Kathleen Buhle, 53, announced her debut book If We Break: A Memoir Of Marriage, Addiction, and Healing on Wednesday January 12. Kathleen was notably married to President Joe Biden‘s younger son Hunter Biden, 51, until the pair split in 2017. While Hunter received significant media attention leading up to his father’s election in 2020 (and even penned his own memoir Beautiful Things), his ex-wife has mostly stayed out of the spotlight. If We Break is expected to hit shelves on June 14. Find out everything you need to know about Kathleen and her marriage to Hunter here!
1. She was married to Hunter for over 20 years
Kathleen was Hunter’s first wife, and the pair were married from 1993 until 2017. When the pair divorced in 2017, Kathleen didn’t speak out about the divorce publicly. She explained the toll that the break up had taken on her in a January 12 interview with People. “When my marriage ended, I felt like I’d lost my sense of who I was,” she said.
Before their divorce was finalized, the president’s son was briefly involved in a relationship with his late brother Beau’s widow Hallie, after Beau’s death in 2015. He detailed the relationship in his memoir and explained how it was born out of the unexpected grief of losing his brother. Hunter and Hallie broke up in 2019, and Hunter married filmmaker Melissa Cohen shortly thereafter.
2. She has three daughters
During her marriage to Hunter, the pair had three girls: Naomi, 28, Finnegan, 22, and Maisy, 21. The three girls were very active in campaigning for their grandfather during his 2020 race for the White House. The three girls have a half brother in their dad’s youngest son Beau, 1, who he had with his wife Melissa in March 2020.
3. She opens up about Hunter’s struggles with addiction in the book
Hunter’s battle with addiction has been well-documented, and she will offer her perspective on his struggle in If We Break. “Anyone who has seen addiction ruin a relationship, or been through infidelity and divorce, can tell you how devastating it feels. But what I also realized through those crushing experiences is that I needed to find a way to stand on my own,” she told People.
Kathleen also explained that writing the book was an important process to help her feel better after watching her ex-husband struggle with drug abuse and going through divorce. “My hope is it will be meaningful to those who have been through addiction or divorce, and especially to women who have felt like their entire identity was tied to their spouse. In the end, divorce allowed me to find my strength,” she explained to People.
4. She founded The House at 1229
Other than the memoir, Kathleen has worked for the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project since 2017, according to her LinkedIn. The non-profit offers legal services and advocates for at-risk kids, domestic violence victims and others who may need help, according to its website. Additionally, Kathleen is identified as the co-founder and CEO of The House at 1229, a space that brings women together to connect. “The House at 1229 offers the intimate space and supportive community to experience this growth in the best possible way. The House at 1229 is a community of women with different backgrounds and experiences who share the same core beliefs,” the organization’s LinkedIn page states.
5. She’s reportedly close with Michelle Obama
After Kathleen and Hunter split up, she naturally went to her friends for support, and she bonded with former First Lady Michelle Obama. A source close to Kathleen told Page Six that Michelle was “one of her closest friends” and that the two women “hang out a lot.” The two ladies reportedly hit it off during her then-father-in-law’s time as vice president and regularly went to SoulCycle classes together.