Hunter Biden was still married to his first wife, Kathleen, when he and Hallie started a relationship. Hunter explains that the two bonded over their grief. A relationship expert tells Inside Edition it's more common than you'd think.
Hunter Biden is speaking out about his relationship with his brother’s widow, Hallie Biden. The two began dating after Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015.
“Both of us had gone through the most incredibly painful loss, and it was out of love, and I thought maybe that love would bring my brother back. And it didn’t work,” Hunter said in an interview with Anthony Mason on “CBS This Morning” ahead of the release of his new book, “Beautiful Things.”
Hunter was still married to his first wife, Kathleen, at the time. They divorced in 2017.
“In the middle of that, did you think how your own kids would look at this?” Mason asked.
“Yeah, and it was hard. That's all I can say. It was really hard,” Hunter said.
Hunter also spoke of the relationship on “CBS Sunday Morning.”
“I think people were confused by it, and I understand that, I mean 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,” Hunter said.
Hunter writes in his forthcoming book that he asked his father to publicly support his relationship with Hallie. Joe Biden had left the vice presidency the month before and he and Jill Biden did issue a statement — reportedly with reluctance — when the news leaked in 2017.
"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,” the statement said.
Relationship expert Dr. Wendy Walsh says affairs between brothers and sisters-in-law happen more often than you'd think.
“It’s so understandable how it can happen. When two people have both suffered a loss together, there often is a time of bonding,” Walsh said. “In this case, the relationship was short-lived, but plenty of these relationships can last a lifetime.”
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