Speaking up about her mother’s fight with colon cancer, Joe Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre disclosed that she was essentially working “two full-time jobs” while taking care of her mother when she was at the White House.
Jean-Pierre kept her mother’s health fight a secret from most people, but she later disclosed in Vanity Fair that the then-president was one of the individuals she confided in.
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“Every weekend I could, I would drive to New York to see my mom,” the 50-year-old said, returning late at night to get “a few hours of sleep” before heading back to the White House.
Jean-Pierre revealed that she has been “silently working a second full-time job, which is navigating my mother’s care.”
She acknowledged that her mother, who is a very private person, had begged her not to disclose her illness to “anyone,” particularly the president, but that wasn’t the only reason she kept the heartbreaking news to herself.
Jean-Pierre highlighted her impressive accolades, “I’m the first Black press secretary. The first person of color press secretary. The first openly queer press secretary. The first Haitian American immigrant press secretary. The first press secretary to be all of the above.”
She continued, “Being a first meant that my responsibilities were beyond those in the job description, the load heavier. I bear a certain responsibility to the communities I represent.”
According to Jean-Pierre, she was aware that she never wanted her mother’s illness to be misinterpreted as “an excuse” for her absence from work.
Noting, “Society doesn’t allow women of color to be vulnerable at work. When you’re a first, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt.”
After an arduous and protracted fight with cancer, her mother’s disease is currently in remission.
In December 2022, Jean-Pierre accompanied the press secretary for a state dinner with the Bidens, recalling one of the final occasions she “recognized [her] mother as the woman I grew up with.”
For the first time since COVID, she said, it seemed safe to have a big dinner party, and her mother was overjoyed to be invited.
Jean-Pierre heard her mother describe it as “the happiest day of my life.”
Jean-Pierre believes this is an excellent moment to explain “what I’ve been through, and what it’s like to come from where I come from and sit in the public eye.” She has no regrets about handling her sorrow in private.
Jean-Pierre spent many minutes praising her family, coworkers, and the president at her last news briefing of the Biden administration. She also mentioned that this was the administration’s 537th and her 306th briefing.
Her prominent, conspicuous position, she added, should serve as an ‘inspiration to many young girls out there.’
Despite Jean-Pierre’s repeated claims that he had no such plans, she received a lot of criticism last month when Biden pardoned his son, Hunter.
However, she maintained that the president was a sincere individual who made his choice just the same weekend he announced it.
Jean-Pierre remarked, “First of all, one of the things that the president always believes is to be truthful to the American people.”
Even though the legal system had failed his son, Jean-Pierre frantically attempted to maintain the claim that Biden still had trust in it.
She stated, “Two things could be true.” Adding, “The president believes that his son was politically singled out, and he also believes in the justice system and the Department of Justice.”
