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Hunter Biden in a video message at the US Democratic Party Conference (2020)
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Hunter Biden's troubled past was last discussed in the US election campaign.
Numerous Republicans had worked, among other things, on the drug use of the son of the then Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Among other things, Joe had defended his son against the blasphemy of his opponent Donald Trump.
Hunter Biden has now written his memoir, "Beautiful Things" will be released on April 6th in the USA.
In it he reports on his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction as well as the relapse after the death of his brother.
"I bought crack on the streets of Washington DC and made my own in a bungalow in Los Angeles," writes Hunter Biden, among others.
In excerpts from the New York Times on Wednesday, Biden recalls, among other things, how he bought crack from a homeless addict who later moved in with him.
"The relationship was symbiotic," writes the 51-year-old.
Biden was discharged from the US Navy reservist unit in 2014 because of a positive test for cocaine.
Alcohol also played a big role in Hunter Biden's life for a long time: in “Beautiful Things” he remembers a time when he was “so desperate for a drink” that he couldn't walk a block from the liquor store to his house. without opening the bottle to take a sip «.
He later even manipulated the plastic caps on vodka bottles to make the alcohol flow faster.
According to his own account, Biden began to drink heavily as a young man.
After rehab, he relapsed again after the death of his brother Beau in 2015.
Beau died of a brain tumor at the age of only 46, less than two years after his diagnosis.
Hunter Biden claims to have overcome his drug and alcohol addiction and lives as an artist in Los Angeles.
Father Joe also helped him cope with his addiction: “He never let me down, never judged me or marginalized me - no matter how bad it got.
And it got very, very bad. "
When it comes to Ukraine, Biden becomes less talkative
In his memoirs, he also recalls the car accident he and Beau survived in December 1972.
Hunter's mother and little sister died in the accident.
"Suddenly I see my mother's head turning to the right," he writes.
He couldn't remember anything else.
The family car had been rammed into the side of a truck at the time.
Biden's son was not only a target in the presidential election campaign because of his private escapades.
For his business in Ukraine and China, among other things, he was regularly attacked by ex-President Trump.
In the book, Hunter Biden insists that he has done "nothing unethical".
According to the New York Times, this section reads like a scientific essay, unlike much of the rest of the book.
Biden said he has not shown poor judgment in the deals.
And anyway: "I've never been charged for anything."
jok / AFP