Hunter Biden delivered a raw and emotional account of his father’s deteriorating health in a BBC interview broadcast late Friday, August 7, 2026, revealing that former President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has metastasized to his skeletal system and is now inflicting considerable discomfort.
Hunter Biden, the former president’s son, grew visibly emotional during the wide-ranging conversation with BBC Newsnight, recorded in London, as he described watching his 83-year-old father battle an aggressive illness. Hunter Biden said, “The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further. It’s very painful and it’s very debilitating in many respects.”
A Stark Update on Biden’s Condition
Former President Joe Biden, 83, received a diagnosis in May 2025 identifying a particularly aggressive variant of prostate malignancy following urinary complications. Physicians discovered a nodule on his prostate, and by the time the cancer was detected it had already spread to his bones. The diagnosis was assigned a Gleason score of 9, placing it in Grade Group 5 — the most severe category used to assess the disease. The former president’s office confirmed the diagnosis came less than four months after he departed the White House in January 2025.
Treatment has been extensive. Biden underwent skin cancer surgery in September 2025, then began a five-week course of radiation alongside hormone therapy in October 2025. His care now requires monitoring and medication on an ongoing basis every three months, according to his family.
Hunter Biden did not offer specifics about whether his father’s treatment regimen has changed, but made clear the family is confronting a difficult reality. He said he wished his father would voice his suffering more openly, adding that the situation “is not good.” Hunter Biden said the former president continues engaging publicly on issues he cares about and remains the emotional center of the Biden family.
Jill Biden Speaks on the Daily Toll
Days before the BBC interview aired, former first lady Jill Biden offered her own candid account of life since the diagnosis. Appearing on August 5 on the SiriusXM program “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa,” hosted by “Live with Kelly and Mark” co-host Kelly Ripa, Jill Biden disclosed that her husband had been making nighttime trips to the bathroom as many as seven times a night. She said she raised the symptom with White House physicians at the time and assumed it had been dealt with. The pattern persisted after the couple left the White House in January 2025, at which point she pressed him to see a specialist in Philadelphia — the referral that led directly to the diagnosis.
Jill Biden told Ripa that the cancer journey is constant and daily, requiring vigilance and ongoing treatment every three months. She drew parallels to the family’s experience losing their eldest son, Beau Biden, who died in 2015 at age 46 after battling brain cancer.
Jill Biden also recalled the shock of receiving the prostate cancer diagnosis. In a “CBS News Sunday Morning” interview with correspondent Rita Braver that aired May 31, 2026, she said the news was shocking and that the disease had somehow been missed by White House doctors. She indicated that medical guidance at the time advised against routine PSA blood testing for men over 70, in line with American Urological Association recommendations, given that prostate cancer is typically slow-growing — though she acknowledged the aggressive form her husband developed was ultimately missed.
Health Transparency Questions Resurface
The new disclosures have renewed scrutiny over how much the public knew — or was allowed to know — about Biden’s health while he occupied the Oval Office. Biden and his White House advisers have faced persistent criticism for allegedly concealing the true extent of his physical condition, particularly after a disastrous debate performance against his eventual successor, President Donald Trump, forced Biden to abandon his reelection campaign.
Medical specialists have said the timeline itself points back to the White House years. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and bioethicist who served on Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, said publicly after the diagnosis was announced that a cancer already in the bones could not have developed in a matter of months, and that Biden was carrying the disease while in office — probably from the start of his presidency in 2021. Emanuel said he did not believe there was serious medical disagreement on the point.
The questions extend beyond the cancer to Biden’s cognitive condition during his final year in office. In the same BBC conversation, Hunter Biden said he watched the June 2024 debate from California and was shocked by what he saw, recalling that he knew immediately something was wrong. Jill Biden, for her part, has said she never observed signs of cognitive decline in her husband as he pursued reelection, while acknowledging that he had been slowing down.
Among American men, prostate cancer ranks as the most frequently diagnosed malignancy other than skin cancers that are not melanoma, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 1 in 8 men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, making the disease a familiar concern for millions of families across the country.
Despite his illness, Biden has remained publicly active. He appeared at the dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on June 18, 2026, and his office has announced he plans to publish a memoir, “Promise Me, America,” following the midterm elections.
Hunter Biden Addresses the Pardon
The BBC interview also gave Hunter Biden an opportunity to speak on the sweeping presidential pardon his father granted him in December 2024, reversing prior pledges not to use executive power to intervene in his son’s federal criminal cases. The pardon covered Hunter Biden’s convictions on federal gun and tax charges. He acknowledged the damage the decision caused, saying it served neither the Constitution, the American people, nor his father’s legacy. Even so, he described himself as uniquely fortunate and said he remains eternally grateful for what his father did — a decision that drew considerable controversy at the time.
Through it all, Hunter Biden portrayed his father as a man unwilling to be defined by his diagnosis. He described Joe Biden as the best father, husband, and grandfather he has known, and said the former president’s devotion to his country continues to drive him even as the illness takes its toll.