• Lawyer Erik Bolog is a beneficiary of a $10 million "gift" from Claudia Engelhorn, a pharma heir.
• Engelhorn has said the gift was "alcohol induced," while Bolog says it was legitimate.
• Engelhorn is suing Bolog and his ex-firm. The firm says it's caught in the middle.

Claudia Engelhorn, a daughter of a German pharmaceutical tycoon, claims she was duped into handing over $10 million to her former attorney Erik Bolog — and alleges that his former law firm looked the other way while he pocketed the cash.

The heir has been litigating for months against Bolog and the law firm, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston. The dispute is over the "gift" Bolog says she gave him as thanks for helping her win a $130 million case in Monégasque and Swiss courts during the pandemic.

Bolog's defense hinges on a three-page document signed by Engelhorn that says she insisted on making the gift and did so without consulting anyone. "You advised (begged) me to hire independent counsel," the document, which was included in court filings, says. "As you have learned over the past several years, I am not easily discouraged and once I have decided to do something, I do it."

Bolog said in court filings that the gift was legitimate and Engelhorn turned on him after he scolded her for what he said was "a racially hateful statement" that she made at a restaurant. He said she told a Black family "that it was nice that they were allowed to eat in restaurants."

One of Engelhorn's lawyers, Tony Williams, says the heir was "tricked" into signing the gift paperwork when Bolog gave it to her one morning while she was vacationing on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. He called the claim about her remark to a Black family "absolutely false."

In an email to Bolog that was included in court records, Engelhorn wrote: "You took an alcohol induced statement for your benefit." Bolog has claimed in court documents that her story shifted.

Williams also said in a meeting that Engelhorn was on the autism spectrum. "She's not a sophisticated investor," Williams told Business Insider. "She's a woman who has spent her life raising a family, and he should've known that. We did say, with her permission, that she's on the spectrum, and we know that she is, and he knew that."

"The whole thing's meshugganah," said Doug Gansler, one of Bolog's lawyers, using a Yiddish word for craziness. "She's a sophisticated businesswoman. She's not someone who doesn't know what she's doing or understand the value of money."

Engelhorn couldn't be reached for comment. Bolog didn't respond to a request for comment.

The existence of the case, which was filed in Baltimore in September, hasn't previously been reported.

Engelhorn's father, Curt Engelhorn, led a German pharmaceutical company that was sold to the healthcare giant Roche in 1997 for a reported $11 billion. Bolog says she's the "life trustee" of an entity called the Mannheim Trust that has paid her $1 million a year and lent her another $30 million.

Williams, meanwhile, said Bolog vastly overstated Engelhorn's fortune. He said the Mannheim Trust, which Bolog said held $500 million to benefit Engelhorn and others, had been divided among three of her children. Only the money from the Swiss case remains for Engelhorn, Williams said, and it's now "substantially less" than $130 million.

Bolog's former law firm, Whiteford, said it had nothing to do with his dealings. The firm said in a court filing it fired Bolog in May 2023 over issues including how he accounted for expenses. (Gansler denied wrongdoing by his client.)

In her lawsuit, Engelhorn said Whiteford bore some responsibility for Bolog's actions. She said billing records showed that other people at the firm were aware of and contributed to the deception.

The firm said in court filings that the other Whiteford lawyers who appeared to have helped draft the gift paperwork were under the impression that Engelhorn wanted to give a much smaller gift to a member of her staff. They say Bolog edited the documents to reroute the money to himself and his family, something Whiteford said it didn't learn about for two years.

The firm didn't respond to a request for comment.

Gansler is a former Maryland attorney general who's now at the white-shoe firm Cadwalader. Another lawyer for Engelhorn, Wes Henderson, is described on his website as "one of the most experienced and knowledgeable car accident attorneys in Crofton," a sleepy Maryland community of about 30,000 people. He also handles legal malpractice cases, the website says. He declined to comment.

