Hunter Biden has given a timeline of his relationship with his brother Beau’s widow that indicates the relationship began the month after the funeral.
Biden said he connected with Hallie Biden over the loss of his brother, Beau, who died from brain cancer at age 46 on May 30, 2015. In July 2015, he and his wife Kathleen separated after he drank a bottle of vodka following a marriage counseling session.
Later that month, according to the New Yorker, “Hunter began to confide in Hallie, whom he was growing close to” after he, his daughter Maisy, then 14, and Hallie’s son Robert, then nine, went on a fishing trip to Norway. In August 2016, he went to the Hamptons with Hallie’s children and that month began to spend most nights at her house in Delaware.
Kathleen Biden filed for divorce in December 2016.
“I started to think of Hallie as the only person in my life who understood my loss,” the 49-year-old said.
In the fall, Biden, who has suffered from drug and alcohol addiction, was on his way to Grace Grove Lifestyle Center, a wellness retreat in Sedona, Arizona, when he forgot his wallet on the plane during a layover in Los Angeles. During his weeklong stay in Los Angeles, he asked a homeless man where he could buy crack. The man brought him to a homeless encampment, where someone put a gun to Biden’s head before realizing he wanted to buy drugs. Biden returned several times that week to buy crack.
He made his way to Arizona driving a rental car after not sleeping for days. An employee for the rental car company said he found a crack pipe and white powder residue in the car Biden returned.
After spending a week at Grace Grove, Biden called Hallie to meet him at a resort spa, where they decided to officially become a couple.
Kathleen Biden alleged in court filings that Biden spent “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.”
Hunter Biden denied the allegation involving prostitutes and said he hadn’t been to a strip club in years, though the publicity of his divorce and relationship struck a nerve. “I went directly to a strip club. I said, ‘Fuck them,’” he said.
He said he asked his father to make a statement praising his relationship with Hallie.
“I said, ‘Dad, Dad, you have to.’ He said, ‘Hunter, I don’t know if I should. But I’ll do whatever you want me to do.’ I said, ‘Dad, if people find out, but they think you’re not approving of this, it makes it seem wrong. The kids have to know, Dad, that there’s nothing wrong with this, and the one person who can tell them that is you,’” Biden said.
A former aide said Joe Biden released a statement on the relationship because he was worried about his son’s well-being.
“We are all lucky that Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness. … They have mine and Jill’s full and complete support and we are happy for them,” the statement said.
Biden rented a house in Annapolis, Maryland, in August 2017 so that he and Hallie and her two children could have privacy from the media spectacle, but they ended their relationship a few months later.
“All we got was shit from everybody, all the time,” Biden said. “It was really hard. And I realized that I’m not helping anybody by sticking around.”
He then moved to Los Angeles and months later married Melissa Cohen 10 days after meeting the 32-year-old.
