[LifeStyle] ‘We’ve been really supportive of one another’: Joe and Jill Biden on 43-year ‘strong’ marriage

[G R 4 V E N ⵣ]

 

US President and First Lady Joe and Jill Biden recently talked about the experience of living in the White House, and their relationship with each other, in their first interview since swearing-in.

Talking to People, Presiden Biden revealed how living in the White House has been “surreal”. “It’s surreal … but it’s comfortable. We were here for eight years, just not in this part of the residence.”

“The residence staff has been so great, trying to make it feel like home for us. We have family pictures all around, our books, some furniture we brought from home,” Jill Biden, who has made history by choosing to continue to teach amid responsibilities as First Lady, was quoted as saying.

On being asked about the “secret” behind their 43-year marriage getting stronger with time, the President expressed, “We each could do our jobs, but not as well as we do them. Thank God that when I’m really down, she steps in, and when she’s really down, I’m able to step in. We’ve been really supportive of one another. I’ve read all that data as well about families under pressure, and that’s why I’m glad she kept her profession.”

“It’s really important that she’s an educator, although she took off two years when we first got married because the boys were little. It’s important that she has the things that she cares a great deal about, her independence. And yet we share each other’s dreams,” he added.

Jill referred to a quote “that says sometimes you become stronger in the fractured places.” “That’s what we try to achieve.”

Talking about how Jill had been a huge support, he further said, “Jill came along at a really important point and put my family back together. She’s the glue that held it together, and I knew that I wanted to marry her shortly after I met her. … It’s not that we don’t fight and argue sometimes. I’m just lucky.”

“Well, after 43 years of marriage there’s really not that much more to fight about,” Jill was quoted as saying.

The POTUS also opened up on what religion or prayer means to him. “My religion, for me, is a safe place. I never miss mass, because I can be alone. Jill, when she wants me to get a real message, she tapes it on the mirror above the sink where I shave. And she put up a great quote from Kierkegaard saying, “Faith sees best in the dark.” Other people may meditate. For me, prayer gives me hope, and it centers me.”