Bolog has had various business interests over the years. His main pursuits have been contingency-fee injury lawsuits and a real estate firm called Tenacity that financed tenant acquisitions of their apartment buildings. In 2005, he was listed in Securities and Exchange Commission records as part of a bank's ownership group.

Gansler said Bolog recently moved to California to do plaintiff-side litigation there.

Bolog has had a colorful legal career. In the late 1990s, he helped a Maryland politician get off with a light sentence after she was accused of hiring a contract killer to whack her husband. The trial ended in a hung jury and she later pled no-contest, according to news reports. He was also among a group of lawyers hoping for a payout from a $120 million judgment against Iraq now pending in the US Supreme Court.

He has had gambling debts, though Gansler said he now has none and had no debt at the time he received Engelhorn's gift. In 2019, Harrah's Philadelphia Casino claimed in a lawsuit that Bolog owed $34,000 for a cash advance, and in 2022, a Caesars casino in Indiana sued him for $45,000. Gansler said that the Caesars lawsuit was filed by mistake. The debts in both cases were several years old, and both lawsuits have been resolved.

Engelhorn has had previous legal issues as well.

In 2007, she agreed to let a revivalist preacher named Tommie Zito and his wife live in a $3.2 million six-bedroom Florida mansion for $300 a month. She claimed that he abused her trust and manipulated her into buying the property and letting his family stay there "for a value far below the property's market value." She sued him twice to try to get out of the deal; both times, she lost.

Zito didn't respond to calls and text messages.

Madeleine O'Neill contributed reporting.

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Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with "aggressive" prostate cancer, his office said. Here are five symptoms of prostate cancer that are easy to miss.

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon addressed a range of topics at the firm's Investor Day meeting on Monday.
• He said the bank will allow investors to buy bitcoin, while warning against stagflation.
• He sounded dour on the economy but hopeful on the potential for a regulatory reset.

Jamie Dimon isn't a fan of bitcoin, but he plans to start offering it to clients of JPMorgan Chase nonetheless.

"We are going to allow you to buy it," Dimon said at the bank's annual presentation for investors on Monday. "We're not going to custody it. We're going to put it in statements for clients."

"I don't think you should smoke. But I defend your right to smoke," he said in explaining his position.

The bitcoin comments came as the JPMorgan CEO, often considered Wall Street's elder statesman, took the stage to answer questions from investors and research analysts. In the roughly 40-minute session, he touched on a range of topics, from the economy to what he expects from Trump's regulators.

Dimon sounded a dour note on the economy, saying he thinks the risk of stagflation is "two times" higher than many think, and making dire predictions on credit as an investment class.

"I think the worst one for a bank and for most companies is stagflation," he continued, warning: "I think the odds of that are probably two times what the market thinks."

He also said the bank had lost some commercial opportunities as a result of Trump's trade war. "We've lost business because of that," he said in response to an analyst's question.

He sounded upbeat, however, when it came to the president's regulatory agenda.

"I think that the Secretary of Treasury, the president of the United States, the new head of the OCC, the new head of the CFPB, Michelle Bowman at Federal Reserve, and the SEC have all made it clear that they want to fix some of the things they think are broken," he said. "I think they'll accomplish some of that. Some will take longer than others, but they all want to do it."

He called on regulators to consider lightening regulations for publicly traded companies, which he said have been halved since the 1990s, from 8,000 to 4,000.

"We're driving companies out of the public marketplace because of expensive reporting, litigation, cookie-cutter approaches to boards, compensation, and litigation," he said.

"I would love to be a private company," he added.

Dimon also raised questions about the rapid expansion of investments in credit, including through funds raised to make nonbank loans, or private credit.

"I don't like making forecasts," Dimon said, "but I am not a buyer of credit today. I think credit today is a bad risk," he said, adding, "I think that people who haven't been through major downturns are missing the point about what can happen in credit."

As interest rates rise and economic conditions soften, the risk of credit defaults rises, sometimes leaving borrowers strapped for cash and lenders struggling to recoup capital.

