Biden Says He Would Have Stepped Down If He Knew He Had Cancer

Detailed summary

Joe Biden says he would have resigned had he known he had cancer while in office, denying that he concealed his diagnosis.

Former President Joe Biden said in a recent interview that he wasn’t aware that he had cancer when he was in the White House—but that if he had known, he would have stepped down.

In an interview with PEOPLE, the former President was asked if he would have done anything differently during the 2024 election.

“What I can’t say, because there’s no evidence of it—if I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned,” Biden, 83, replied. “I would’ve not gone forward, because I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for [President].”

“But that wasn’t the case,” he continued. “I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job.”

Biden’s office announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed a few days earlier with an aggressive form of prostate cancer and that tests indicated that the cancer had spread to his bones. He later had surgery and went through radiation therapy as part of his treatment.

When asked by PEOPLE about accusations that he kept his cancer diagnosis a secret while he was in office, Biden maintained, “I didn’t do that.”

“We let the public know when I found out, when I knew what was going on,” he said. “I wasn’t hiding it at all.”

Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, told BBC’s Newsnight in August that his father’s cancer had spread “further” and the condition was “very painful.” On Sunday, Biden shared that he wouldn’t be able to do as many public appearances as he had planned in conjunction with the release of his new memoir—”Promise Me, America,” which is coming out on Nov. 17—because of his health.

“My doctors continue to be encouraged by how I’ve responded to treatment,” he said in a post on X. “Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down. What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped. However, I’m hopeful the words on the page speak for themselves.”

Opening of the article, excerpted from Time. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.