Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, tied the knot in 1977.
Like most pairings, their relationship isn't without its flaws - in fact, there are plenty
of curious facts concerning this partnership.
Let's uncover all of the strange things about Joe and Jill Biden's marriage.
It started at the airport
Joe and Jill Biden's longtime love affair didn't stem from your average meet-cute.
Instead, their romance first began at an airport in Wilmington, Delaware.
According to her 2019 memoir, Where the Light Enters, Jill once posed in an ad campaign
for New Castle County's Parks and Recreation division, and that advertisement wound up
at said airport in the mid-'70s.
Joe, a frequent traveler, was apparently enamored with this woman in the photos.
He even told his brother, Frankie, that the mysterious model was his dream date.
In a random twist of fate, Frankie knew a mutual friend of Jill's and was able to get
her phone number.
Just one day after Joe got his hands on Jill's digits, he called her up to ask if she'd join
him on a date.
When she asked how he'd gotten her number, the politician's answer was oddly curt.
In her book, Jill recalled Joe saying,
"My brother Frank gave it to me.
I just got back into town and was wondering - are you free tonight?"
Joe wasn't Jill's type
When Jill Biden met her future husband, he was just three years into his run as Delaware's
longest-serving senator.
The prestigious title might have drawn other potential dates to the dashing politician
like a moth to a flame, but this wasn't the case for Joe's future wife.
In fact, then-college student Jill initially didn't want anything to do with the senator.
Jill revealed to Vogue in 2016:
"I thought, 'God, this is never going to work, not in a million years.'
He was nine years older than I am!"
"He comes with a suit, leather loafers.
I thought 'Oh gosh, this guy's gonna be kind of stiff.’
But he wasn't!
He really wasn't!"
The single dad with two young sons eventually won Jill over with his chivalrous ways after
a date to see the movie A Man and a Woman.
Dr. Biden told Vogue that he even shook her hand goodnight at the end of the evening.
"I remember going upstairs and calling my mother at 1 o'clock in the morning and I said,
'Mom, I finally met a gentleman.'"
We're glad to hear this blossoming romance worked out despite the then-senator's questionable
taste in footwear.
Rocky road to engagement
Joe Biden had to ask for Jill’s hand in marriage a whopping five times before she
said "yes."
According to the former Vice President, even his two young sons wanted to marry their dad's
lady friend.
"I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd already asked her and she said no."
In her book, Where the Light Enters, Jill explained her hesitation to get hitched - including
a failed first marriage, a budding career, and plans for graduate school.
Dr. Biden wrote:
"I knew that if I married Joe, I'd have to give up my apartment, the only space that
was just for me.
I'd have to quit my job for the boys' sake [...] And I'd have to become Jill Biden, senator's
wife.
It was all too much."
After her initial rejection, Joe popped the question three more times, before giving Jill
a stern ultimatum in 1977.
According to Jill, the former Vice President told her:
"I've been as patient as I know how to be, but this has got my Irish up.
Either you decide to marry me, or that's it - I'm out.
I'm not asking again.
I'm too much in love with you to just be friends."
Of course, she eventually agreed to his proposal, and the rest is history.
"Everybody knows I love her more than she loves me.”
Jill goes on defense
Jill Biden has found herself in the awkward position of defending Joe Biden against his
alleged history of touching women inappropriately.
In March 2019, former Nevada State Assemblywoman Lucy Flores claimed that the then-vice president
sniffed her hair and planted a, quote, "big slow kiss" on the back of her head at a rally
in 2014.
"I frankly just didn't even know how to react.
I was just shocked.
I felt…
I felt powerless.
I felt like I couldn't move.
I just didn't even know how to process it."
For his part, Joe stated that he never meant to make Flores feel uncomfortable and pledged
to "listen respectfully" to women in the future.
Jill addressed the controversy alongside her husband on Good Morning America, saying:
"I think what you don't realize is how many people approach Joe.
One of the things that Joe is known for is making connections with people."
Dr. Biden did say that going forward, Joe should be a better judge of how to react when
people approach him, and that maybe he shouldn't approach them.
Hopefully, he'll take her words to heart.
Ignoring Jill's wishes?
Jill Biden has been forthright about her disinterest in ever becoming a first lady.
She touched on this sentiment in Where the Light Enters, comparing her situation to former
first lady Michelle Obama's and writing:
"Like me, she had a career of her own - the title of First Lady wasn't one she was seeking,
but she believed deeply in Barack's leadership and did everything she could to support him
[...] I was grateful to be Second Lady.
It was an incredible honor.
But the role I have always felt most at home is being 'Dr. B.' - working with first-generation
college students, teaching them to write essays."
"Instead of being in my little classroom, you know, talking to 25 people, it was like
hundreds of people or thousands of people.
It's hard to get used to that."
Her continued disinterest in the prospective title certainly hasn't been lost in the news.
In February 2019, The Washington Post published a piece titled, "Jill Biden has never wanted
to be first lady, but Joe can't win the White House without her."
Given her outspoken reservations, it's fair to wonder why former Vice President Joe Biden
entered the 2020 presidential race at all.
Still, Jill Biden has claimed she's proud of her husband's decision to run for the highest
political office in the United States.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite celebs are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.