Earlier in the day, Marianne Lake, JPMorgan's CEO of consumer and community banking, said the firm was "closely monitoring the whole ecosystem" of lending but not giving up in spite of warning signs.

"The environment is very challenging for home lending and auto," she said, adding, "but we remain committed."

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• Elon Musk was a star at the US Open in September 2024, media mogul Barry Diller said.
• Diller said the public turned on Musk as his influence over the government grew.
• The billionaire advised Musk to address government waste with care, not aggressive measures.

Barry Diller said he witnessed Elon Musk's popularity firsthand at the US Open in 2024 — but less than a year later, it's a different story.

The public's perception of Musk has had a major shift since Donald Trump won the presidential election, Expedia Group chairman Diller said during Monday's episode of the "On with Kara Swisher" podcast.

The pair sat in the same luxury box to watch the US Open men's singles final match in September, where Diller said he was "amazed" by Musk's celebrity.

"A third of the faces in that audience were looking at him and not at this champ game that was taking place," the 83-year-old said.

He recalled hundreds of people gathering to take pictures and ask for Musk's signature during a break in the game.

Eight months, one election, and a controversial plan to cut government spending later, Diller says an appearance like that wouldn't play out the same way it did last year.

"If today he was in that box, they'd throw tomatoes at him," Diller said. "It's only September to May. I've never seen anything as swift as that."

Neither Musk nor representatives for Expedia Group immediately responded to Business Insider's request for comment.

Musk set out to cut $2 trillion in government spending with his involvement in the White House DOGE office, and he's faced backlash since then in the form of protests and movements like Tesla Takedown. Such resistance has made it harder to execute his plans, he told reporters during an April Q&A session.

"Being attacked is not super fun," Musk said. "Seeing cars on fire is not fun."

Diller, who cofounded the Fox TV network with Rupert Murdoch, previously said Musk has "a form of megalomania" and backed Trump out of bitterness toward the Democrats in October. He doubled down on Monday, telling Swisher that Musk is entitled to his megalomania, but it has its consequences.

"I personally like him," Diller said. "Unfortunately if you are a megalomaniac, your tuning fork ear is lost, and he lost it."

Enter the proverbial tomatoes prompted by Musk's slashes to government spending through DOGE, Diller said.

His advice? Work to eliminate government waste "with a thoughtful, kind hand" instead of a "chainsaw."

• Sean "Diddy" Combs listed his Los Angeles mansion for sale a week before he was arrested.
• As his trial proceeds, the house is still on the market with the same asking price: $61.5 million.
• Cassie Ventura said "freak offs" weren't held there, but its link to Combs might still deter buyers.

Sean "Diddy" Combs is sitting in a Manhattan courtroom, facing off with his sexual abuse accusers at trial.

His mansion in Los Angeles, however, is sitting empty.

Combs listed the 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion in LA's ritzy Holmby Hills neighborhood for $61.5 million a week before his arrest in September 2024 — and it's unlikely to sell anytime soon.

His ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, testified last week that Combs' South Mapleton Drive home was not used for any "freak offs," the dayslong sex performances that the trial centers on. In general, homes priced in the eight-figure range don't fly off the shelves that quickly. Still, most homebuyers are put off by its association with an accused sex trafficker, according to a consultant who specializes in selling homes tainted by murder or other disasters.

"When they buy a home at that price point, they like to brag about it," Michael Tachovsky, a partner at Landmark Research Group, told BI. "P. Diddy's reputation, at the current time, really isn't a positive bragging point for a potential buyer. It can play into perceptions, and when there's a negative perception with a property, it just makes it harder to sell."

Two Los Angeles-area real estate agents reached by Business Insider declined to go on record about Combs' property to avoid any association.

Combs has denied all wrongdoing. The music tycoon has consistently argued that all sexual encounters were consensual. The defense also argues that any violence fell far short of sex trafficking and that his accusers have a financial motive to implicate him.

