President Joe Biden Contemplated Suicide After His First Wife and Infant Daughter Died in Car Crash

President Joe Biden got candid about wanting to take his own life after his first wife, Neilia Biden, and their infant daughter died in a car crash in 1972.

While talking to Howard Stern in a surprise interview on Friday, April 26, the 81-year-old shared how the accident changed his life forever.

“You don’t have to be crazy to commit suicide. If you’ve been to the top of the mountain, you think it’s never going to be there again,” Joe shared. “In just a brief moment, I thought about going to the Delaware Memorial [Bridge] and jump.”

After thinking through things, Joe admitted he needed to be there for his sons, Beau Biden and Hunter Biden.

“I had two kids,” he said. “It wasn’t like I got to commit suicide. It was like I had been to the top of the mountain and it’s never going to happen again. You’re never going to be OK.”

Joe also contemplated drinking to take away the pain at the time, but since his family has a history of alcoholism, he decided it was best to not consume the beverage altogether.

“I used to sit there and just think I’m going to take out a bottle of scotch,” he confessed. “I’m going to just drink it and get drunk.”

Joe previously talked about how he relied heavily on his family during that time in his life.

“I had an overwhelming advantage in the loss. I had a really close family that was there,” Joe said on a July 2023 episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast when talking about his wife, who was 30 at the time, and his 13-month-old getting killed by tractor-trailer. “When I got home from the hospital, my sister [Valerie Biden] and [her] husband already gave up their apartment and moved in. [They] helped me raise my kids.”

“They were there for me. That was a gigantic difference. My best friends in my life are my sister and brother[s]. I had an enormous advantage,” he continued, referring to his brothers Jim Biden and Frank Biden. “When you see people who are going through something tough, it does matter if you reach out.”

As OK! previously reported, Joe's current wife, Jill Biden, has previously praised him for soldering on.

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“I was drawn to his strength,” Jill gushed of Joe, whom she married in 1977 — five years after the tragic accident.

Beau and Hunter survived but received intense medical treatment. “I was drawn to … to what kind of strength was in this man that allowed him to find joy again,” Jill recalled.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck again when Beau passed away in 2015 following a brain cancer diagnosis.

“I didn’t think he was going to die,” Jill stated. “I just kept praying he was going to live. And then when he did [die], I found I could no longer pray.”