Hunter Biden on addiction and 'the gift of being publicly shamed' | NPR's Newsmakers

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4.6 • 59K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2026

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Hunter Biden says he has nothing left to hide. He’s been all over the internet in recent months, including appearances with some of his harshest critics, such as ultra-conservative podcasters Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes. In May, he reactivated his long-dormant X account, writing, “You've never actually heard from me.”

Since then, he’s posted an average of 23 times per day — weighing in on politics, news and culture. After his private life and struggle with addiction was made public through leaks in the media, congressional investigations and federal prosecutions, Biden now says being ‘stripped naked in the public square’ was, in a way, a gift.

In this episode of NPR's Newsmakers, Scott Simon sat down with Biden, who opened up about that public shaming, why President Joe Biden decided to pardon him after tax and gun convictions and why he didn’t want his father to run for reelection in 2024 – but didn’t tell him at the time.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Scott Simon here with a special episode.
0:06.3	Conversation from our sister show, Newsmakers, home of NPR's biggest interviews.
0:10.8	Today, Hunter Biden.
0:13.3	I was on a plane once.
0:15.0	I was seven years sober, and nothing was going wrong.
0:18.5	And somebody asked me if I wanted to drink.
0:20.8	And 10 years later, I wanted to drink.
0:24.0	And 10 years later, I woke up in a motel with a crack pipe.
0:28.7	My dad got older before people's eyes.
0:30.6	And I think that made them very nervous.
0:32.4	You were pardoned by your father.
0:33.8	Yes, thank God.
0:35.8	Did that open the door for President Trump to pardon some of his supporters, including the
0:38.5	January 6th gang?
0:39.8	I think that that is an insane argument.
0:45.4	Hunter Biden has been all over the Internet lately.
0:48.6	He's trolled President Trump and discussed his past struggles with addiction.
0:54.0	But he's also made appearances with some
0:56.1	fierce critics, including the conservative podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Kansas Owens.
1:02.8	When we sat down with Hunter Biden and NPR studios in New York City this week, he told us he
1:09.1	had nothing left to hide. You've been speaking out so much
1:14.1	in the past few months on lots of different platforms. I'm struck by your first post on X,
	...

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