Former President Joe Biden pushed back against accusations that he concealed his aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis while serving in the White House, telling People magazine in an interview published Wednesday that he was upfront about his condition and would not have pursued a second term if he had known earlier.
In the interview, conducted ahead of the release of his memoir Promise Me, America (Hachette, Nov. 17), Biden addressed what he called the public's "cynical twist" regarding his health — a reference to critics who allege he hid his illness from voters and aides. "A lot of people do that," Biden said. "They hide bad news from the public if they're elected officials. I didn't do that. We let the public know when I found out, when I knew what was going on."
The former president stressed the importance of transparency for national leaders, saying it was vital to inform Americans if a president "go[es] through some of the very same things that a lot of American people are going through." He reiterated, "I wasn't hiding it at all."
Biden also insisted the cancer, before it was diagnosed, did not impair his ability to perform presidential duties. "First of all, I never felt the toll," he told the magazine. "I read [others] like [former President] Harry Truman talk about [how] it's the most difficult job in the world. I didn't find it that way." He added that had he been "feeling lousy" from the condition, "I would have resigned."
Going further, Biden said, "I would've not gone forward, because I don't think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for [president]. But that wasn't the case ... I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job."
The former president's health was a persistent source of scrutiny during his term, given that he was the oldest person elected to the Oval Office — just over 78 at the time — until President Trump's 2024 reelection at 78 years and seven months. Concerns about Biden's cognitive fitness fueled pressure from within his own party to drop out of the 2024 race.
Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in July 2024 that Biden's decision to step aside as the expected Democratic nominee had "nothing to do with his health," rejecting any notion of a "cover-up" by aides. However, his personal office revealed in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, though doctors described it as "hormone sensitive." That disclosure came four months into what would have been a second term had he stayed in the race and defeated Trump.
Biden completed his treatment in October 2025, having said in September that his radiation therapy "worked as intended." He announced Sunday that he was scaling back promotional events for his memoir because of the cancer, noting the illness had not stopped him from working but "sometimes" slowed him down. The timing of his diagnosis and treatment has raised fresh questions about his fitness during the 2024 campaign, a topic he addresses in his memoir and in recent interviews. In a separate memoir interview, Biden downplayed his debate stumbles, while his memoir reveals a 2021 letter from Trump urging him to "choose your place in history." The cancer diagnosis has raised new questions about his 2024 fitness, and he has trimmed memoir tour events as treatment continues.
