6 Rumors About Joe And Jill Biden's Relationship We Couldn't Ignore

There are plenty of strange things about Jill and Joe Biden's marriage; when you're a couple who's constantly in the public eye, gossip will follow. When you're the president and first lady, the scuttlebutt intensifies. Naturally, former President Joe Biden and his wife have not been spared from strange rumors and allegations where their relationship is concerned. They did, however, seem to try and get ahead of it shortly after Joe took office in 2021, discussing the dynamics of their 43-year marriage with People.

The couple didn't try to paint their marriage as perfect, but rather a relationship where they work together to figure things out. "It's not that we don't fight and argue sometimes. I'm just lucky," Joe said, with Jill quipping, "Well, after 43 years of marriage there's really not that much more to fight about."

Joe described his wife as his rock, someone he can always turn to when the going gets tough, and vice versa. Jill added that all the trials and tribulations their marriage has weathered over the years have made them stronger as a couple. They didn't seem worried that the pressure of the White House would fracture their marriage, on the contrary, Jill responded, "There's that quote that says sometimes you become stronger in the fractured places. That's what we try to achieve." And indeed, the couple survived four years in the White House without calling it quits. Still, strange rumors about their relationship prevail.

Some gossip refuses to fizzle out, and one of the wildest rumors about Jill Biden continues to make the rounds on the internet every now and then. There's been plenty of talk about how Joe Biden met his wife, and one story that seemingly won't die is the one alleging that a teenage Jill used to babysit Joe's kids but quickly became his romantic interest. Some netizens claimed, without any concrete proof, that the former president started a clandestine relationship with a teenage Jill while his wife was still alive and in the hospital. A photograph of a young Jill sitting on Joe's lap was circulated as proof. Only, Jill is the one who first posted the photograph online in 2020 when she announced she'd be speaking at the Democratic National Convention that year.

Plenty of online vitriol followed the false claims, which first surfaced in 2021. "Jill was and still is Joe Biden's babysitter," one detractor penned on X. "Jill Biden talks about how ethical and honorable Joe has been from when she first met him when she was a teenage girl babysitting his children. He is the same man now," another tweet read. The false claims were eventually debunked by Snopes, which cited various interviews and records that show Jill first became romantically involved with Joe when she was a college senior. This was a few years after his wife's death. Of course, there are still some conspiracy theorists out there who insist on believing otherwise, despite the evidence to the contrary.

Jill Biden's ex-husband has fired off some harsh claims against the former first family. Bill Stevenson, who married Jill in 1970, told the Daily Mail that his ex-wife had an affair with Joe Biden. The timing of this revelation was suspicious as the story broke in August 2020, less than three months before the presidential election.

The events leading up to Jill Biden's divorce from her first husband have been debated by her ex. Jill and Joe first met three years after the former president's wife, Neilia Biden, died in a car accident in 1972. Jill's ex claimed that she met Joe before he was widowed, while the two of them were lending a hand to the politician's Senate campaign. Stevenson said he first suspected Jill and Joe were more than friends in 1974. "I know exactly when it was," Stevenson recalled. "Bruce Springsteen was going to play at The Stone Balloon and I had to go to Northern New Jersey to pay him in advance. I asked Jill to go with me and she said no — she had things to do, she had to look after Joe's kids, Beau and Hunter. It was kind of a big deal to go meet Springsteen. I had no idea she and Joe were that kind of friendly." Stevenson said he became suspicious when one of Jill's friends voiced concerns to him about Jill's relationship with Joe.

After Jill's car had been involved in a fender bender with Joe behind the wheel, Stevenson's suspicions were confirmed. Jill's spokesperson told Inside Edition that Stevenson's claims had no merit, asserting, "These claims are fictitious, seemingly to sell and promote a book. The relationship of Joe and Jill Biden is well documented."

After his disastrous debate against Donald Trump in June 2024, pundits were worried about Joe Biden more than ever, and as questions about the former president's cognitive health swirled, so did rumors about Jill Biden's influence on his decision to run for office again. In fact, some took to calling Jill "Lady Macbeth," a nickname she revealed in a 2025 interview with "The View" was "very hurtful, especially from some of our so-called friends." Jill's obvious attempts to cover for her husband and convince the public that he was the best candidate for the job had the rumor mill churning, with whispers that she was really the one who wanted to hold on to power and was the reason her husband had decided to throw his hat in the ring for a second term.

