Hunter Biden, US President Joe Biden's son, released his latest memoir, "Beautiful Things," on Tuesday. He details his long struggle with alcohol and drugs, the grief of losing his mother and baby sister as a child, and later his elder brother Beau, as well as the assaults he received from Trump's supporters.
Hunter Biden's memoir recalls his struggles and regaining life
Biden told the BBC about his battle with alcoholism and cracked cocaine in a recent interview to promote the book: "There's something lacking in the center of each addict that they find they need to fill. None would ever be able to fill it. As a result, you feel numb."
In a profoundly personal memoir, Hunter Biden gives an unfailing look at his experiences with alcohol and efforts to regain his life, which is now available in bookstores and online. On the other hand, Hunter stays away from the political controversies that have made him a magnet for his father's enemies.
The 51-year-old's memoir recounts his experience with drug abuse, from his first drink, a bottle of champagne when he was 8, to a three-year crack cocaine relapse that ended in 2019. Biden writes that he had battled alcohol since his early twenties when he started to drink heavily after work and that the loss of his brother, Beau, was the reason for a downhill trajectory in which he went on benders in hotel rooms. At the same time, his father was vice president and taking in his otherwise homeless drug dealer in 2019.
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Hunter Biden discussed having an affair with his brother's widow
According to Forbes, Hunter Biden also discusses his then-publicized affair with Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, in 2017. He explained that it happened as the product of a common sense of guilt for Beau's death from brain cancer, and which he described as contrasting with his years of crack addiction. The President's son detailed several visits to rehab and family efforts to support him. Eventually, he attributed his sobriety to Melissa Cohen, whom he married a week after they met.
The memoir focuses no time on Hunter's job on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, which former President Trump attempted to use against him during the presidential campaign. It contributed to Trump's first impeachment, saying his only mistake of taking the position, for which he's been accused of profiting from his father's time in office, is that he didn't think twice about it.
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Hunter Biden did not mention tax affairs in his memoir
Biden makes no mention of the current Department of Justice investigation into his tax dealings or the notorious laptop. The device reportedly became a center of controversy in the weeks leading up to the election. Republicans forced news from The New York Post that the device, allegedly left at a Delaware repair shop by Hunter Biden, had threatening emails from a Ukrainian businessman. It reportedly revealed evidence that President Joe Biden had profited from Hunter's business dealings.
Hunter Biden was asked about these controversies during his press tour for Beautiful Things, considering the memoir's lack of information. Hunter told CBS News that the laptop "might" be his, but he truly doesn't know. "It's likely that a laptop belonging to me has been robbed. It's likely I was hacked," Biden speculated. The President's son has said that he is "completely confident" that he would be found not guilty in the Justice Department's investigation into whether Biden and his partners violated tax and money laundering laws in their business relations with China.
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