Jill Biden said she noticed Joe Biden waking up and using the bathroom as many as seven times a night before his Joe Biden cancer diagnosis. She said the issue had already been raised in the White House and later came back after he left in January 2025.
Speaking on Wednesday, Aug. 5, on SiriusXM’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa,” Biden said, “I thought it was addressed,” and later added, “But when it continued when we got out of the White House, I said, ‘Joe, we’ve got to go up to Jeff in Philly – something’s wrong,’” referring to her push for more care.
Jill Biden and White House doctors
Biden said she had raised concerns about the nighttime trips with White House physicians and believed the issue had been evaluated while he was president. She also said she was told that routine prostate cancer screenings are not generally recommended for men over 70 based on recommendations from the American Urological Association.
That detail sits beside the later diagnosis: Joe Biden was found to have an aggressive form of prostate cancer in May 2025 after urinary symptoms led doctors to discover a nodule on his prostate. By the time it was detected, the cancer had already spread to his bones.
Joe Biden in May 2025
Joe Biden said in May 2025, “The prognosis is good, we’re working on it.” He also said, “It’s all a matter of taking a pill, one particular pill, for the next six weeks,” and, “And the expectation is we’re going to be able to beat this.”
Biden later said he was receiving treatment and that it was going well. His care has included radiation and hormone therapy, which began in October 2025.
Every three months
Jill Biden said the cancer is something he will continue managing because it spread before it was found. “We have to be mindful of it every three months, testing and medicines,” she said. “It’s constant. It’s daily. And I think it’s challenging.”
For readers watching what comes next, that means the practical rhythm of care is now set around recurring testing and medicines every three months, not a one-time treatment. The open medical question left by her account is what evaluations were done in the White House when the nighttime bathroom trips were first raised.