The listing agent, Kurt Rappaport, didn't return multiple requests for comment by email and phone. A rep for Combs and his lawyer also didn't return requests for comment by email.

The history of Combs' LA mansion

Combs purchased the property on Mapleton Drive in 2014 for just over $39 million, according to Los Angeles County property records.

The main house's architecture excludes European vibes and contains a formal dining room, a wine cellar, a theater that fits 35 people, a kitchen, and a separate catering kitchen. A two-story guest house has bedrooms, a gym, and a recording studio.

The grounds, over 1.3 acres, have an oversize statue of a woman seemingly made from similar material to a disco ball, plus a swimming pool with a waterfall and grotto, a basketball court, a spa house, and an outdoor loggia with a barbecue, bar, and pizza oven.

Other homes for sale on the same street are asking similar prices.

Jack Harris, a real estate agent with The Beverly Hills Estate, has an eight-bedroom listing on Mapleton Drive just a few doors down from Combs' house, priced at $62.5 million.

"You normally can't buy into Holmby Hills for less than $20 million — Mapleton being one of the most prestigious streets in Holmby Hills," Harris told BI.

"It's a little pocket that's right between Beverly Hills and Bel Air — there's only a handful of streets," he added.

Combs hosted parties at his house, including a 2017 Grammys afterparty.

Combs also owns a seven-bedroom, 14,800-square-foot home on Star Island in Miami, where Ventura said in court last week that "freak offs" did take place. He bought the home in 2023 for $14.5 million and satisfied the $18.8 million left on his mortgage in August of 2024 to sure up his proposed bond package.

In March 2024, law enforcement officials seized "narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant" from his Los Angeles and Miami residences.

A buyer could be drawn to the renovation potential

Real estate investor Steven "Bo" Belmon made a lowball offer of $30 million in November of 2024.

Belmont said in a press release that he planned to renovate.

"I want to remove the stigma and focus on the charming elegance of this remarkable property," Belmont said in the release.

Belmont is no stranger to controversial properties purchased at a hefty discount. In 2024, he bought Kanye West's abandoned Malibu mansion for $21 million, less than half of its original asking price of $53 million.

Tachovsky pointed to other properties where negative events have taken place that sold years after they hit the market for well below the asking price.

The ongoing legal battles will inevitably limit the pool of buyers, he added.

"At the moment, it doesn't sound like anything nefarious happened at the property, but I don't think there's any certainty yet," he said. "When you've got notorious issues, like the Diddy case, that's not a no-name person. That can linger for some time."

• President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden have been married for almost 50 years.
• Joe had to propose five times before she said yes. They eventually married in 1977. 
• They have been at each other's sides through celebrations and challenges.

Over the course of their nearly 50-year marriage, former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden have been through a lot together.

They've celebrated triumphant victories such as Joe Biden's two terms as vice president and his 2020 presidential election win. They've also weathered devastating losses such as the death of their son, Beau Biden, and setbacks such as Joe Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 election.

Joe Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis, announced on Sunday, is the latest challenge the couple faces in their lives together.

Joe Biden often refers to Jill Biden as "the love of my life and the life of my love." Here's a timeline of their love story.

1975: Joe Biden's brother introduced him to Jill Taylor Jacobs.

Joe Biden was a 33-year-old US senator, and Jill Biden, whose maiden name is Jacobs, was a 24-year-old college senior. Both had been married before. Joe Biden's wife and daughter died in a car crash in 1972, leaving him a widower with two sons, and Jill Biden and her husband filed for divorce in her junior year. 

"I was a senior, and I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, he came to the door and he had a sport coat and loafers, and I thought, 'God, this is never going to work, not in a million years,'" Jill Biden told Vogue in 2016. "He was nine years older than I am! But we went out to see 'A Man and a Woman' at the movie theater in Philadelphia, and we really hit it off."

When she got home from the date, Jill Biden told Vogue, she called her mother and said, "Mom, I finally met a gentleman."

1977: The couple married after Joe Biden proposed five times.

