Jill Biden Reveals She Asked God to 'Take Me' Instead of Beau, Prays to Late Son During Joe Biden's Cancer Battle | Just Jared - Celebrity News and Gossip

Dr. Jill Biden is getting candid about her life.

The 75-year-old former First Lady of the United States appeared on The Jamie Kern Lima Show in a new episode that premiered Monday (August 17), in which she spoke about former President Joe Biden‘s cancer battle.

Jill also discussed Hunter Biden‘s recent ascent in pop culture, the loss of their son Beau, praying to him and feeling his presence, her first marriage and divorce, and much more.

See highlights from the conversation inside…

On why now is Hunter Biden’s “time to shine”:

“We’re just so proud of him. You know, that he can be so honest and say things other people won’t say, and feel comfortable with it because he’s been through it.

“One of the toughest things I had to do was when Hunter was taken to court and they played his book on tape in the courtroom. To hear him tell his story in his own words, it was so heartbreaking. I do believe a lot of times that good things come from bad things, and I think now is Hunter’s time to shine. He’s doing really good things.

“For so long, it was taboo. You didn’t talk about it. People just would never, ever say, ‘My child is an addict,’ and I couldn’t say it. Even when I read my audiobook, I had written it, I had thought about it, but when I had to say it out loud during the audio session, they must have stopped three times. I would just start to sob. I just couldn’t say the words. It was just too hard.”

On hearing Hunter discuss using crack cocaine:

“You don’t want to hear your son talking about doing crack cocaine. It’s just too hard. It tears you apart. It tears your family apart. And we weren’t perfect.”

On Hunter’s reaction to a family intervention:

“It was horrible. He went to rehab after rehab after rehab. A lot of times I would say to Joe, ‘Have you heard from Hunter?’ And he’d say, ‘No. Have you?’ And I’d say, ‘No.’ This was weeks on end, and we wouldn’t know where he was.

“He has three daughters, and they would call and say, ‘Nana, we don’t know where our dad is. Can you help us?’ We did two interventions. The first time, it fell through because he must have felt it or something.

“The second time, he walked in and saw the interventionist there and just exploded, ran out of the house and said some really hurtful things that you would hope your child would never say to you. But you have to realize it’s the addiction. This went on for a long time.”

On asking God to take her instead of Beau:

“I really didn’t feel Beau was going to die because I couldn’t imagine that God was going to take him. I just couldn’t imagine it. I kept praying and praying and saying, I think a lot of parents who lose children do this, ‘Take me.’ We just try to make all these bargains and deals.

“When he did die, I never, ever gave up hope until Beau took his last breath. I just felt so betrayed by it, and I couldn’t understand it.”

On praying to Beau during Joe Biden’s cancer battle:

“This got so serious so fast. Every morning, I pray to Beau, and I think he listens.

“Now with Joe’s cancer diagnosis, I get a little frustrated and I say, ‘Beau, where are you? I need you.’ Sometimes, when I feel that, I need to go to the cemetery and talk to him and hope he listens.”

On feeling Beau’s presence and seeing signs:

“He’s with me every day. Even when I’m not thinking about him, he’s certainly part of my heart. I carry him.

“This year, on the day that Beau died, we had a memorial service. We got back to our house, and we live on a man-made lake. As we walked in, an eagle flew across the lake. It’s those sorts of things. Whether they’re real or they’re not real, I do believe in that. Maybe we need to find those symbols. I do see them in nature.”

On being left with nothing after her first divorce:

“I’ve been through an early divorce. I went to college, fell in love with a guy during my first semester, kind of crazy, and I was divorced by the time I left school four and a half years later. I learned the hard way.

“You need to have your own money. You cannot be asking somebody to support you. That’s my personal feeling. Some women are very comfortable with that. My mother was a homemaker, but it was important to me to be independent.

“It was a big lesson, and that’s what I try to tell women: Usually, the man comes out better than the woman in any divorce. I do believe that.”

She also weighed in on whether there will be a female President in her lifetime.

Posted To:Beau Biden Hunter Biden Jamie Kern Lima Jill Biden Joe Biden Politics