Joe Biden proposed to Jill 5 times before she said yes, concern for Beau and Hunter made her say 'not yet'
President Joe Biden and first lady Dr Jill Biden have been married for decades -- to be precise 44 years. But their love story is no fairytale that centers on falling in love at first sight. Joe first met Jill in 1975 and she was introduced to him by his brother.
She was a college student when the two of them went on their first date. But Joe Biden failed to make a great first impression because of what he was wearing. Jill revealed these details and also how Joe Biden proposed to her five times before she said yes in a 2016 interview with Vogue.
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She recalled their first date and said, "I was a senior, and I had been dating guys in jeans and clogs and T-shirts, he came to the door and he had a sport coat and loafers, and I thought, ‘God, this is never going to work, not in a million years.'" She also said that Joe was nine years older than her but just one date to the movies with him changed her mind.
She said, "We went out to see ‘A Man and a Woman’ at the movie theater in Philadelphia, and we really hit it off. When we came home... he shook my hand good night... I went upstairs and called my mother at 1 am and said, ‘Mom, I finally met a gentleman.'"
The reason why she was hesitant initially about marrying Joe Biden however had more to do with his sons Beau and Hunter who had recently experienced a tragic accident. This accident had taken the lives of their mother and Joe's first wife Neilia, and their 1-year-old daughter, Naomi. Jill had been married once before as well, and so "I said, ‘Not yet. Not yet. Not yet,’” of the proposals.
She explained, "Because 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. So I had to be 100 percent sure.” After proposing five times, however, Joe decided to not propose a sixth time. He just gave Jill an ultimatum.
He reportedly told Jill, "Look, this is the last time I’m asking you. I don’t care when we get married. But I want a commitment." Jill responded with an "OK". The two of them finally tied the knot in 1977 and they have one daughter together called Ashley.
Joe's son Beau Biden however, died of brain cancer in 2015. In the same interview, Joe had also said that he believed that his late wife Neilia had brought them together. After their marriage, the family of four went on a honeymoon together as Jill had at that time believed that they were all marrying each other.