US: Joe Biden reflects on personal tragedy, says he has considered suicide

What saved me was really my boys’

1206799626 Joe Biden | Getty Images

Before the Democratic National Convention began, Joe Biden, while talking to a CNN reporter, said that he considered suicide after his first wife and one-year-old daughter died in a car accident. Biden’s elder son Beu died of brain cancer in 2015. The Democratic presidential nominee’s life has been defined by deaths of his loved ones. Biden had opened up on his personal loss once while he was vice president. 

Tragedy may not have been part of his campaign narrative. But, Biden’s comments represent some of the most intense disclosures about his mental health struggles after the deaths of his family members.

"I thought about it, not doing it. I thought about what it would be like just to go to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and just jump off and end it all," Biden was quoted as saying in a CNN interview, adding that, “What saved me was really my boys."

In December 1972, Biden’s 30-year-old wife, Neilia, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident in Delaware. His sons, Hunter and Beau, were seriously injured. Biden, who had just been elected to the US Senate, was in Washington at the time. 

At the Democratic National Convention, former First Lady Michelle Obama urged the nation to vote for Biden in a bid to save democracy.

"This was just before he died. He said, ‘Dad, you got to promise me you‘re going to be OK.‘ He said, ‘Dad, look at me. Look me in the eye, Dad. Give me your word as a Biden, Dad, you're going to be OK,” Biden said. He added that his son thought Biden would walk away from everything he had worked for his whole life and he understood what Beau Biden meant to tell him before he died.

Beau Biden and current vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris have been political allies and friends while they were Attorneys General. This could be partly why Biden chose Harris to be his running mate. Harris too, talked about Beau Biden after she was nominated for the post. Both Beau Biden and Harris have talked about important issues and challenges together.

After choosing Harris to be the vice presidential candidate, Biden said, "I watched as Beau and Harris took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I'm proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign." He has gone on to admit in a previous interview that Beau’s respect for Harris and her work influenced his decision greatly and has gone on to call Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff honorary Bidens.

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