Jill Biden is speaking out about one of the most painful periods of her public life—the time her husband Joe Biden halted his 2024 presidential campaign amid growing pressure from his own party.
The former first lady revealed on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, that her forthcoming memoir, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” will disclose for the first time what she went through during the three weeks when her husband’s five-decade political career abruptly ended. Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, is set to publish the book on June 2, 2026.
In a short phone interview with The Associated Press, Jill Biden, 74, said writing the book was part of a healing process after serving as first lady through one of the most turbulent stretches in recent American history.
The memoir comes at a time when interest in the Biden years remains strong. Since leaving the White House in January 2025 after President Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November 2024, the Bidens have mostly remained out of public view—until now.
The book aims to illuminate the fallout from Joe Biden’s troubled June 27, 2024, debate performance against Trump. Many Democrats were alarmed as the then-81-year-old president sounded hoarse and seemed to lose his train of thought repeatedly. Aides attributed the issues to a cold, but the harm was already done.
Biden at first insisted he would continue his campaign. But as concerns grew among Democrats about his age and ability to serve through age 86, he exited the race on July 21, 2024, and backed Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris secured the Democratic nomination but ultimately lost to Trump in November.
The publisher’s press release says the memoir will address “for the first time” her experiences “before, during, and after the unexpected ending to her husband’s bid for re-election.”
The book will also recount the Biden administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Jill Biden traveled nationwide promoting vaccinations while advocating for military families, education and community colleges, cancer prevention, and women’s health.
The memoir also covers another painful episode for the Bidens: Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis. The former president’s office announced in May 2025 that he had an aggressive prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9 that had spread to his bones.
Jill Biden said the diagnosis was “quite a shock,” telling the AP that doctors expect he will “live out his natural life” despite the cancer’s spread to his bones. The former president, now 83, continues to travel to Washington at least weekly for meetings and events.
The memoir will also recount the early days of the Biden administration, including Joe Biden’s inauguration on the Capitol steps just two weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, when a mob of Trump supporters breached the building following his false election-fraud claims.
Jill Biden was second lady from 2009 to 2017 while her husband served as vice president under Barack Obama. She now chairs the Milken Institute’s Women’s Health Network and previously wrote “Where the Light Enters,” published in 2019, which chronicled meeting Joe Biden when he was a Delaware senator and building a life together.
The book’s release arrives amid a busy stretch for political memoirs. Former Vice President Harris published her own book, “107 Days,” in September 2025, covering her shortened presidential run from the day Biden withdrew through Election Day.
Joe Biden sold his presidential memoir to Little, Brown & Co., an imprint of Hachette Book Group, for about $10 million in July 2025, though the title and release date have not been revealed.
For Jill Biden, who spent almost 50 years as a political spouse before becoming first lady, the memoir is a chance to present her story in her own voice—a narrative she says provides a “more balanced view” of her husband’s presidency and their remarkable life together.
