Technology and Scienceupdated 29m ago2 min read
Archive photo · 3 March 2021Joe Biden Says He Would Have Resigned If He Knew He Had Cancer
7 Western Mainstream2 Asian1 Western TabloidPhoto: Adam Schultz / US federal government, Public domain · Cropped for layout
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Biden says he would have resigned if he knew he had cancer while president. He was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in May 2025.
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Cancer, resignation, and debate
Former US president Joe Biden said he did not know he had cancer while he was US president and that he would not have sought a second term if he had been diagnosed, telling PEOPLE, “If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would’ve not gone forward.”
Biden also said his 2024 debate performance against Republican Donald Trump “was not very consequential,” adding, “I don’t know anybody who hasn’t made a mistake in a debate.”
Biden told PEOPLE he would have resigned if he had known about the cancer, saying, “I would’ve not gone forward, because I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for [president].”
Biden’s comments came in an interview with People magazine ahead of the release of his White House memoir, “Promise Me, America,” which the sources tie to a next-week release and a Nov. 17 publication date.
What he says he told
Biden said he did not hide his diagnosis while he was in the White House, telling People, “I didn’t do that.” Biden said, “We let the public know when I found out, when I knew what was going on,” and he argued that it was “important for a national leader, as president, to let people know they go through some of the very same things that a lot of American people are going through.”
Biden also said his latest tests showed the cancer had not spread beyond what it already was, telling People, “so far, the two tests that have been done show that the cancer is not metastasized beyond what it already was.” Biden said he is taking “eight different pills” each day and that he is “not saying I’ll live forever,” but he said he “feel[s] good” and has “all my faculties.”
Treatment, memoir, and limits
Biden’s office announced in May 2025 that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, and the sources describe him as completing radiation treatment and beginning hormone therapy.
Biden said he would be scaling back event plans to promote his memoir, writing on X, “Some days are better than others. It hasn’t stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down.”
Biden said his doctors “continue to be encouraged by how I’ve responded to treatment,” and he added, “What that means is, unfortunately, I won’t be able to do as many conversations about my book as I’d hoped.”
Biden told People that “It looks very positive,” and he said, “There’s a lot of people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer, particularly the kind of cancer I have, who live long lives, who live for another 10, 20 years.”