Jill Biden has been juggling several responsibilities over the last few years, including First Lady, educator, mother, and grandmother, making it look effortless. Maybe it’s because she’s got a lot of practice.
Biden has been married to President Joe Biden for nearly five decades, and being married to a politician includes eventually becoming entangled in all that politics entails. Biden’s upbringing prepared her for all these problems; her adult life, on the other hand, got off to a terrible start.
Jill met her first husband, Bill Stevenson, at the same university where they were both students. They met for the first time in Ocean City, New Jersey while sunbathing on the beach. Six months later, Jill walked down the aisle, convinced she was marrying her love. She was only 18 at the time, with Stevenson a few years older, and the future looked promising. That is until it didn’t.
Five years later, the couple divorced, leaving Jill with an uncertain future that looked nothing like the one she had imagined. Then she met Joe, and a beautiful love story began that is still going on today.
It wasn’t easy for Jill to get to the point in her life where she’s happily married (and now the First Lady), but the fact that she eventually found the love of her life offers many people hope that, just maybe, happy endings can exist; you have to weather some storms first.
Bill Stevenson began speaking to several media outlets during Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, claiming that Jill Biden cheated on him with Joe Biden just before their marriage ended. He also stated at the time to Inside Edition that he would vote for Donald Trump, so there’s something.
According to Stevenson, Jill initially met Joe when he was campaigning for senator in 1972, and their relationship blossomed into an affair in 1974. According to Stevenson, there were several events that demonstrated Joe and Jill conducting an affair behind his back.
To begin, one of Jill’s close friends apparently confided in him that she was concerned about Joe and Jill’s connection; later, Jill opted out of seeing Bruce Springsteen with Stevenson in favor of watching Joe’s children. But it was reinforced for Stevenson when another acquaintance informed him he saw Joe and Jill driving together.
For some reason, Stevenson regarded this as conclusive evidence that anything was going on between them. He told Inside Edition that when he questioned Jill about the outing with Joe, “she didn’t say anything,” instead staring at him calmly. “‘You’ve got to go. You’ve got to get yourself a place,’” Stevenson recalled.
Jill tells a different narrative, and her spokesman told Inside Edition that Stevenson’s assertions are at best fictional.
One has to wonder what would have happened if Bill Stevenson had not confronted Jill Biden about the romance he suspected she had with Joe Biden all those years ago.
Would they still be married today? Would Joe have married another woman? Was the affair real? Those are definitely unanswerable questions, but Stevenson told the Daily Mail that he wasn’t surprised Jill drew Joe’s eye. “Everyone who meets Jill quickly falls in love with her. It’s difficult not to,” Stevenson admitted.
Jill’s relatives allegedly sought to interfere to salvage the couple’s deteriorating marriage after Stevenson confronted her about the affair and asked her to leave their house. “When her father found out what was happening, he begged me to take her back. He asked me to give her another chance, but I refused,” Stevenson stated.
This divorce, like others, got a little messy. Steven’s music venue, The Stone Balloon, was a contentious issue in the settlement. He was adamant about not giving Jill a share, which caused some friction and disagreements, which were eventually addressed after the judge decided in Stevenson’s favor.
However, following the divorce, Stevenson found himself in legal trouble, facing many fraud allegations, and this time the judge did not find in his favor. It’s unclear whether his and Jill’s marriage suffered as a result of their unscrupulous operations.
Jill Biden was divorced, single, heartbroken, and in financial distress at the age of 24. Jill discovered how much she relied on her ex-husband’s financial support only after she no longer had it. She didn’t have a job and didn’t have much money. She still needed to finish university and had no place to live.
She never expected to be in such a tough financial condition and pledged she would never be dependent on anyone again. “I knew I would never, ever put myself in that position again — where I didn’t feel like I had the finances to be on my own, and I had to get the money through a divorce settlement,” she said.
Jill was resolved not to take the easy way out during this difficult time. She could have moved in with her parents, but she knew she had to go alone this time, broken heart and all. “I believed so much in the institution of marriage,” she admitted, adding, “When the marriage fell apart, I fell hard because of that.”
But she picked up the pieces and eventually paid her rent and graduated from university with honors. Despite the difficulties, she realized who she was and what she wanted out of life during this time.
Jill Biden was not looking forward to remarrying after a painful divorce. She was certain Bill Stevenson was her forever guy, but their marriage lasted only five years. In her memoir, “Where the Light Enters,” the First Lady describes her whirlwind relationship with Stevenson – they hadn’t known each other for a year when they married, and Jill sees things differently now.
“Looking back, it may seem like that relationship was a mistake of youth,” she said, adding, “but there was a time when I truly believed we were destined for each other.”
Jill was understandably hesitant to enter into another relationship. When she and Joe Biden met on a blind date, the latter fell in love right away. “When I went out with her for the first time, I knew this was the woman,” Joe said on “The Drew Barrymore Show.” Jill, on the other hand, was extremely cautious, and Joe had to ask her to marry him five times before she finally said yes.
Jill later told Vogue that she wanted to make certain that this marriage would continue, especially since Joe’s children were involved and had already lost their mother in a car accident. “I couldn’t have them lose another mother,” she explained to the publication. Fortunately, Joe was a patient man, and Jill finally agreed when he made it obvious that the fifth proposal would be his final.
While going through a divorce was undoubtedly one of the most difficult things Jill Biden has ever had to go through, she now acknowledges that it had a significant role in defining her life. While she has been upfront about the difficulties she suffered as a result of her divorce at such an early age, the First Lady has gotten very skilled at finding the silver lining in dismal situations.
During an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” Jill revealed that her divorce from Bill Stevenson was ultimately for the best. She clearly enjoys the life she and Joe have created, and the lessons she has gained have spurred her ahead.
“You know, I look back on it now, and I think, you know, if I hadn’t gotten divorced, I would’ve never met Joe,” she said Clarkson, adding, “I wouldn’t have the beautiful family I have now.”