Biden Says He Would Have Resigned as President Had He Known He Had Cancer

WASHINGTON — Former President Joe Biden has said he would have resigned from the presidency and abandoned his bid for a second term if he had known he had cancer, in his most direct reckoning yet with the illness that has shadowed his final years in public life.

“If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned. I would’ve not gone forward, because I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for (president),” Biden told PEOPLE magazine in an interview released on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. His memoir, Promise Me, America, is published on Tuesday, November 17, three days before he turns 84.

Key Points

• Joe Biden told PEOPLE magazine he would have resigned and not sought a second term if he had known he had cancer.
• “I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for (president),” he said.
• He said his July 2024 debate with Donald Trump “was not very consequential”.
• Biden denied concealing his health while president and said he told the public “when we found out”.
• He was diagnosed with aggressive metastatic prostate cancer in May 2025, four months after leaving office.

What Happened

The PEOPLE interview is the latest instalment in the staged roll-out of Promise Me, America, Biden’s first full account of his presidency. Two excerpts had already made news this week: The Atlantic’s passage on Monday, in which Biden described Donald Trump’s warm private tone at their post-election meeting, and a second excerpt on Tuesday in which he called claims that he hid his diagnosis “absurd”.

This interview moves the story from what Biden knew to what he would have done. Asked about the months when he was feeling unwell during the 2024 campaign, Biden said the diagnosis would have changed everything: he would have resigned, and he would not have gone forward with the re-election campaign. He also called the June 27, 2024 debate with Trump “not very consequential”, though it set in motion the pressure that ended his candidacy three weeks later. He dropped out on July 21, 2024, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Trump.

Background: The Diagnosis and the 2024 Race

Biden served as president from January 2021 to January 2025, and for most of that time he insisted he would seek a second term. He announced his re-election campaign in April 2023, at the age of 80, brushing aside questions about his age. The campaign was already struggling when the June debate exposed his difficulties in public, and after three weeks of mounting pressure from fellow Democrats he withdrew, clearing the way for Harris.

His office revealed the prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2025, less than four months after he left the White House, describing it as a “more aggressive” form of the disease that was nonetheless hormone-sensitive. The cancer had already spread to his bones, and in August his son Hunter Biden told the BBC that it had “metastasized into his bones and further.” The diagnosis carried a Gleason score of 9. Biden turns 84 on November 20, 2026, and is the oldest living former president in American history.

Biden Would Have Resigned: What He Said

The heart of the PEOPLE interview is Biden’s willingness to say the diagnosis would have settled the question of his future. The line about an 80-year-old man with cancer not running for president is a standard he applies to himself without qualification, and it sits uneasily with the decision he actually made in 2023, when he was 80 and announced his re-election bid.

That framing matters because it answers the criticism that has followed Biden since the debate: that he clung to power too long. In earlier excerpts he defended himself against the charge of concealment. Now he goes further, conceding the premise his critics have pressed all along: that a man in his condition should not have been seeking the presidency.

Reactions and Quotes

Biden’s own words dominate the interview. “If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned,” he said, in the line that has travelled furthest since the interview appeared.

On concealment, Biden repeated the denial he made in Tuesday’s excerpt, saying he told the public “when we found out”. In that passage he had written: “For anyone to think I would try to ignore or hide a cancer ravaging my body is absurd.” The two statements together form his settled answer: he did not know, he did not hide it, and had he known, he would have gone.

Why It Matters

The resignation remark changes the terms of the debate over Biden’s presidency. Until now, the question has been whether he knew about the cancer and whether he hid it. Biden’s answer has been consistent: he did not know, and the suggestion is absurd. But the new interview raises a different question: whether an 80-year-old president who was feeling unwell should have sought a second term at all, and whether the Democratic Party should have asked him to step aside sooner.

It also matters as history. Promise Me, America will stand as Biden’s own record of his presidency, and the passage in which he says he would have resigned will be quoted in every account of the 2024 race.

What Happens Next

Promise Me, America is released on November 17, 2026, and the full text will show how much of the book is devoted to the diagnosis and how candid Biden is about the decision to run in 2024. The debate over what he knew, and when, will not end with this interview. But it will now have to contend with a new fact: Biden himself says the diagnosis would have ended his presidency.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Joe Biden say he would have done if he had known he had cancer?

In a PEOPLE interview released on November 11, 2026, Biden said he would have resigned and not sought a second term, because he does not think “an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for (president)”.

When was Joe Biden diagnosed with prostate cancer?

His office revealed it in May 2025, four months after he left the White House: an aggressive form, Gleason score 9, that had already spread to his bones.

What did Biden say about the 2024 debate with Donald Trump?

He said the July 2024 debate “was not very consequential”, even though it led to him dropping out three weeks later.

Did Biden say he hid his cancer diagnosis?

No. He denied concealing his health, said he told the public “when we found out”, and called the suggestion he hid it “absurd”.

When is Promise Me, America published?

On November 17, 2026. The Atlantic published the first excerpt on November 9, the cancer passage appeared on November 10, and the PEOPLE interview was released on November 11.

Related reading: Biden Calls Claims He Hid His Cancer Diagnosis ‘Absurd’ in New Memoir Excerpt • Biden Memoir: Cancer Slows Book Tour as Excerpt Reveals Trump’s ‘Fawning’ Tone • Trump’s 250-Foot Triumphal Arch Wins Final Approval