Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s controversial son who has been under scrutiny for his foreign entanglements, has a complicated romantic history. Twice married, he dated his brother’s widow and was accused in a paternity case of fathering an Arkansas woman’s child.
He’s now agreed to take a DNA test to establish paternity in the latter case, according to Arkansas Times.
Hunter is Joe Biden’s son with his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, who was killed in a car crash in 1972 with her infant daughter, Naomi. Hunter and his brother, Beau, survived the crash, although they were injured. Since then, Hunter has led a life of turmoil, punctuated by drug addiction and marital conflict. The family’s tragedies escalated when Beau, the attorney general of Delaware, died at age 46 of brain cancer.
Hunter Biden, 49, is appearing for an interview on ABC News on October 15, 2019. Hunter gave the interview to Amy Robach at his Los Angeles home.
Here’s what you need to know about Hunter’s romantic history:
Hunter Married Current Wife Melissa Cohen, a South African Filmmaker, in 2019
FacebookHunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen.
Hunter is newly married to Melissa Cohen. It was a surprise wedding. The New Yorker describes how Hunter and Cohen have matching tattoos (“shalom” in Hebrew), which he got only days after meeting her. Not long after that, he asked her to marry him.
People described Cohen as a “32-year-old filmmaker from South Africa,” and reported that the couple “wed on the roof of her L.A. apartment” with “the simplest gold wedding bands he could find.” They called Joe Biden after the wedding, but the former vice president wasn’t at the ceremony, according to People.
According to Page Six, they married 10 days after they met.
Hunter and Melissa were married on May 16, 2019 in Los Angeles. According to TMZ, the wedding was conducted by a “minister who runs an instant marriage company.” The New Yorker described how low key the wedding was; Cohen “sat on a bench next to Hunter, who was wearing jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan ‘BE F*CKING NICE,'” New Yorker reported.
They called Joe Biden to tell him about the wedding, The New Yorker reported, quoting Joe as saying, “Thank you for giving my son the courage to love again.”
Hunter Went Through an Ugly Divorce With Ex Wife Kathleen Biden
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (2-R) arrives at Arlington National Cemetery with his wife, Jill Biden (R), son Hunter Biden (L) and daughter-in-law, Kathleen Biden for the burial of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy on August 29, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia.
Hunter Biden’s first wife was named Kathleen Biden. When they split, it got very ugly. A 2019 Vanity Fair profile on him said his estranged first wife Kathleen Biden claimed in divorce papers that Hunter had allegedly “blown money on prostitutes, strip clubs, and drugs,” but the magazine noted that “the split was settled without the allegations being litigated.”
Kathleen accused Hunter of “spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills,” according to The Associated Press.
According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Hunter’s name and email address showed up as a customer of Ashley Madison, a controversial website that facilitates people looking to cheat on their partners. He denied the account belonged to him, the newspaper reported, but, Kathleen separated from him later that year. By 2017 the couple was divorced. The couple eventually settled their grievances.
Kathleen Buhle Biden has a new boyfriend and is close friends with Michelle Obama, according to Page Six. Kathleen took a job with the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project and is thriving, Page Six reported.
Hunter Dated Hallie Biden, His Brother’s Widow, But They’ve Now Broken Up
The late Beau Biden and his wife, Hallie, in 2010.
Hunter once told The New Yorker of his closeness to brother Beau: “Beau and I have been there since we were carried in baskets during his first campaign. We went everywhere with him. At every single major event and every small event that had to do with his political career, I was there.”
Beau, only 46, died of brain cancer in 2015. “It is with broken hearts that Hallie, Hunter, Ashley, Jill and I announce the passing of our husband, brother and son, Beau, after he battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life,” Joe Biden said.
Beau was survived by his wife, Hallie, and the couple’s two children, Natalie and Hunter. But then the story took an unusual twist. Hunter started dating Hallie, his brother’s widow.
Joe Biden released a statement saying he and Jill supported the match. In 2017, Joe Biden told Page Six, “We are all lucky that Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness. They have [our] full and complete support and we are happy for them.”
Hunter told Page Six, “Hallie and I are incredibly lucky to have found the love and support we have for each other in such a difficult time, and that’s been obvious to the people who love us most. We’ve been so lucky to have family and friends who have supported us every step of the way.”
He told the New Yorker: “We were sharing a very specific grief. I started to think of Hallie as the only person in my life who understood my loss.”
But the pair would eventually split up. Hunter told the New Yorker of the breakup, “All we got was sh*t from everybody, all the time. It was really hard. And I realized that I’m not helping anybody by sticking around.”
Hunter Biden Was Named in a Paternity Suit By Lunden Alexis Roberts
Arkansas State University/GettyLunden Roberts says Hunter Biden is the father of her child in a paternity suit.
Hunter Biden was recently hit with a child support petition from 28-year-old Lunden Alexis Roberts, who claims she gave birth to his child in August 2018. The suit was filed in Arkansas. “The parties were in a relationship and a child, Baby Doe … was born as a result of that relationship,” the lawsuit says, according to Page Six. Hunter denies Roberts’ allegations.
Hunter asked a judge to dismiss the suit.
Arkansas CourtsLunden Roberts filed a paternity and child support lawsuit against Hunter Biden.
Roberts’ lawyer told The Arkansas Democrat Gazette: “She really does not want this to be a media spectacle. She does not want this to affect Joe Biden’s campaign. She just wants this baby to get financial support from the baby’s father.” Lunden Alexis Roberts was a star high school athlete in Batesville, Arkansas. She went to college and ended up in Washington D.C. for a time doing graduate work. Her father owns a gun works shop.
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