Everything We Know About Joe Biden's 7 Grandchildren
Joe Biden has experienced more than his fair share of tragedy, heartbreaking loss, and pain. However, he's been able to take great joy and comfort from his seven grandchildren, playing an active role in their lives — well, six of them, anyway.
Joe Biden's first wife, Neilia Biden, died in a car accident while driving with their three children a week before Christmas in 1972. The tragedy also resulted in the death of their infant daughter, Naomi. Joe admitted he was privileged enough to have a strong support network to help him through dark times. "I had an overwhelming advantage in the loss. That was I had a really close family, who was there," he shared in an interview with the "On Purpose with Jay Shetty" podcast in July 2023. "When I got home from the hospital, my sister and [her] husband already gave up their apartment and moved in, helped me raise my kids," he continued. Joe said he learned to truly appreciate the people remaining in his life and that he speaks and texts with his grandkids daily.
Adding to the anguish, Joe's oldest son, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer in 2015. The war veteran was 46. "It's not like the pain ever goes away. But what I do is I look at my grandson, his son, and I see him. I look at my granddaughter. I see her. And I know he's still here," the president told Oprah in November 2017. So, who are Joe's grandchildren?
Naomi and Finnegan Biden
Naomi and Finnegan Biden are the older daughters from Hunter Biden's first marriage to Kathleen Buhle. Naomi was named after her late aunt, while Finnegan was named in honor of her great-great-grandfather, James Finnegan.
Naomi is incredibly close to her grandparents, literally and figuratively. After the lease expired on her D.C. apartment, she moved into the White House with her then-fiancé Peter Neal. The couple lived there from August 2022 until March 2023, and they got married on the Executive Mansion's lawn in November 2022. "The relationship hasn't changed that much," Naomi told Vogue in a wedding interview. "When I was in middle school, we lived so close, and they were at every sports game and our school plays. We still do the same things. It's always been this way." According to her LinkedIn profile, Naomi attended Columbia Law School and is employed as an associate attorney at the law firm Arnold & Porter.
Finnegan is also close to Joe and Jill Biden; she's regularly seen at state affairs, attended the coronation of King Charles III with them in May 2023, and hit the road with her grandparents during Joe's 2020 presidential campaign. Finnegan attended UPenn, where she majored in history. She told "PBS News Hour" in August 2020 that Joe calls her daily. However, "I don't necessarily pick up every day, but I have a lot of voicemails," Finnegan confessed.
Maisy Biden
Maisy Biden is the youngest daughter of Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle. She attended the presidential kids' school of choice, Sidwell Friends, at the same time as Sasha Obama, and the two are close friends. Barack Obama coached Maisy and Sasha's school basketball team, The Vipers, and he has nothing but praise for her baller skills. "Maisy was like the LeBron of the league," he told Dax Shepherd during a July 2021 interview on the "Armchair Expert" podcast. "She dominated. She was great, you know, and we went undefeated."
Maisy told the "Today" show in January 2021 that her granddad was her biggest cheerleader and always managed to find the time to attend all her sporting events. "I think he, more than my dad, came to every single one of my soccer games, lacrosse games, basketball games. Like, he was at everything he could make it to," she said.
Like her older sisters, Maisy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied art. Maisy has a secret Instagram account and an online portfolio under her birth name, Roberta Mabel Biden. "My work is a junk drawer of my finished and unfinished thoughts. These thoughts pertaining to my childhood and life in the present moment; they reflect the memories I have and the memories I lost," she wrote in her artist statement.
Natalie and Robert Hunter Biden II
Natalie and Robert Hunter Biden II are the children of Joe Biden's late son, Beau Biden, and his wife, Hallie Biden. Natalie and Robert were 10 and 8 years old, respectively, when their father died from brain cancer in 2015.
Natalie graduated from St. Andrew's School in Delaware in May 2023. Joe and Jill Biden were front and center watching her collect her diploma. Joe was also by Natalie's side when she voted in the 2022 midterms. They celebrated with a TikTok video for CBS News. "I'm going to vote for the first time with my pop," she announced. "I'm so excited for her," he said. Like her cousins, Natalie attended UPenn. She's believed to be dating Rafael Hajjar, a fellow student who was Natalie's plus-one at her first state dinner in May 2024.
Robert tends to swerve the spotlight. However, he did crop up in a video showing him, his sister, and three of their cousins swearing the pledge of allegiance. The video was played at the 2020 DNC. According to Naomi Biden, when Joe was concerned about how his presidential campaign might affect his grandkids, Robert was quick to reassure him. "[He] basically said to him, 'We know it's going to be bad,'" she told the "Today" show in January 2021. "'But we have each other, and we know the truth. And we will be okay.' So I think he came out of that meeting feeling a little bit more comforted."
Navy Joan Roberts
Navy Joan Roberts is the least close to Joe Biden of his seven grandchildren. She is the daughter of Hunter Biden and Lunden Roberts, whom he had a brief fling with during his struggles with addiction. Joe didn't even acknowledge Navy until she was four years old. "I have six grandchildren, and I'm crazy about them. And I speak to them every single day. Not a joke," the president told a group of kids in April 2023. However, that all changed three months later.
"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 told People in a statement. "This is not a political issue, it's a family matter," he continued. "Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy."
Hunter denied his fourth daughter's paternity until a 2019 DNA test proved otherwise. In his 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things," Hunter described Navy's mother as "the woman from Arkansas who had a baby in 2018 and claimed the child was mine. I had no recollection of our encounter." Lunden sued Hunter for child support. They finally settled in June 2023 for an undisclosed amount, some of his paintings, and an agreement that Lunden would not try and change Navy's last name to Biden.
Beau Biden Jr.
Beau Biden Jr. is the son of Hunter Biden and his second wife, Melissa Cohen Biden. He is named after his late uncle. Beau made his public debut at Joe Biden's inauguration in January 2021 when he was just 8 months old. Hunter was snapped holding the little boy, who was wrapped up warm in a wooly hat and tartan coat. Beau was later seen in his grandfather's arms as they shared a special moment on the White House balcony.
Joe clearly has a special bond with his youngest grandchild. In a video tour of the Executive Mansion with Architectural Digest in December 2023, the president showed off a photo of him and Beau recreating the iconic image of John F. Kennedy reading the newspaper at the Resolute desk in the Oval Office while his son, John F. Kennedy Jr., crawled out of a trap door by his feet.
The couple even match their clothes and mannerisms. In August 2022, Joe and Beau were caught on camera twinning in presidential navy blue suits and waving to the crowds together as they boarded Air Force One for a family getaway in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.