The recently released memoir from Jill Biden opens a window into the tumultuous final weeks of her husband’s political career, including the painful decision to end his 2024 reelection bid after pressure from fellow Democrats.
Former First Lady Jill Biden announced that “View from the East Wing: A Memoir” was published June 2, 2026, by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The former first lady told The Associated Press (AP) in a brief telephone interview that writing the book served as a healing process following her time as first lady during an especially turbulent era in modern American history.
The former president was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, his office revealed in May 2025. Jill Biden told the AP that the diagnosis came as quite a shock, though doctors say he will live out his natural life despite the cancer being in his bones. He visits Washington at least once a week for meetings or speeches.
According to the publisher’s press release, the book addresses ” for the first time” her experiences “before, during, and after the unexpected ending to her husband’s re-election.”
Joe Biden withdrew from the campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris after Democrats grew increasingly concerned about his age and fitness to serve. The pressure intensified following his disastrous June 2024 debate performance against Trump, when the then-81-year-old president struggled with a raspy voice and appeared to lose his train of thought repeatedly. Aides blamed the performance on a cold, but many Democrats watched in alarm. In her memoir, Jill Biden reveals she feared her husband was having a stroke or had been drugged as she watched. “To this day, I still don’t know what happened,” she writes.
Harris secured the Democratic nomination but ultimately lost to Trump in November 2024. The Bidens departed the White House in Jan. 2025 and have largely stayed out of the spotlight since then.
The book will also chronicle other major events during the Biden administration, including the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Jill Biden traveled the country encouraging vaccinations while advocating for military families, education, community colleges, cancer prevention and women’s health initiatives.
Another chapter details the administration’s early days, including Joe Biden’s inauguration on the Capitol steps just two weeks after the January 6, 2021, insurrection, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the building following his false claims about election fraud.
For Jill Biden, who spent a five-decade political career as a political spouse before becoming first lady, the memoir represents an opportunity to tell her story in her own words—a story she says offers a more balanced view of her husband’s presidency and their extraordinary journey together. She served as second lady from 2009 to 2017 during her husband’s tenure as vice president under Barack Obama and currently chairs the Milken Institute’s Women’s Health Network.
She previously authored “Where the Light Enters,” published in 2019, which detailed meeting Joe Biden when he was a Delaware senator and building a life with him.
The memoir arrives at a moment when interest in the Biden presidency remains high. Kamala Harris released her own memoir, “107 Days,” in September 2025, chronicling her abbreviated presidential campaign from the day Biden dropped out through Election Day.
Joe Biden himself sold his presidential memoir to Little, Brown & Co., an imprint of Hachette Book Group, for approximately $10 million in July 2025, though the title and release date have not been announced.