In interview with Howard Stern, Biden says he considered suicide after death of first wife and daughter

NEW YORK — President Biden Friday said he considered killing himself after his first wife and baby daughter died in a car crash shortly after he won election as a U.S. senator.

In an interview with radio host Howard Stern, Biden admitted being distraught after his first wife, Neilia, and 18-month-old daughter, Naomi, died in a 1972 crash.

“In just a brief moment, I thought: ‘Let me just go to the Delaware Memorial [Bridge] and jump,’” Biden said.

“You don’t need to be crazy to commit suicide,” he added.

This is the remains of the car in which the wife and daughter of Delaware’s U.S. Senator-elect Joseph R. Biden Junior were killed. Neilia Biden and her daughter, Amy, 1, were killed when the family’s station wagon was hit broadside by a flat-bed tractor-trailer on highway. Biden’s two other children were also hurt in the wreck and were listed in “guarded condition” at the hospital. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images) Biden said he turned away from the suicidal thought because of his then-young sons, Beau and Hunter, who survived the crash.

“I had two kids,” he said. “It wasn’t like I got to commit suicide… (But) you’re never going to be OK.”

Biden also said he considered getting drunk to ease the pain of the tragedy, even though he doesn’t drink.

“I used to sit there and just think I’m going to take out a bottle of scotch,” Biden said. “I’m going to just drink it and get drunk.”

The startling revelation came in a wide-ranging surprise interview with Stern, the one-time shock jock who now hosts a show on Sirius XM radio.

Biden also said he is willing to debate former President Trump before the fall election.

Senator-elect Joseph Biden and wife Nelia cut his 30th birthday cake at a party in Wilmington, November 20th. His son, Hunter waits for the first piece. Biden by becoming 30 fulfills the constitutional requirement of Senators being 30 years of age when they take office. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)“Somewhere. I don’t know when,” Biden said. “But I’m happy to debate him.”

Trump quickly responded on his social media site by agreeing to a clash: “I say: Anywhere, anytime, anyplace.”

The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced dates and locations for three general election debates between the presidential candidates: Sept. 16 in San Marcos, Texas; Oct. 1 in Petersburg, Virginia; and Oct. 9 in Salt Lake City. The lone vice presidential debate is slated for Sept. 25 in Easton, Pennsylvania.

But it’s not 100% clear that the debates will happen because Trump and Republicans have derided the commission as biased.

_____