How The Ashley Madison Scandal Rocked Hunter Biden's Reputation

All you-know-what broke loose in 2015 when Ashley Madison, a dating site for married people who are looking to facilitate extramarital affairs, was hacked. In August 2015, after repeated warnings from a group of hackers calling for Avid Life Media to shut down Ashley Madison along with its sister site Established Men, nearly 32 million users' personal information were leaked in a data breach, along with internal company emails including those of Avid Life Media's CEO, Noel Biderman. As one can imagine, many immediately hopped on to uncover those that were anonymously ascribing to the site's "Life's short, have an affair," motto. As it turns out, one of those people ended up being none other than then-vice president and future president Joe Biden's son: Hunter Biden.

It should be noted, however, that Hunter was adamant that he did not create the account. At the time, Hunter was a married man and a father of three. "I am certain that the account in question is not mine," he declared during an interview with Breitbart News. "This account was clearly set up by someone else without my knowledge and I first learned about the account in question from the media." Alas, Hunter's reputation still took quite the hit and two months later, in October 2015, he and his wife of 22 years , Kathleen Buhle, separated. 

Alas, it appears that the Ashley Madison scandal had further implications for Hunter Biden than just that of a married man seemingly stepping outside of his marriage. According to Biden, although the email address used on the Ashley Madison site was his, he claims that he had ceased using it after he had suspected it had been compromised. "This is unfortunately not the first time that someone has used my name and identity to try to discredit me," he told Breitbart News. "From my understanding through press accounts, it is very easy to set up an account without someone's knowledge as there is no requirement that an email address be verified and I am certain that is what happened in this case," he added.

Unnamed spokespeople for Biden also told the news site that his international business foes had made attempts to steal his personal data. While they did not disclose who that entailed, many looked to Russia. As you may recall, Biden raised many eyebrows when he was hired by Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas firm, in 2014. As the son of a vice president, Biden was completely within his legal rights to attach himself to the company, but the move was definitely called into question by many, citing moral and ethical implications. 

The revelation that Hunter Biden may have been involved in the Ashley Madison site was just one of many scandals to rock his reputation. In October 2014, he tested positive for cocaine and was promptly discharged from the United States Navy Reserve. In March 2017, Page Six reported that Hunter and his late brother, Beau Biden's widow, Hallie Biden, were in the midst of a romantic affair. Hunter's famous father Joe Biden confirmed the relationship to Page Six with a statement that read, "We are all lucky that Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness. They have mine and Jill's full and complete support and we are happy for them." Six weeks later, Hunter's bitter divorce from Kathleen Buhle was finalized. Talk about a scandalous relationship history!

But that's not all. In April 2019 Hunter's personal laptop containing sensitive matter surfaced at a repair shop and was turned over to the FBI. In 2019, DNA testing revealed that he was the father of a little girl named Navy Joan Biden. He later wrote about Navy's conception in his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things." Hunter claimed he had "no recollection" of fathering her as he was deep in the throes of alcohol and substance abuse. "I was a mess, but a mess I've taken responsibility for" he penned (via AP News). Since then, he has also been indicted for various firearm and tax offenses and the cases are ongoing.