Joe Biden and wife Jill have been married for over four decades now, but how did the President and his First Lady meet? Not only did Jill Biden go from Second Lady to First, but it's believed that she's the first wife of a vice president or president to carry on holding a salaried position during her husband's presidency.
HELLO! takes a closer look at Dr Jill Biden and all her accomplishments.
Inside Jill Biden's career
Jill Biden is an educator at the top of her field. After graduating from the University of Delaware, she started working in local schools as an English teacher and even at a psychiatric hospital.
In 1981 the doting mother earned her first master's degree in reading from West Chester University. She was awarded her second in English in 1987 from Villanova University. She balanced her studies with raising her family.
© Owen Franken - CorbisFor 15 years Jill taught English Composition at Delaware Technical and Community College, and in 2007 earned her doctorate in education from the University of Delaware.
While she was Second Lady, Jill still worked as a full-time teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, or NOVA. She is thought to be the first Second Lady in history to have held a paying job while in office.
Jill confirmed to CBS that she intends to still work as an educator as First Lady. "If we get to the White House, I’m going to continue to teach. It’s important, and I want people to value teachers and know their contributions and lift up their profession," she told the channel.
A timeline of the president and first lady's relationship
1975 - Meeting on a blind date
© Cynthia JohnsonJill first met then-Senator Joe Biden on a blind date set up by his brother, Frank, who she'd met at university. She wasn't smitten straight away, as she told the New York Times: "The guys I had dated had bell bottoms and clogs. When Joe showed up at my door, I took one look at his perfect suit and his leather loafers and I thought: 'Thank God it’s only one date.'"
But she was won over by his formal appearance and manners, even though he was nearly nine years her senior. After their first date, she told her mother: "I finally met a gentleman."
At the time, Jill was going through a divorce, which was granted that year in May. Meanwhile, Joe was a widower after his wife Neilia Hunter died in 1972.
1977 - Marriage
© SAUL LOEBJoe and Jill have been married for 46 years, tying the knot in 1977 at the United Nations chapel in New York City during an intimate ceremony.
Joe famously proposed to Jill five times before she said yes, with Jill explaining that she "really felt that this marriage had to work". She told Vogue: "By that time, of course, I had fallen in love with the boys, and I really felt that this marriage had to work. Because they had lost their mom, and I couldn’t have them lose another mother."
Jill Biden is step-mom to Joe's son Hunter from a previous relationship, and was also Joe's late son Beau's step-mom.
1981 - The birth of Ashley
© Anna MoneymakerThe power couple share one child, a daughter named Ashley. Ashley was born in 1981, and is a social worker and philanthropist who prefers to keep out of the spotlight. Jill stopped working for two years while she raised the three children.
2015 - Beau's death
© Mark MakelaJoe's son Beau tragically passed away from a brain tumor in 2015. Jill said of the grief she felt: "Even the best memories were laced with pain. I felt like his loss was crushing me, and I worried that shining a light on it would only make it grow. So I told my team that he was off limits."
"But then one day I found myself writing words without thinking. 'I'm shattered,' I scribbled on a yellow notebook," she added, explaining she felt like a piece of broken china that that had been glued back together. "'The cracks may be imperceptible, but they’re there. Look closely and you can see the glue holding me together.'"
2020 - Joe Biden's presidential candidacy
© Photo: Getty ImagesJill fully supported Joe in his 2015 presidential bid, continuing teaching while she campaigned. She told one reporter: "I'm here grading research papers in between interviews."
When it came time to campaign full-time, she reluctantly took a leave of absence to help her husband. When the pandemic struck, she trained in online teacher training and indicated that she planned to resume her role as a teacher even if her husband were elected president.
What causes does Jill Biden support as First Lady?
© Kevin DietschLike all First Ladies before her, Jill Biden takes an active role in championing specific causes that impact America. As an educator, Jill advocates for increased educational opportunities.
The First Lady also supports military families through the White House initiative Joining Forces of which she said in 2021: "We have an all-volunteer force—and it continues only because generations of Americans see the honor, dignity, and patriotism of military service. How can we hope to keep our military strong if we don’t give our families, survivors, and caregivers what they need to thrive?"
Jill co-founded Joining Forces with former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Another key initiative she helps with is Cancer Moonshot, which works to end cancer "as we know it". Jill has been a vocal advocate for vaccination against COVID-19 and how to safely reopen schools after the pandemic.
