Where Hunter Biden Stands With His Secret Daughter, Navy, And Her Mother

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The Biden family tree is long and complicated, but one branch is rarely ever acknowledged by the political dynasty. In 2019, it was reported that Hunter Biden had been previously involved in a romantic relationship with an Arkansas woman named Lunden Roberts, which resulted in a child. Roberts sued the son of former President Joe Biden, requesting that Hunter take a paternity test to prove he was the father. After a court ordered a DNA test, Hunter's life read like the plot to a "Maury" episode; despite denying it, he was the father.

Roberts' life with her daughter, Navy, doesn't involve Hunter as of 2024. In December of that year, she revealed to The Sunday Times that, while Hunter — who had never met his daughter — used to make regular Zoom calls to Navy, he hadn't called in eight months. Roberts surmised that it likely had to do with the publication of her book, "Out of the Shadows: My Life Inside the Wild World of Hunter Biden," which was released in August 2024. "To get to know Navy, to get to love her and then pull back because I chose to write a book," she told The Times. "I don't understand how anyone can be angry [at someone] for telling the truth."

The memoir details Roberts' relationship with Hunter, which began in 2016. The pair met at a party when Hunter was battling a crack cocaine addiction and still grieving his brother, Beau Biden, who tragically died of a brain tumor in 2015. "He was in a very, very dark place," she told People in 2024, noting that her empathy drew her closer to the point where she fell in love.

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When Lunden Roberts found out she was pregnant at the end of 2017, she said Hunter Biden was supportive. She told The Sunday Times that the former attorney assured her, "Whatever you decide, I'm here. You let me know what I need to do." But after giving birth to Navy, Hunter denied his relationship with Roberts and fathering their child. In fact, in his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," Hunter wrote that he had "no recollection" of his rendezvous with "the woman from Arkansas who had a baby in 2018 and claimed the child was mine." Of course, he couldn't refute the DNA evidence that proved Navy was his daughter.

Roberts also revealed that Hunter's attorneys quietly offered her $250,000 to stay mum on the results of the paternity test, but she refused it, instead agreeing that the former first son pay $5,000 in child support — which was a battle to negotiate. For a while, Hunter laid the foundation for a solid father-daughter relationship. Joe Biden even acknowledged his seventh grandchild in a 2023 statement, saying (via People): "Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy." But once Hunter ceased contact with Navy, Roberts felt like she needed to defend her daughter, telling The Times that while she has a soft spot for Hunter, he has done irreparable damage to his relationship with Navy. "A child's first heartbreak shouldn't be from their father," said Roberts. Neither she nor Hunter has given an update on their family since December 2024, as of this writing.