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By Tom Sanders
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Joe Biden's battle with cancer is "incredibly taxing" on his body, his son Hunter has revealed in an update on the former president’s health.
Biden, 83, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in May 2025, shortly after his departure from the White House and has been receiving treatment ever since. In August, Hunter revealed that the cancer had since metastasized and spread to his bones. Speaking to Times Radio on Monday, Hunter admitted he had gotten into a "little bit of trouble" for admitting that his father’s cancer had spread.
He said: "I described his prognosis and diagnosis specifically as it has been all along. Which is that he has stage 4 cancer, stage 4 metastatic bone cancer. And he had prostate cancer, which they have abated through radiation and therapy.
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"And it’s hard," he said. "Metastatic bone cancer can be treated by hormone therapy, and it is, and right now everything looks good, but it is also painful and incredibly taxing on the body."
Despite the toll the treatment has taken, Hunter admitted that he will "complain about it more than he does," and said his father recently flew out to visit him in California and spent a week there.
"He’s doing great. I just worry about him all the time," he said.
Newsweek has contacted Joe Biden via email following his son's comments.
Biden Writing Memoir Despite Cancer Battle
Although Biden has kept a relatively low profile since his diagnosis, the former president still makes occasional public appearances and has confirmed he is working on his memoir.
On September 8, Biden offered a personal update on his battle with prostate cancer. Writing on X, he confirmed that his radiation therapy had been successful and encouraged Americans to get regular health checks.
"Every September we mark Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. This year it’s more personal for me," he wrote.
"More than 330,000 American men this year will hear the words we did last spring when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. By the time we found it, it had already spread to my bones."
He added: "I am deeply grateful to the doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who helped to control my cancer and who continue to take such good care of me.
"Their skill, dedication, and compassion mean so much. The radiation treatment from last fall worked as intended, and I continue to do the things I care about, like finishing my memoir."
Biden Family Response
Biden is the second-oldest person to be elected president following his victory in 2020.
He was the oldest at the time but has since been overtaken by current U.S. President Donald Trump.
Biden's presidency was beset by concerns about his mental and physical health as well as accusations that the extent of its decline was covered up, especially during the final year of his presidency.
Former first lady Jill Biden has since revealed she first suspected something might be wrong when her husband needed to go to the bathroom "seven times a night."
Jill recalled informing the White House doctors of the issue during an interview with Kelly Ripa on SiriusXM in August, but said nothing came of the matter and so she "thought it was addressed."
"But when it continued when we got out of the White House, I said ‘Joe, we’ve got to go up to Jeff in Philly, something’s wrong,'" she said.
During a previous interview on BBC Newsnight in August, Hunter said his father’s diagnosis has been "really sad to watch."
"My dad is, to this day, and remains the center of our family, not just because of who he is as a public person but completely because of who he is to each one of us. It’s really, really hard and it’s really sad to watch," he said.
"He's the best father, the best husband (and) the best grandfather. The only thing that I say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Oliver Pritchard.
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