In their book, "Original Sin," Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson chronicled what went on behind the scenes as Joe geared up for reelection. "Dr. B was a strong, protective force in the White House. She was also, without question, one of the chief supporters of the president's decision to run for reelection, and one of the chief deniers of his deterioration," they penned. The authors claimed that Jill was one of the key decision-makers behind the scenes and that her husband often turned to her for counsel. Whenever Joe's health and age was brought up, she reportedly became defensive.

It's said that, in the aftermath of Joe's disastrous debate, many Democrats were hopeful Jill would be able to convince her husband that running for a second term was a bad idea. Alas, it appeared she had done the opposite.

Jill Biden has previously opened up about what it's like to be the country's first lady, but rumors about what her tenure in the White House has really been like have been running rampant since March 2024, when the New York Post published a bombshell article claiming that Jill was very close with Anthony Bernal, Joe Biden's senior advisor and assistant and worked as Jill's chief of staff.

According to sources who spoke to the outlet, Bernal was Jill's "work husband" and had a bad attitude, but was never reprimanded because of his proximity to the first lady. "It is Me Too — classic Me Too," one said of Bernal's conduct with his colleagues. Sources accused him of using verbal sexual abuse to "make people uncomfortable and to have power over them." In the book "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," three veteran journalists dove deeper into the role Bernal — and Jill — reportedly played behind the scenes as Joe's physical and mental fitness declined.

The writers alleged that Jill became a powerful figure, and so did Bernal, with the two of them moving and shaking things in the White House. "[Bernal] quickly bonded with Jill Biden and never left her side, becoming unflinchingly loyal to her and using his proximity to her to exert power wherever he decided," the authors penned. "It was often unclear if the opinion he was expressing was his own or the first lady's. Sometimes, when donors or voters asked her questions, Bernal would jump in to answer."

When Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis made headlines in 2025, there was ample speculation about whether or not his administration had hidden the true state of his health from the public while he was president. Scuttlebutt about who was really in charge of the White House ran rampant as early as 2022, with unnamed sources telling Radar that Jill Biden was the one really pulling the strings. "Lately she's obviously been running the show with her husband's mental state in greater and greater question," a political insider told the outlet. "Key presidential duties are falling to Jill, and she's been stepping up and taking more on her plate. Sometimes, she even acts in her husband's stead when it seems he is unable to."

These rumors didn't do the administration any favors. Polls were showing that Americans were losing confidence in their president near the end of 2021, but Jill told CBS News in December that year that she was certain the country's opinion of her husband's competence would change for the better as the chaos of the pandemic ebbed. She also addressed polls that showed the public was suspicious about Joe's mental fitness, calling all the speculation "ridiculous."

In a 2025 interview with "The View," Jill and Joe once again addressed whether he was mentally fit to run the country during his presidency. Addressing all the gossip, the former president said, "They are wrong. There is nothing to sustain that." Jill added, "The people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us, and they didn't see how hard Joe worked every single day. ... I mean, it was nonstop."

As the 2024 presidential election loomed, speculation about Joe and Jill Biden's marriage intensified, with some pundits seemingly realizing for the first time that the former president wasn't wearing his wedding ring. After the attempted assassination on President Donald Trump, Joe delivered a speech in an effort to quell the tumult, but inadvertently started another social media tempest.

"Did anyone else notice Joe Biden had NO WEDDING RING on..." one pundit penned on X with screenshots of the then-president's speech attached for proof. "Why isn't Biden wearing his wedding ring watching the press conference I noticed he doesn't have it on? What's going on did Jill and Joe get a divorce and hiding that from the world?" another tweeted. As it turned out, the absence of Joe's wedding ring was hardly new. He rarely wore it while serving as Barack Obama's vice president.

Jill had previously spoken about the strong bond she shares with her husband, telling CBS News that communication was key in their relationship and that she wasn't allowing White House business to blur the lines. "I listen to him, he listens to me," she said. "It's a marriage, and we talk about what's going on every day, and what's going on with our lives. But I'm not his 'advisor,' I'm his spouse, I'm his wife." Joe also made it clear his marriage won't crumble under the political pressure of the White House, telling People his wife was one of the strongest people he knew, adding, "She has a backbone like a ramrod."