His son Hunter had written in his memoir that he had ‘no recollection’ of fathering the now four-year-old girl
US President Joe Biden speaks to the crowd during a celebration event at St Muredach’s Cathedral on April 14, 2023 in Ballina, Ireland © Getty Images / Leon Neal/Getty Images
US President Joe Biden on Friday publicly referenced his seventh grandchild for the first time. The four-year-old girl, Navy, was fathered by Hunter Biden with Arkansas woman Lunden Roberts and was the source of a recently-settled child-support hearing.
“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible, going forward,” Joe Biden said on Friday, in a statement. He added that “this is not a political issue, it’s a family matter” and that “Jill [Biden] and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.”
Biden, who has made family values a consistent theme throughout his career in politics, had faced criticism from both sides of the political aisle for having neglected to publicly acknowledge his granddaughter Navy.
In late June, Hunter Biden resolved a child-support case with Roberts in which he was seeking to reduce monthly child support payments of $20,000. In the ruling, made public by the Arkansas state court, the new monthly amount Biden will pay has been redacted. The president’s son also has four other children.
Read more
As part of the ruling, Hunter Biden will also donate some of his personal artwork collection to his daughter, who will be entitled to either keep it or sell it at a later date. Biden had taken up painting as part of his recovery from addictions to alcohol and drugs. The court filing also states that Roberts will drop a proposal to change the child’s last name to ‘Biden.’
Hunter Biden initially denied paternity of the child, but a DNA test later confirmed that he was the father, leading to his agreeing to pay a monthly sum of child support. In his 2021 memoir, Hunter Biden wrote that he had no memory of conceiving a child with Roberts as the encounter happened while he was deeply involved in substance abuse, including crack cocaine.
“I had no recollection of our encounter,” he wrote in his book ‘Beautiful Things.’ “That’s how little connection I had with anyone. I was a mess, but a mess I’ve taken responsibility for.”
Hunter Biden’s resolution of the child-support dispute comes amid growing legal issues surrounding the 53-year-old. Earlier this week, he pleaded not guilty in a Delaware court to two tax crimes, after a previously agreed-on plea deal collapsed in court.
