Just days before Joe Biden was named the official Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential
election, Jill Biden's former husband, Bill Stevenson, came forward and claimed that Joe
is the reason for the demise of his marriage.
During an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail in mid-August 2020, Stevenson, founder
of The Stone Balloon Tavern and Concert Hall in Newark, Delaware, spoke candidly about
his own marriage to Jill and even alleged that the story the Bidens recount about how
they first met is nothing more than a sham. Stevenson claimed to the publication,
"I don't want to hurt anyone. But facts are facts and what happened, happened. [...] I
genuinely don't want to harm Jill's chances of becoming First Lady. She would make an
excellent First Lady — but this is my story."
He also said he has plans to publish a 300-page book, but is adamant that he's only designated
a mere 80 pages of the book to his marriage to Jill. So, what exactly does Stevenson claim
went on behind his back? And is he still resentful of the Bidens?
Stevenson claimed to the tabloid that both he and his then-wife, Jill, helped Joe Biden
secure his senate seat during his first election in 1972. The Delaware businessman said,
"Jill and I sat in the Bidens' kitchen. We worked on his campaign. I gave $10,900 to
his first campaign — in cash."
According to Stevenson, he initially intended on supporting Republican Senator and rumored
shoo-in, J. Caleb Boggs, but that all changed after the two had a falling-out. He recalled,
"I had a disagreement with Boggs over corruption in Delaware and he told me: 'Get out of my
office. Go work for that joke Biden,' who was then at only about 20 percent in the polls."
During that time, Biden was married to his first wife, Neilia. Tragically, after securing
the Senate seat, Neilia and the couple's 1-year-old daughter, Naomi, died in a horrific car accident.
The couple also shared two older sons: Hunter, a lawyer and investment advisor, and former
Attorney General of Delaware Beau Biden, who died after a battle with brain cancer in 2015.
During the interview with the Daily Mail, Stevenson revealed he had his suspicions all
along about his wife and the charming politician. Stevenson claimed,
"I know exactly when it was. Bruce Springsteen was going to play at The Stone Balloon and
I had to go to Northern New Jersey to pay him in advance. I asked Jill to go with me
and she said no — she had things to do, she had to look after Joe's kids, Beau and
Hunter. It was kind of a big deal to go meet Springsteen. I had no idea she and Joe were
that kind of friendly."
Stevenson said his suspicions were further confirmed when one of Jill's friends confided
in him, stating that she thought Jill and Joe, quote, "were getting a little too close."
However, it was in October of 1974 when things came to a head for Stevenson and his wife.
He explained,
"I was at work and a guy came in and asked: 'Do you own a brown Corvette?' I said, 'Yes,
it's my wife's car.' He said back in May it had crunched his bumper and they told him
to get an estimate and he never heard back from them. I said: 'Wait a minute. Who is
'they'?' And he said: 'Funnily enough, Senator Biden was driving.'"
According to Stevenson, after that, he asked Jill to leave their home and she did. The
marriage was over.
But not so fast — if you asked both Joe and Jill Biden, they remember how they met
very differently. According to the Daily Mail, the Bidens claim that after Joe was widowed,
it just so happened that he and his brother, Frank, were strolling through the Wilmington
airport when Joe fixed his eyes on a blonde in an ad. The story goes that Joe pointed
to the girl in the picture and told his brother that was the kind of girl he would like to
date, to which his brother replied, "Why don't you then? I know her," and then gave Joe her
phone number.
Jill further corroborated that story in her 2019 autobiography, claiming that Joe called
her up out of the blue and asked her out. She initially declined the invitation because
she had a date scheduled with someone else, but Joe only grew more persistent, claiming
he was only in town one night. She eventually accepted, and the rest is history.
"He was a gentleman. He shook my hand. And I remember going upstairs and calling my mother
at one o'clock in the morning, and I said, 'Mom, I finally met a gentleman."
While there definitely appears to be some discrepancy around how the Bidens sparked
their romance, Bill Stevenson admitted he understands why Joe fell for Jill, saying,
"I considered Joe a friend. I'm not surprised he fell in love with Jill. Everyone who meets
Jill falls in love with her immediately. It's hard not to."
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