Joe Biden’s Prostate Cancer Spreads Further as Former President Faces Significant Pain

Former U.S. President Joe Biden is facing a more difficult stage in his battle with prostate cancer, according to a new and deeply personal update from his son, Hunter Biden.

During an interview with the BBC broadcast on Friday, Hunter Biden revealed that his father’s cancer has spread beyond previously known areas and is now causing considerable pain. Hunter became emotional while discussing the former president’s condition, describing the experience of watching his father cope with advanced cancer as extremely difficult for the family.

Joe Biden, now 83, publicly disclosed his prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2025, less than four months after leaving the White House. At the time, his office said doctors had identified an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had already metastasized to his bones. The cancer had a Gleason score of 9, indicating a highly aggressive form of the disease, although doctors said it was hormone-sensitive, providing treatment options.

The latest comments from Hunter Biden suggest that the disease is continuing to take a significant physical toll. At the same time, the former president reportedly remains interested in public affairs and continues to speak about issues important to him.

The health update brings renewed attention to Biden, but this time the story extends far beyond elections, political arguments or debates about presidential fitness. It is increasingly about an elderly former president confronting an advanced illness alongside his family.

Hunter Biden Reveals a Painful New Update on His Father’s Cancer

The latest information about Joe Biden’s condition came directly from his son rather than from a formal medical briefing.

Speaking during a wide-ranging BBC interview, Hunter Biden said his father’s prostate cancer had metastasized into his bones and had spread further. He described the illness as both painful and debilitating and became visibly emotional while talking about what his father has been experiencing.

Hunter said it was difficult to watch his father deal with the disease and suggested that Joe Biden tends not to talk openly enough about the level of discomfort he is experiencing.

The Associated Press reported on August 8, 2026, that Biden’s cancer is causing him pain even as the former president continues participating in public discussions.

The comments represent one of the most candid family descriptions of Biden’s health since his diagnosis became public.

However, an important distinction remains: Hunter Biden’s comments are a personal account of his father’s condition. They are not a detailed medical update from Biden’s treatment team, and no new clinical information has been released specifying precisely where the cancer has spread beyond the previously confirmed bone metastases.

That distinction matters because information surrounding the health of a former president can quickly become the subject of speculation.

What is confirmed is that Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in 2025 and that the disease had already spread to his bones at the time of diagnosis. His office initially said that the cancer was hormone-sensitive, meaning doctors had treatment options designed to suppress or interfere with the hormones that help many prostate cancers grow.

Biden subsequently underwent hormone therapy as well as radiation treatment. In 2025, a spokesperson confirmed that he had completed a course of radiation therapy at Penn Medicine Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia as part of his treatment.

The new report therefore does not mark the beginning of Biden’s cancer battle. Instead, it provides a more sobering picture of how living with the disease is now affecting him physically.

For Biden’s family, the emotional impact appears significant.

Hunter’s comments shifted the public conversation away from medical terminology and toward something many families affected by cancer understand: watching a loved one experience pain while trying to continue living as normally as possible.

What Joe Biden’s Metastatic Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Means

Joe Biden’s original diagnosis was considered serious because the prostate cancer had already spread outside the prostate.

When cancer spreads from its original location to another part of the body, doctors describe it as metastatic cancer. The cancer cells in those secondary locations are still classified according to where the disease originated. In Biden’s case, cancer that has spread into bone remains prostate cancer rather than becoming bone cancer.

The National Cancer Institute lists bone as one of the primary locations to which prostate cancer can spread.

Bone metastases can become particularly important because they may cause pain and other complications.

According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer that spreads elsewhere in the body very frequently reaches the bones. Bone metastases may cause pain and, in some cases, can contribute to fractures, spinal cord compression or changes in calcium levels. Treatment can therefore focus not only on controlling the cancer itself but also on managing pain and protecting bone health.

Those general medical facts help provide context for Hunter Biden’s comments about his father’s pain, although they should not be used to assume specific complications that Biden’s doctors have not publicly confirmed.

Biden’s cancer was assigned a Gleason score of 9 when it was diagnosed.

The Gleason grading system is used to assess the appearance and aggressiveness of prostate cancer cells. A higher score generally indicates a cancer that is more likely to grow and spread aggressively.

Despite that aggressive classification, Biden’s office said in May 2025 that the disease appeared to be hormone-sensitive.

Hormone-sensitive prostate cancer can respond to treatments that reduce testosterone levels or interfere with the cancer cells’ ability to use hormones. Modern treatment strategies for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer often involve combinations of therapies rather than relying on one treatment alone.

The National Cancer Institute notes that treatment recommendations for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer have changed substantially over recent years, with combinations of hormone-blocking medicines and, for some patients, additional therapies being used to better control the disease.

Exactly what treatment Biden is currently receiving, whether his treatment plan has recently changed and what his doctors expect next have not been fully detailed publicly.

