Jill Biden Thought Romance with Joe was ‘Doomed’

Jill Biden and Joe Biden have been married for nearly five decades, but their love story almost never made it past the first date.

Long before the White House, the campaign trail, and a marriage that would become part of American political history, Jill admitted she was convinced the relationship was “never going to work in a million years.”

As Jill approaches her 75th birthday on Wednesday, June 3, her early romance with Joe is getting a fresh look — and the story behind it is far more unexpected than many people remember.

Before they met, both Jill and Joe were carrying painful baggage from the past.

Joe had suffered a devastating tragedy just three years earlier. His first wife, Nelia, and their 1-year-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a horrific car crash, leaving him a widowed father raising his two young sons, Beau and Hunter.

Jill had also come out of a difficult chapter of her own. She married her first husband, Bill Stevenson, in 1970 when she was just 18 years old. She later described that marriage as a “mistake of youth” in her memoir, Where the Light Shines. The couple divorced in 1975 after growing apart.

Decades later, Stevenson’s name would make shocking headlines of its own when he was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of his then-wife, 64-year-old Linda.

But in 1975, Jill’s life changed when she agreed to go on a blind date with Joe.

At the time, Jill was only 23 or 24. Joe was 32, already a U.S. senator, and a single father. The age gap was noticeable — and Jill was not exactly sure what she was walking into.

She later recalled that she had been used to dating men who wore “jeans and clogs and T-shirts.” Joe, however, showed up in a sports coat and loafers.

Her first thought was not exactly romantic.

“God, this is NEVER going to work, not in a million years,” she remembered thinking.

But the night did not go the way she expected.

Joe apparently won her over with old-school manners and charm. When he dropped her off at home, he did not try to kiss her goodnight. Instead, he shook her hand.

That simple gesture left a major impression.

Jill later said she called her mother that very night and told her, “I finally met a gentleman.”

The feeling was mutual. Joe, still grieving the loss of his first wife and baby daughter, later credited Jill with helping him rebuild his world.

“She gave me back my life,” he said. “She made me start to think my family might be whole again.”

Two years after that first awkward-but-fateful date, Jill and Joe were married.

Their relationship went on to weather decades of political battles, personal losses, public scrutiny, and life in the national spotlight. But Joe has made it clear he is still deeply attached to the woman he once courted with a handshake.

“It’s kind of embarrassing, that everybody notices, but when she’s around, I drive her nuts,” he once joked. “She can’t get rid of me.”

Still, even the Bidens have admitted their marriage has not always been picture-perfect.

Joe has said “love is hard” and acknowledged that they have argued over “a lot of things” through the years. But he has also said their bond survived because they always understood one thing: the marriage had to come first.

“She’s the strongest person I know,” Joe said of Jill. “She has a backbone like a ramrod. She loves fiercely, cares deeply.”

For Joe, the secret was simple.

“As long as we know that the career is less important than the marriage, then it works,” he said. “Everything works if the marriage works.”

What began as a blind date Jill thought was doomed became one of the most high-profile marriages in American politics — a romance that started with doubt, heartbreak, and one very unexpected handshake.