First lady Jill Biden felt she became a "full-fledged" member of the family after Joe Biden had two brain aneurysms in 1988, and she took a more elevated role in family decisions, a new book details.
"She was exhausted. In the hospital, as she watched Joe’s mother, sister, and brothers debate the best path forward for Joe’s treatment, something in her broke," an upcoming book titled "American Woman" describes Jill Biden as the future president underwent medical treatments at Walter Reed in 1988 for brain aneurysms .
"‘Wait a minute!’ she yelled at the group. ‘He’s my husband. I should be making the decision here.’"
The moment, underscored by Joe Biden’s mom urging the family to listen to Jill Biden, marked when Jill Biden says she felt she had "become a full- fledged Biden," the book details.
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"The Bidens were stunned, until Joe’s mother eventually agreed: ‘She’s right,’ Jean Biden told the group, settling the matter. That was the moment, as Jill has recounted, that she felt she had become a full-fledged Biden."
"American Woman," authored by New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers, will be released Tuesday and documents how the role of first lady has evolved in the 21st century, focusing on Jill Biden’s tenure in the White House.
Joe and Jill Biden married in 1977, following the death of the future president’s first wife and their young daughter in a car accident in 1972. Biden had two other children with his first wife, Beau and Hunter, who were later raised by Jill Biden alongside their younger half-sister Ashley Biden.
As a Delaware senator, Biden had two life-threatening brain aneurysms where doctors said he had a 50-50 shot of surviving.
"If he did survive, there was a chance that the part of his brain that governed his speech would be damaged," the book continued.
"For Jill, the diagnosis was the latest setback after a stressful year. She had spent months campaigning on his behalf, despite her discomfort with public speaking. She was raising their three children, Beau, Hunter, and Ashley, who were all in different stages of adjusting to school and life in Delaware."
Biden’s surgeries were successful, with no reports of an aneurysm since.
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After Jill Biden experienced the turning point of becoming a "full-fledged" member of the family, she went on to become the "powerful guardian of the Biden inner circle," the book describes.
"As the president and his last surviving son, Hunter, have become targets for conservatives in a rapidly toxifying political landscape, Jill has emerged as the powerful guardian of the Biden inner circle, defining herself as a ‘Philly girl’ who is not to be crossed," the book states.
The book goes on to note that Jill Biden has been a leading force behind Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, which is partially motivated by a "dislike for Trump."
"She is powerful within the Biden White House and was an enthusiastic supporter of her husband’s decision to announce a run for reelection at age eighty," "American Woman" claims.
"Her dislike for Trump was a driving reason behind her support for Joe’s campaign for the presidency, and it remains so for his reelection effort, even if that means he will not leave office until age eighty-six at the end of a second term," the book later claims.