That uncertainty is another reason reports about his health should be presented carefully.

Advanced cancer can behave differently from one patient to another, and information about general survival rates or treatment responses cannot reliably predict an individual patient’s course.

What the latest family update does make clear is that Biden’s illness has become physically challenging enough for his son to publicly describe the pain as significant and debilitating.

Biden Remains Engaged With Public Life Despite His Health Struggle

One notable part of Hunter Biden’s update is that his father has apparently not completely withdrawn from public affairs.

According to Hunter, the former president continues speaking publicly about matters that are important to him and remains deeply interested in the country he led for four years.

That continued engagement reflects a political career spanning more than half a century.

Biden first entered the U.S. Senate in the 1970s and eventually became one of America’s longest-serving senators. He later served for eight years as vice president under President Barack Obama before defeating Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Biden served as the 46th president of the United States from January 2021 until January 2025.

His age became an increasingly important political issue during his presidency.

Concerns intensified during the 2024 presidential election campaign, particularly following his debate performance against Trump in June of that year. Biden eventually withdrew from the presidential race in July 2024, and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee.

His prostate cancer diagnosis did not become public until May 2025.

That timing generated political discussion and questions about Biden’s health history, but his office said at the time that he had not previously been diagnosed with prostate cancer. According to reporting from the Associated Press, Biden’s last known prostate cancer screening before the diagnosis had been in 2014.

Today, however, the latest news is less about the debates that surrounded Biden’s presidency and more about what his life looks like after leaving office.

Despite undergoing treatment and now reportedly experiencing significant pain, Biden has remained visible enough to comment on national issues.

He is also expected to publish a memoir titled “Promise Me, America” after the 2026 midterm elections, according to the Associated Press.

The title echoes themes that have appeared throughout Biden’s personal and political life, particularly his experiences with family, grief and public service.

Cancer has also had a deeply personal place in the Biden family’s history.

Biden’s eldest son, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. That loss later became one of the driving forces behind Joe Biden’s advocacy for cancer research, including the Cancer Moonshot initiative.

His own cancer diagnosis has therefore brought an issue he spent years addressing as a policymaker directly into his personal life.

Joe Biden’s Latest Health Update Puts the Focus on a Personal Battle

For decades, Joe Biden has been viewed through the lens of politics.

Supporters and critics have debated his policies, his record in office, his age, his decisions and his place in American history.

His current health struggle presents a very different story.

Advanced cancer has little connection to political affiliation. Families across the United States and around the world experience similar uncertainty when someone they love is diagnosed with a disease that has spread beyond its original location.

Hunter Biden’s emotional remarks provided a rare window into that side of the former president’s life.

Rather than focusing on polling numbers or elections, his comments described a son watching his father live with substantial pain.

For people living with metastatic cancer, managing symptoms can become an important part of treatment alongside efforts to slow the disease.

The American Cancer Society explains that when prostate cancer reaches the bones, doctors may use several approaches to address symptoms and complications. Depending on the individual case, these can include systemic cancer treatments, radiation therapy, medicines designed to protect bones and medications aimed at controlling pain.

There is no basis, however, to assume that Biden is receiving any particular additional treatment unless his medical team or representatives confirm it.

That is especially important as interest in the health of the former president grows.

The latest verified information is relatively straightforward: Biden has had metastatic prostate cancer since his diagnosis was announced in May 2025; the cancer was known to have spread to his bones; and Hunter Biden now says that it has spread further and is causing his father considerable pain.

At the same time, Biden reportedly remains engaged with public issues rather than disappearing completely from public life.

How his condition develops from here will depend on factors that only Biden, his family and his medical team fully understand.

Until additional medical information is released, claims about his prognosis or the exact extent of the disease should be treated cautiously.

Still, Hunter Biden’s latest comments make one thing unmistakable: the former president is going through a difficult phase of a serious illness.

For an individual whose life has unfolded so publicly for decades, this chapter is unusually private and personal.

Biden has experienced profound loss throughout his life, from the deaths of his first wife and daughter in a 1972 car crash to Beau Biden’s death from cancer more than four decades later. His own cancer diagnosis has now placed him on the other side of an illness he previously fought through policy and advocacy.

The latest news will inevitably generate political attention because of who Joe Biden is. But beneath the headlines is a reality familiar to millions of families: an older relative undergoing cancer treatment, loved ones trying to support him and the difficult balance between maintaining normal life and confronting a serious disease.

For now, Biden continues to speak about issues he cares about while receiving treatment and managing the effects of metastatic prostate cancer.

The coming months may bring additional information about his condition and treatment. Until then, the most responsible conclusion is also the simplest: Joe Biden’s cancer battle has become more physically difficult, according to his son, but the former president continues to remain engaged with life beyond his illness.