"I said, 'Not yet. Not yet. Not yet,'" Jill Biden told Vogue of Joe Biden's proposals. "Because by that time, of course, I had fallen in love with the boys, and I really felt that this marriage had to work. Because they had lost their mom, and I couldn't have them lose another mother. So I had to be 100 percent sure."

When she did eventually agree to marry him, they held their wedding ceremony at the United Nations chapel and a reception lunch at Sign of the Dove in New York City. They took sons Beau and Hunter on their honeymoon.

1981: The couple welcomed daughter Ashley.

In a video shown at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Jill Biden said that Ashley Biden's birth made the family "complete."

June 1987: When Joe Biden announced his candidacy for president, Jill Biden was by his side.

He announced his presidential run in Wilmington, Delaware.

September 1987: They presented a united front when he withdrew from the race.

His short-lived campaign had been enveloped in scandal, with allegations of plagiarizing his speeches and exaggerating his academic records from college and law school, The New York Times reported.

"'I made some mistakes,'' he said as he announced the end of his campaign.

The New York Times described Jill Biden's face as "a study in dejection." Jill Biden later wrote about controlling her emotions in her 2019 memoir, "Where The Light Enters."

"As a political spouse, I've found that my stoicism often serves me well," she wrote. "In 1988, when Joe's first presidential campaign started to look bleak, people were constantly looking for cracks in our team. We all felt scrutinized, but I refused to show weakness."

1988: Joe Biden had two brain aneurysms. The couple posed outside the hospital when he was discharged after the first of two operations.

Joe Biden had a pulmonary embolism later that year as he recovered. In her book, Jill Biden writes about watching as "EMTs carried him down the steps of our house on a stretcher."

January 2007: Jill Biden earned her Ph.D. in education from the University of Delaware. At the graduation, Joe Biden handed Jill Biden her doctorate.

She became Dr. Jill Biden.

July 2007: Joe Biden wrote about his love for Jill Biden in his memoir, "Promises to Keep."

"She gave me back my life," he wrote. "She made me start to think my family might be whole again."

2008: Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate, and the two families developed a close bond.

The "bromance" between the two politicians went viral.

2009: Jill Biden held the family's Bible when her husband was sworn in as vice president.

Joe Biden supported her career, too. She made history as the first known second lady to hold a full-time job, teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College.

"As second lady, she was teaching full time for eight years, 15 credits a semester," Joe Biden said in a video shown at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

"I said, 'I know I can do both jobs,'" she said.

She encouraged students to call her "Dr. B.," The Los Angeles Times reported. 

February 2010: On Valentine's Day, Joe Biden surprised her with a tree swing marked with a commemorative plaque on the grounds of the vice president's residence.

The plaque reads "Joe loves Jill. Valentine's Day 2010."

March 2010: They took diplomatic trips together, such as their visit to Israel.

They took other trips together, such as attending the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

September 2012: Jill Biden elicited giggles when she told a crowd in New Hampshire, "I've seen Joe up close."

An ABC News camera panned to Joe Biden, who could be seen laughing good-naturedly at the unintended double entendre as the audience cheered.

"It's in my remarks, really," she said, before continuing with her speech amid chuckles from the crowd.

September 2012: At the Democratic National Convention, Jill Biden spoke about Joe Biden's support for her career and his strength in the face of loss.

"After Joe was elected vice president, people started questioning whether I could keep teaching," she said. "Not Joe. He was there standing by my side saying 'Of course you should. It's who you are, Jill.'"

2013: When Obama won a second term, Jill Biden held the Bible again when Joe Biden was sworn in at the inauguration.

As they had in 2009, they danced together at more inaugural balls.

2015: Tragedy struck when their son Beau Biden died of brain cancer.

Still reeling from the loss, Joe Biden decided not to run for president in 2016.

2019: Jill Biden released her own book, "Where The Light Enters," in which she wrote about falling in love with Joe Biden.

