Hunter Biden Breaks Down Over Dad’s Cancer Fight: ‘Sad to Watch’ 

Hunter Biden became visibly emotional while describing former President Joe Biden’s fight against stage 4 prostate cancer, admitting it has been “really sad to watch” as the disease takes a painful toll on the man he calls the “rock” of their family.

The 56-year-old struggled to hold back his emotions during an interview with BBC Newsnight as he opened up about his father’s health and the reality of watching the cancer spread.

“It’s really tough, Paddy, that’s the real answer,” Hunter told presenter Paddy O’Connell.

He then paused and cleared his throat before continuing.

“My dad, in our family… excuse me,” he said.

Hunter explained that despite Joe Biden’s decades in public life — including eight years as vice president and four years in the White House — his importance to the Biden family goes far beyond politics.

“My dad is and to this day remains the center of our family, not just because of who he is, the public person, but completely because of who he is to each one of us,” Hunter said. “Down to his grandchildren and his great-grandchild. He is our rock.”

He added that his father has always been there for the family in a way that is difficult to describe.

“He’s been there for each one of us in a way that’s hard for me to even possibly articulate and explain,” Hunter said.

“It’s really, really hard. And it’s sad to watch.”

Hunter then offered a sobering account of his father’s condition, saying he sometimes wishes the famously resilient former president would admit just how difficult things have become.

“The only thing I say about my dad, about his health right now, is that I wish he would complain more,” Hunter said.

“Because it’s not good. The cancer has spread, has metastasized into his bones and further; it’s very painful. And it’s very debilitating in many respects.”

But even as Biden faces one of the most difficult battles of his life, Hunter said his father remains determined to stay active.

“But he’s still out there, he’s still doing his thing,” Hunter said. “And he so believes in this country.”

Joe Biden’s Stage 4 Cancer Fight

Biden’s office announced in May 2025 that the former president had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer after he experienced urinary symptoms and doctors discovered a prostate nodule.

Doctors determined Biden had prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9, or Grade Group 5, and that the disease had already spread to his bones.

He has since undergone hormone therapy and radiation treatment at the University of Pennsylvania’s Radiation Oncology clinic.

Former first lady Jill Biden recently offered another update on her husband’s condition, explaining that his cancer is something he is expected to live with permanently.

Speaking on Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, Jill said some forms of prostate cancer can be successfully cured when caught earlier.

Joe’s case, however, is more serious because it had already metastasized.

“Unfortunately for Joe, it metastasized to his bones, which means that he will forever live with cancer,” she said.

According to Jill, her husband undergoes testing every three months and remains under constant medical monitoring.

Still, she said, “he’s doing OK.”

Jill also pushed back against claims that Biden knew about the cancer while he was president and concealed the diagnosis from the public.

She said the symptoms appeared gradually and there was no hidden diagnosis during his time in office.

Hunter Addresses His Controversial Pardon

Hunter also used the wide-ranging interview to confront one of the most controversial decisions of his father’s presidency — Joe Biden’s decision to pardon him shortly before leaving office.

The former president granted Hunter a full and unconditional pardon in December 2024 covering his federal gun conviction as well as potential federal offenses committed between 2014 and 2024.

Joe Biden argued at the time that his son had been “selectively and unfairly prosecuted.”

Hunter acknowledged that the decision came with serious political consequences.

“It’s something that is easily criticized and for good reason,” he said.

He admitted the pardon was “not good” for his father’s legacy or the country, but said he remains deeply grateful that his father ultimately made the decision.

“All I know is that I’m grateful that he did it for me,” Hunter said.

He then posed a deeply personal question to critics of the pardon.

“What would you have thought of my dad if he did not do that for me?”

Hunter said he believes his father acted partly out of concern that he would become a target once Donald Trump returned to power.

“I was the only one in the world that could have gotten what I got from the only person in the world who could give it, my father,” Hunter said.

He also insisted the two never discussed the pardon beforehand, arguing any conversations of that magnitude would almost certainly have leaked.

“There is no way that you can have those kinds of discussions that would not become public,” he said.

Hunter Opens Up About Addiction

Hunter also revisited one of the darkest periods of his life — his years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction.

He described a period in which he was drinking nearly a gallon of vodka per day while smoking crack cocaine as often as every 15 minutes.

“It was hell on earth,” Hunter said.

“There’s nothing glamorous about it.”

Asked what he had been searching for during the depths of his addiction, Hunter gave a grim answer.

He said he “wasn’t reaching for anything except oblivion.”

The deeply personal interview offered a rare glimpse inside the Biden family at a moment when the former president is facing a life-changing diagnosis away from the pressures of the White House.

For Hunter, however, Joe Biden’s political legacy appears secondary to something far more personal — watching the father who held the family together for decades now endure an exhausting and painful cancer fight.