own party.
The former first lady announced on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, that her forthcoming memoir, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” will reveal for the first time her account of the three-week span when her husband’s five-decade political career abruptly ended. Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, is set to publish the book on June 2, 2026.
In a short phone interview with The Associated Press, Jill Biden, 74, said writing the memoir was a restorative experience after serving as first lady during one of the most chaotic periods in recent American history.
The book arrives at a time when public interest in the Biden years remains strong. Since leaving the White House in January 2025 after President Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November 2024, the Bidens have mostly stayed out of public view — until now.
The memoir promises to illuminate the fallout from Joe Biden’s troubled June 27, 2024, debate with Trump. Many Democrats were alarmed as the then-81-year-old president sounded hoarse and frequently seemed to lose his train of thought. Although aides attributed the performance to a cold, the impact was significant.
Biden initially said he would remain a candidate. But as concerns mounted among Democrats about his age and ability to serve through age 86, he exited the campaign on July 21, 2024, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris secured the Democratic nomination but was defeated by Trump in November.
The publisher’s press release says the memoir will address “for the first time” her experiences “before, during, and after the unexpected ending to her husband’s bid for re-election.”
The book will also recount the Biden administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Jill Biden traveled the country promoting vaccinations while advocating for military families, education, community colleges, cancer prevention, and women’s health programs.
The memoir also tackles another painful episode for the Bidens: Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis. The former president’s office announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9 that had metastasized to his bones.
Jill Biden said the diagnosis was “quite a shock,” telling the AP that doctors expect he will “live out his natural life” despite the cancer’s spread to his bones. The former president, now 83, travels to Washington at least weekly for meetings or appearances.
The memoir will also cover the Biden administration’s early days, including Joe Biden’s inauguration on the Capitol steps just two weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building following his baseless claims of election fraud.
Jill Biden was second lady from 2009 to 2017 while her husband served as vice president under Barack Obama. She now chairs the Milken Institute’s Women’s Health Network and previously wrote “Where the Light Enters,” published in 2019, which recounted meeting Joe Biden when he was a Delaware senator and building a life together.
The memoir arrives amid a busy season for political books. Former Vice President Harris published her memoir, “107 Days,” in September 2025, documenting her shortened presidential campaign from the day Biden withdrew through Election Day.
Joe Biden sold his presidential memoir to Little, Brown & Co., an imprint of Hachette Book Group, for about $10 million in July 2025, though the title and release date have not been disclosed.
For Jill Biden, who spent nearly five decades as a political spouse before becoming first lady, the memoir is a chance to tell her story in her own voice — a narrative she says gives a “more balanced view” of her husband’s presidency and their remarkable journey together.