"After the disappointment of my divorce, I never wanted to feel so out of control of my heart again," she wrote. "But in the months that Joe and I were dating, that desire ran up against a new reality: I was falling in love."

April 2019: When Joe Biden entered the 2020 presidential race, Jill Biden became an important voice in his campaign.

For the first time since 1981, she took a break from teaching to help him on the campaign trail.

December 2019: In an unusual campaign stop moment, Joe Biden nibbled on his wife's finger as she spoke to a crowd in Iowa.

Jill Biden was gesturing behind herself as she spoke, barely missing Joe Biden's face as he pretended to dodge. Joe Biden then leaned forward while her arm was outstretched and bit down on the tip of her index finger. She appeared to laugh it off.

Jill Biden later reposted a video on X of the hosts of "The View" discussing the moment, where Meghan McCain said, "I thought it was silly, and they clearly still love each other and are playful," and replied, "Guilty, we do still love each other!"

March 2020: Jill Biden fought off protesters, leading Joe Biden to joke, "I'm probably the only candidate running for president whose wife is my Secret Service."

"Whoa, you don't screw around with a Philly girl, I'll tell you what," he said after the protesters were removed from the stage on Super Tuesday. "I thought I heard on the news on the way over that the committee in charge of Secret Service decided they have to start providing Secret Service for us. I think that's because they're afraid Jill's going to hurt someone. I tell you what man, I married way above my station."

August 2020: Jill Biden delivered a keynote speech at the DNC from the school classroom in Delaware where she used to teach English.

"Love makes us flexible and resilient," she said in the speech. "It allows us to become more than ourselves, together, and though it can't protect us from the sorrows of life, it gives us refuge, a home. How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation whole: with love and understanding and with small acts of kindness."

November 2020: Joe Biden won the presidential election, and called himself "Jill's husband" in his victory speech.

"Jill's a mom — a military mom — and an educator," he said. "She has dedicated her life to education, but teaching isn't just what she does — it's who she is. For America's educators, this is a great day: You're going to have one of your own in the White House, and Jill is going to make a great first lady."

December 2020: After a Wall Street Journal op-ed urged her to drop her "Dr." title since she's not a medical doctor, Jill Biden remained proud of her doctorate, and Joe Biden backed her up.

In an interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," they responded to the controversy.

"That was such a surprise," Jill Biden said of the op-ed. "It was really the tone of it. He called me 'kiddo,' and one of the things I'm most proud of is my doctorate. I mean, I've worked so hard for it. And Joe came when I defended my thesis."

"I got to hand her her doctorate on the stage at the University of Delaware," Joe Biden added.

Colbert jokingly asked if Joe Biden ever wanted to "get out a length of pool chain and go full corn pop" on people who criticize Jill Biden's academic achievements. As he began to answer, she interjected with "No! The answer is no!" Joe Biden then quipped, "I've been suppressing my Irishness for a long time."

January 2020: Jill Biden held the Biden family Bible for Joe Biden's inauguration as president of the United States.

The Biden family Bible dates back to 1893. He has used it for his swearing-in ceremonies as a US senator and as vice president. 

April 2021: Joe Biden stopped to pick a dandelion for Jill Biden on the White House lawn as they boarded Marine One.

The then-president and first lady were traveling to Atlanta for a rally in Plains, Georgia, to meet with former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter.

As they were boarding Marine One on the White House Ellipse, Joe Biden bent down and picked a dandelion for his wife. Jill Biden stopped to accept the flower, and she held on to it as she boarded the helicopter.

December 2021: They welcomed a new German shepherd puppy, Commander.

The Bidens entered the White House with two German shepherds, Champ and Major. Champ passed away at the age of 13 in June 2021, and Major was rehomed due to behavioral issues. 

The Bidens also adopted a cat, Willow, in January 2022.

Commander was moved out of the White House in October 2023 after numerous biting incidents.

February 2022: Jill Biden was spotted wearing a corsage from Joe Biden in a sweet Valentine's Day tradition.

