Kathleen Buhle

American writer

Hunter Biden
​
​
(m. 1993; div. 2017)​
Children3, including NaomiParents
  • James F. Buhle
  • Roberta Buhle

Kathleen Anne Buhle (formerly Biden; b. c. 1969) is an American non-profit executive and writer. Buhle is the mother of Naomi Biden and the former wife of Hunter Biden, a son of U.S. President Joe Biden. She is the author of the 2022 memoir If We Break: A Memoir of Marriage, Addiction, and Healing, which details her life while married to him.

Early life and education

Kathleen Anne Buhle was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a middle-class Catholic family.[1][2] Her mother, Roberta Buhle,[3] was a schoolteacher and her father James F. Buhle was a salesman for the Chicago White Sox.[4][5] She was educated in Catholic schools and graduated from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, with a degree in psychology.[2][6][7]

Later life

Buhle worked as a lobbyist and investment manager.[8] In July 1992, (at age 23) she met Hunter Biden, son of then-senator Joe Biden and Neilia Hunter Biden, while the two were working as Jesuit volunteers at a Catholic church in Portland, Oregon.[9][5][7] Buhle and Biden began a relationship a few months after meeting, and she became pregnant three months into their relationship. They married in July 1993, and she gave birth to their first daughter, Naomi King Biden, on December 21, 1993. Biden and Buhle moved to Washington, D.C., where her husband was a law student at Georgetown University. The family later settled in Wilmington, Delaware, and, in 1997, bought an estate dating back before the American Revolution. Buhle's brother-in-law, Beau Biden, moved in with them while he worked as a federal prosecutor in Philadelphia. On September 9, 2000, she gave birth to their second daughter, Finnegan James Biden, and in 2001 she gave birth to their third daughter, Roberta Mabel "Maisy" Biden.[10] The family moved back to Washington, D.C., and rented a house in Tenleytown. When her father-in-law and step-mother-in-law Jill Biden were respectively serving as vice president and second lady of the United States, Buhle became close friends with First Lady Michelle Obama.[5]

In 2015, Buhle and Biden formally separated due to Biden's infidelity,[8][7] alcoholism and drug addictions. Buhle requested that Hunter Biden leave their family home on July 5, 2015.[11] On December 9, 2016, Buhle filed for a divorce, and on February 23, 2017, she filed a motion in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, seeking to freeze Biden's assets.[5][12] After initially being "messy" the divorce was finalized amicably later that year.[13] In 2019, she formally changed her surname from Biden back to her maiden name, Buhle.[14] The same year, Buhle received a colon cancer diagnosis. By 2022, she was free of cancer.[15]

She authored her memoir titled If We Break about her marriage to Biden and his drug addiction.[7][16] The book came out in June 2022.[17]

Buhle lives in Washington, D.C., where she founded the non-profit organization The House at 1229, a women's club to assist people in need.[18][19] Buhle works as the CEO of the organization.[20]

References

  1. ^ "Biden's Son To Wed". The News Journal. May 29, 1993. p. 32. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  2. ^ a b ""If We Break" by Kathleen Buhle: Patriarchy, Christianity, & Privilege". Vincent Triola. July 26, 2022. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  3. ^ Malle, Chloe (November 22, 2022). "Exclusive: Naomi Biden On Her White House Wedding". Vogue. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  4. ^ "Engagements". The News Journal. June 6, 1993. p. 60.
  5. ^ a b c d "The Lives and Losses of Hunter Biden". The New Yorker. June 28, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  6. ^ Schreckinger, Ben (September 21, 2021). The Bidens: Inside the First Family's Fifty-Year Rise to Power. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5387-3799-6. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d Green, Lloyd (June 19, 2022). "If We Break review: Hunter Biden as horror husband and political problem". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 28, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Fishman, Margie (March 2, 2017). "Divorce filing details split of Kathleen, Hunter Biden". The News Journal. Archived from the original on July 29, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  9. ^ Heller, Karen (June 14, 2022). "Hunter Biden's ex opens up about why she stayed — and why she left". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  10. ^ Burack, Emily (May 6, 2023). "Finnegan Biden Joins Her Grandmother Jill Biden in London for the Coronation". Town & Country. Archived from the original on May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  11. ^ "Biden son, estranged wife reach settlement in divorce case". Associated Press News. April 4, 2017. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  12. ^ Virginia Chamlee (12 January 2022) "Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden's Ex, to Address Their Divorce in Book: 'I Lost My Sense of Who I Was'". People. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  13. ^ Heil, Emily (March 9, 2017). "Hunter and Kathleen Biden look to head off contentious divorce in new court filing". Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 17, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  14. ^ "Biden's ex daughter-in-law opens up about marriage to Hunter". WMBD-TV. June 1, 2022. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  15. ^ "Hunter Biden's ex-wife speaks out about 24-year marriage in 1st TV interview". WTVD. June 14, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  16. ^ Epstein, Jake (June 14, 2022). "Kathleen Buhle says ex-husband Hunter Biden always knew 'the benefit and advantage' of being from a 'prominent family'". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  17. ^ "First Look at Kathleen Buhle's Memoir: Hunter Biden's Ex on His Affair with Sister-in-Law — and Forgiveness". People. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  18. ^ Westfall, Sandra Sobieraj (June 1, 2022). "First Look at Kathleen Buhle's Memoir: Hunter Biden's Ex on His Affair with Sister-in-Law — and Forgiveness". People. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  19. ^ Bennett, Kate (June 14, 2022). "Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle says she had no knowledge of ex-husband's financial dealings". CNN. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  20. ^ "Kathleen Buhle". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
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  • Penguin Random House author bio
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