Jill Biden Visits Late Son Beau’s Grave to Ask for Guidance Amid Husband Joe’s Cancer Diagnosis: 'I Need You'

Jill Biden wishes her late son, Beau, was around to help her through husband Joe’s medical struggles.

On the Monday, June 1, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, the former first lady, 74, revealed she visits her deceased son’s gravesite to ask for advice as she struggles with how to navigate Joe’s stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis.

“I go to the grave often. I talk to Beau,” she said of her child, who passed away from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, at age 46 in 2015. “I mean, Joe’s going through this diagnosis, and I say to him, ‘Beau, come on. Where are you? I need you.’ And I talk to him all the time. And you know, I’m sure if you’ve lost somebody, the conversation doesn’t stop and constantly saying, just talking things through. But my other two children, Ashley and Hunter, have been really supportive through it all, and that’s how you get through it.”

Earlier on Monday morning, on the third hour of Today, Jill gave a rare update on the status of Joe’s health following his cancer diagnosis.

"He's doing OK..." she disclosed. "You know how tough it is. I think if he had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, that's one thing, because that can be cured. But the fact that it metastasized to his bones, that makes it a whole different story. I think Joe will live with cancer until the rest of his life."

In a Sunday, May 31, interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, the 74-year-old admitted she was “shocked” by the news, as men over 70 do not require routine blood tests for prostate cancer.

“I do feel we had amazing care in the White House, but somehow that was missed,” she asserted.

On May 18, 2025, a spokesperson for Joe, 83, announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

"Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms," the statement read. "On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians."

Joe followed up with an Instagram post of his own, writing, "Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”