While exiting Marine One on Valentine's Day, the then-first lady was photographed wearing a corsage of what appeared to be white gardenias, her favorite flower.

In an interview with People magazine shortly after Joe Biden took office, Jill Biden shared that the corsages began as a Valentine's Day tradition, and that he had surprised her with a corsage of gardenias at the inauguration.

"I don't know when it started — a long, long time ago. I think it was for Valentine's Day," she said. "I love gardenias and so Joe would buy me a wrist corsage of gardenias. I wore it to school to teach!"

Joe Biden also shared a Valentine's Day message for his wife.

"You're the love of my life and the life of my love, Jilly. Happy Valentine's Day," he wrote on X.

May 2022: Jill Biden told Harper's Bazaar she and Joe Biden fight over text, or "fext," to avoid arguing in front of their Secret Service detail.

Jill Biden, who appeared on the June-July cover of Harper's Bazaar, told the magazine that she and Joe Biden fight via text in what they call "fexting" to avoid arguing in front of their Secret Service detail — a method they've used since he served as vice president.

In one particularly heated exchange, Joe Biden reminded her that presidential communications like texts and emails are kept as part of a historical record of each presidency.

"Joe said, 'You realize that's going to go down in history. There will be a record of that,'" she told Harper's Bazaar. "I won't tell you what I called him that time."

While they did occasionally "fext," Jill Biden also spoke about supporting her husband's work during his presidency.

"I try to be a support for Joe because I don't know how many people are saying to him, 'That was great. That was brilliant.' I try to be that person for him," she said. "Some days, I see Joe and I'm just like, 'I don't know how you're doing it.' It's the pandemic and then it's the war and then it's the economy and then it's the gas prices. You feel like you're being slammed."

June 2022: They celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.

The Bidens celebrated their anniversary at their beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. During their trip, Joe Biden fell off his bike but quickly got back up and chatted with reporters. A White House spokesperson said that the president did not require medical attention.

April 2023: Joe Biden announced he would run for reelection in 2024.

Jill Biden's support was widely regarded as a determining factor in Joe Biden's decision to run again in 2024.

South Carolina Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a former state party chairman and Biden 2020 finance committee member, told Business Insider in 2022 that "Joe Biden wouldn't have run in '20 if Jill Biden had not wanted him to run and he won't run in '24 if Jill Biden doesn't want him to run."

June 2024: Jill Biden defended Joe Biden after his disastrous presidential debate against Donald Trump.

During the first presidential debate of 2024, Joe Biden spoke with a hoarse voice, offered convoluted answers, and appeared disoriented at times. His poor performance sparked panic among Democrats about whether he should stay in the race.

Jill Biden defended Joe Biden in the face of widespread criticism, telling Vogue that the Biden family "will not let those 90 minutes define the four years he's been president. We will continue to fight."

"When he gets knocked down, Joe gets back up, and that's what we're doing today," Jill Biden said at a New York City fundraiser the day after the debate.

Joe Biden also acknowledged that his age impacted his debate performance, but remained firm in his commitment to stay in the race.

"I know I'm not a young man, to state the obvious," he said during a rally the day after the debate. "I don't walk as easy as I used to. I don't speak as smoothly as I used to. I don't debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done."

July 2024: Jill Biden expressed support for Joe Biden after he withdrew from the 2024 election.

On July 21, Joe Biden announced that he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris.

"While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term," Biden wrote in a letter posted on social media.

On July 24, Jill Biden posted her first public statement since her husband's announcement.

"To those who never wavered, to those who refused to doubt, to those who always believed, my heart is full of gratitude," Jill Biden wrote in a statement on X. "Thank you for the trust you put in Joe — now it's time to put that trust in Kamala."

August 2024: Jill Biden and Joe Biden spoke about each other in their speeches at the Democratic National Convention.

The first night of the Democratic National Convention was dedicated to recognizing Joe Biden's legacy throughout his decades of public service.

