Biden Says Prostate Cancer Radiation 'Worked as Intended,' Doesn't Address Son Hunter's Claim the Disease Has Spread Further

Former President Joe Biden posted a lengthy health update on X Tuesday, Sept. 8, marking Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and telling followers the radiation treatment he underwent last fall "worked as intended."

"I continue to do the things I care about, like finishing my memoir," Biden, 83, wrote, thanking the doctors and nurses who have treated him since his diagnosis.

Biden's office announced in May 2025 that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Doctors found a prostate nodule after Biden reported urinary symptoms, and testing showed a Gleason score of 9, Grade Group 5, according to his office at the time. The cancer had already metastasized to his bones by the time it was detected, but was described as hormone-sensitive, meaning it could be managed with hormone therapy. He began radiation treatment last fall.

According to Scripps News, Biden's Tuesday statement did not include details about his current prognosis or whether he expects further treatment.

That omission is significant given what his family has said publicly since. Hunter Biden told BBC Newsnight's Paddy O'Connell in August that his father's cancer is "not good" and "has spread, metastasized into his bones and further," adding that it's "very painful and it's very debilitating in many respects," according to TheWrap. Fox News Digital, in reporting distributed by WFMD, also cited Jill Biden as having said the former president will live with stage 4 cancer "for the rest of his life" and that he has slowed down.

None of these accounts are necessarily contradictory. Radiation aimed at a specific site can work as intended locally while a hormone-sensitive cancer that has already metastasized continues to progress elsewhere in the body. Stage 4 prostate cancer is generally treated as a chronic condition to manage rather than one that gets cured. But Biden's own statement did not reconcile his upbeat framing with what his son and, according to Fox News Digital, his wife have said about the disease's trajectory. Fox News Digital said it reached out to Biden's office for additional comment on his current health and prognosis.

Most of Biden's Tuesday post focused on urging screening, not his own condition. "More than 330,000 American men this year will hear the words we did last spring when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer," he wrote, adding that when caught early, five-year survival is close to 100%.

Biden told average-risk men to start talking to their doctors around age 50, with screening every two to four years. He said Black men should start at 45 or earlier, citing figures that Black men are "nearly 70% more likely to get this disease and 2 to 4 times more likely to die from it." The American Cancer Society's published guidance broadly lines up with those figures, recommending discussion at 50 for average-risk men, 45 for Black men and those with one close relative diagnosed, and 40 for men with more than one affected relative.

Biden also confirmed his memoir, "Promise Me, America," is scheduled for release Nov. 17, after the midterm elections, according to USA Today. The book is expected to cover his presidency's major events: the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recovery push, the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and American support for Ukraine following Russia's invasion.

Biden has stepped back into public view periodically since leaving office. USA Today reported he called President Donald Trump a "loser" over White House and Kennedy Center renovation projects during remarks at a Maryland gala earlier this summer. He is also expected to appear alongside former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at Ground Zero in New York for ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to USA Today.

The actual state of Biden's disease today remains unclear. His Tuesday statement, the most detailed public comment on his treatment since last year's diagnosis, described a single positive result from last fall's radiation. It did not say whether the metastasis his son and wife have described publicly is ongoing, stable, or something his medical team is actively treating. Biden's office has not released a formal prognosis update, and Fox News Digital reported it had not yet received a response to its inquiry as of its report.