FAMILY AFFAIR
HUNTER Biden convinced dad Joe to support his affair with brother's widow because otherwise it "would seem wrong".
Joe was persuaded to give public approval to the romance in 2017 for the sake of his grandchildren, Hunter reveals in his book.
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Hunter — who was still married to his estranged wife Kathleen at the time — struck up a relationship with sister-in-law Hallie after Beau died of cancer in May 2015.
In the book he says his "star-crossed coupling" with his brother's widow started because he wanted to help her children.
And he said says were “incredibly lucky” that their family supported the unusual liaison.
At the time, Joe Biden had recently left the White House after two terms as Barack Obama's vice president.
“‘Dad,’ I told him, ‘if people find out, but they think you’re not approving of this, it makes it seem wrong’,” Hunter wrote in his memoir Beautiful Things.
Hunter said he told his father his grandchildren would suffer if he did not make a positive statement about the affair.
“‘The kids have to know there’s nothing wrong with this, and the one person who can tell them that is you,'” Hunter pleaded.
Biden agreed to put out a statement saying: “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.”
Hunter and Hallie later split, and Hunter wrote: “I was madly trying to hold on to a slice of my brother, and I think Hallie was doing the same.”
Yesterday Hunter tried to justify why he had an affair in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
He said: “I think people were confused by it and I understand that. I really do.
“To me, it’s not something that is difficult to explain because it came out of a real overwhelming grief that we both shared and we were together and trying to do the right thing.
"And that grief turned into a hope for a love that maybe could replace what we lost and it didn’t work."
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The president’s eldest son also revealed to CBS he lost clients and business during a time that his drug addiction spiralled out of control after making "a lot of decisions that I probably shouldn’t have made"
“There was a lot more compassion and understanding for the people that knew me, but it was a horrible time.”
Hunter also admitted he smoked Parmesan cheese after mistaking it for crack cocaine at the height of his addiction.
He said: "I spent more time on my hands and knees picking through rugs smoking anything that resembled crack cocaine.
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"I probably smoked more Parmesan cheese than anyone."
He told interviewer Tracy Smith: "I once went 13 days without sleeping and smoking crack and drinking vodka exclusively throughout that entire time."
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Hunter said that he "never" thought his dad Joe would "give up on me."
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