"Joe and I have been together for almost 50 years, and still there are moments when I fall in love with him all over again," Jill said in her speech.

In his convention speech, Joe Biden said that his wife "still leaves me both breathless and speechless."

January 2025: They attended Trump's second inauguration together.

The Bidens greeted Donald Trump and Melania Trump at the White House before heading to the inauguration, which was held in the Capitol Rotunda due to frigid temperatures.

May 2025: Joe Biden's office announced he had been diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer.

The cancer has metastasized to the former president's bones, Joe Biden's office said in a statement released on Sunday.

"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management," the statement read. "The president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians."

On Monday, Joe Biden posted a selfie on X of himself with Jill Biden and their cat, Willow, and thanked well-wishers for their support following his diagnosis.

"Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places," he wrote. "Thank you for lifting us up with love and support."

• I live about five minutes from my mom and have never really left.
• I dream about living far away in Australia or Mexico, but my anxiety prevents me from leaving.
• I'm raising my child differently. I hope she doesn't consider my feelings when choosing where to live.

Over breakfast, a friend told me she wished she'd slept around more before getting married. I passed the syrup and nodded, then surprised myself by saying, "I wish I'd moved around more."

I live in Denver, about five minutes away from my mom. And I've never really left.

I went to college an hour away. I traveled a little in my 20s, but never for long, and always with the knowledge that I'd return.

"Don't fall in love and move away" was my mother's one rule before any trip. And I followed that rule.

Never mind that my parents moved away from their small towns in Indiana in their 20s, or that my close friends from high school moved to London and Sydney. Their lives make me feel a complicated mix of envy and awe.

Of course, I've felt the call to move. One of my favorite activities on vacation is to look at homes nearby for sale on Zillow. Cannon Beach, Oregon; Sydney, Australia; Guanajuato, Mexico; even the Twin Cities — they're all places I've visited and thought, "I could live here."

But that's not my lot in life.

Responsibility was baked into my childhood

Clinically, it might be called "parentification" or "codependence," but I knew it as love.

My dad struggled with mental illness and holding a job. He was exciting but also known to bankrupt us with one manic trip to Williams and Sonoma.

My kid sister had chronic health issues. My mom worked for a nonprofit and, despite her best efforts, we struggled financially.

Being the oldest daughter, I was the one who took myself to school and kept things quiet at home when they needed to be. I sat beside my sister in hospital rooms and explained to teachers why my parents couldn't come to conferences.

Walking on eggshells and anticipating people's needs are what I know.

My parents might have seen my decision to stay as an act of love, but it was also driven by my own anxiety and the gnawing feeling that if I left, my family might fall apart.

I believed my presence would prevent disaster. That by staying nearby, I could keep the people I loved safe.

So I stayed.

Now, I'm a mom myself

My daughter is seven and she's already making plans to leave.

When she grows up, she wants to design a house to live in with her best friend and "lots of cats." She's considering Vail or maybe California.

Like my mother, I also (secretly) hope that my daughter will live near me forever. I even considered delaying her start in kindergarten just to get an extra year with her, but didn't go through with it.

When she grows up, I think I need to be nearby in case she needs me. There's that codependence again — but I catch myself.

More than anything, I hope my daughter grows up without my same anxiety and has the peace of mind to leave, if she wants.

I want her to trust that she's allowed to grow out of me and her dad. If she never once considers my feelings when choosing where to live, I'll have succeeded (and hate it).

I regret never moving away, but I have found the silver lining

I attend family dinners and get to watch my nephews grow up — not in jarring leaps between holidays, but in the slow unfolding of ordinary days.

I know what they look like when they're sleepy before bedtime or proud from playing a tough soccer game. My kid knows her grandparents, and someone is always around to lend a rake or give a hug.

I didn't move. I bought into the idea that love meant staying close. However, I hope my daughter knows that love knows no boundaries. It can mean building a full and joyful life from anywhere — and that I'll be just fine watching her go.