After years of avoiding the spotlight, the former president’s son has embarked on an unusually public media campaign, speaking openly about his family, his addiction, his political views and the controversies that have followed him for years.
Hunter Biden is not exactly the person many would expect to find at the center of a conservative media circuit.
Yet the 56-year-old son of former President Joe Biden has recently appeared on podcasts and news programs hosted by figures ranging from Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens to Channel 5’s Andrew Callaghan. He has also written extensively on Substack and become increasingly active on X.
Along the way, Biden has discussed subjects that would once have been considered off limits, from his struggles with addiction and his father’s health to his relationship with the media and the political figures he blames for what he considers unfair treatment of his family.
He has even appeared alongside Nick Fuentes, the far-right activist who has faced widespread criticism for antisemitic comments, during an interview with Callaghan. Biden has also taken aim at former Attorney General Merrick Garland, calling him the “greatest mistake” of his father’s administration.
The change is striking for someone whose personal life became a political weapon during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Hunter Biden’s addiction, romantic relationships and business dealings were subjected to years of intense scrutiny. The discovery and subsequent publication of material from his laptop exposed deeply personal photographs and records, while his legal troubles became a recurring political issue for his father.
Now, Biden appears determined to discuss those experiences on his own terms.
“There was nowhere to hide,” he told Carlson, reflecting on the period when virtually every aspect of his private life was being dissected publicly.
People who have known Biden for years say the more outspoken figure now appearing on podcasts is not entirely new. They describe him as someone who has long been politically engaged, observant about the media and willing to express strong opinions, even if the public rarely saw that side of him.
His willingness to appear on unconventional platforms has also made him an attractive guest. Vlad Lyubovny, whose VladTV interviews have attracted millions of viewers, said Biden agreed to appear on his program after the two connected through a social-media message. Biden quickly provided contact information and did not seek to restrict the subjects they could discuss.
That openness represents a significant departure from the caution that surrounded him during his father’s presidency.
Hunter Biden’s presence was a particularly sensitive issue inside the White House as federal investigations into his affairs continued. Former administration aides say staff were often careful about raising his name because his legal problems were a source of stress for the president.
Some of those former aides now believe Biden’s willingness to speak publicly could have benefited his father politically had it come earlier.
Ashley Etienne, a former adviser to Joe Biden, described him as someone the political world could use right now: “The world needs a righteous bad boy willing to call out and take on the bulls—.”
Much of Biden’s newfound outspokenness appears aimed at answering his critics as well as defending his father.
Joe Biden’s decision to seek another presidential term in 2024 remains deeply controversial among Democrats, many of whom argue that his campaign helped pave the way for Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Hunter Biden has repeatedly defended his father while criticizing those who, in his view, contributed to the political collapse of the Biden presidency.
At the same time, he has not shied away from criticizing his father’s decisions.
Discussing the pardon Joe Biden granted him before leaving office, Hunter acknowledged that it raised difficult questions.
“Was it good for our Constitution? Was it good for the American people? Was it good for my dad’s legacy? No. On all counts,” he told the BBC.
He has also offered one of the clearest recent public accounts of his father’s health, describing Joe Biden’s cancer as “very painful” and “very debilitating.” The former president, 83, is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Hunter Biden’s comments have made him an increasingly unusual source of information about his father at a time when Democrats continue to debate the former president’s legacy.
But the media tour is not exclusively about politics.
Biden has spoken extensively about sobriety, addiction and the psychological effects of living under constant scrutiny. His Substack, where he writes about those subjects and others, has attracted more than 65,000 subscribers. Paid subscriptions range from $10 a month to $750 a year.
He has also continued to sell his abstract artwork, although he has acknowledged financial difficulties. In previous testimony, Biden said the intense focus on his life during his father’s presidency left him facing significant financial problems.
His legal battles have added to those pressures. In late 2022, as investigations intensified, he replaced a lawyer closely associated with the Biden White House with Abbe Lowell, a prominent defense attorney who represented him in several legal disputes. Court filings later showed that Lowell charged $1,510 an hour.
Biden’s relationship with his legal team has itself become contentious. Lowell’s firm eventually sued him over unpaid fees, at one point indicating that Biden owed nearly $5 million.
For now, however, Biden appears to be building a new public identity around speaking rather than defending himself in court.
Alongside his writing and painting, he has taken an advisory role at Peak Path Health, a luxury addiction treatment center. His audience is also growing on X, where he has adopted an unusually direct and often profane style.
He jokes about his past, including his history of drug use, while attacking journalists, politicians and members of the Trump family whom he believes mistreated his father.
One of his recent X posts summed up the approach: he said he was speaking “finally on my terms, not yours.”
After years in which other people told the story of Hunter Biden, he now appears determined to tell it himself.
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