Jill Biden is speaking out about one of the most painful episodes of her public life — the time her husband Joe Biden ended his 2024 presidential run amid intense pressure from members of his own party.
The former first lady said on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, that her forthcoming memoir, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” will reveal for the first time her perspective on the three-week period when her husband’s five-decade political career came to an abrupt halt. Gallery Books, part of Simon & Schuster, plans to publish the book on June 2, 2026.
In a short phone conversation with The Associated Press, Jill Biden, 74, said writing the book was therapeutic after serving as first lady during one of the most volatile stretches in recent U.S. history.
The memoir arrives while interest in the Biden years remains strong. After leaving the White House in January 2025 following President Donald Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in November 2024, the Bidens largely kept a low profile—until now.
The book aims to illuminate the aftermath of Joe Biden’s troubled June 27, 2024, debate showing against Trump. Many Democrats were alarmed when the then-81-year-old president sounded hoarse and often seemed to lose his train of thought. Although aides blamed a cold, the harm had been done.
Biden at first said he would remain in the race. But as concerns grew among Democrats about his age and ability to serve through age 86, he exited the campaign on July 21, 2024, and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris won the Democratic nomination but was defeated by Trump in November.
The publisher’s news release says the memoir will address “for the first time” her experiences “before, during, and after the unexpected ending to her husband’s bid for re-election.”
The book will also recount the Biden administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Jill Biden traveled nationally to promote vaccinations while championing military families, education, community colleges, cancer prevention, and women’s health programs.
It also covers another painful episode for the Bidens: Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis. The former president’s office announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9 that had spread to his bones.
Jill Biden said the diagnosis was “quite a shock,” telling the AP that doctors expect he will “live out his natural life” despite the cancer’s spread to his bones. The former president, now 83, travels to Washington at least weekly for meetings or public appearances.
The memoir will also describe the early days of the Biden administration, including Joe Biden’s inauguration on the Capitol steps just two weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building following baseless claims of election fraud.
Jill Biden was second lady from 2009 to 2017 while her husband served as vice president under Barack Obama. She currently leads the Milken Institute’s Women’s Health Network and wrote “Where the Light Enters,” published in 2019, which recounted meeting Joe Biden when he was a Delaware senator and building their life together.
The book’s release comes amid a busy period for political memoirs. Former Vice President Harris published her memoir, “107 Days,” in September 2025, which covered her shortened presidential campaign from the day Biden exited through Election Day.
Joe Biden sold his presidential memoir to Little, Brown & Co., part of Hachette Book Group, for about $10 million in July 2025, though the book’s title and release date remain unannounced.
For Jill Biden, who spent nearly five decades as a political spouse before becoming first lady, the memoir is a chance to present her narrative in her own voice — a story she says gives a “more balanced view” of her husband’s presidency and their remarkable life together.