Anyone who followed 2020 election coverage knows that family is everything to President-elect Joe Biden. But the man affectionately referred to as “Pop” by his seven grandchildren has had his share of tragedy on his journey to the White House. In 1972, his first wife, Neilia, and his one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident while Christmas shopping. His two sons, Beau and Hunter, survived but sustained a broken leg and skull fracture, respectively.
Biden married his current wife, Dr. Jill Biden, in 1977. In 1981 they welcomed their daughter Ashley into the world. However, life did not bring him a happily-ever-after ending. In 2015, Beau died of brain cancer at the age of 46.
And now that he’s been sworn into the highest office in the land, Biden is plagued with controversy over his last living son, Hunter. The younger Biden married his second wife, Melissa Cohen, in May 2019, following years of scandalous exploits. When critics and detractors aren’t digging for dirt on Hunter that may not even exist, they may be curious about Cohen. Find out everything we know about Joe Biden’s new daughter-in-law.
Who Is Melissa Cohen?
Melissa Cohen is a South African activist and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She moved to the US at 21 after earning an interior design degree from Greenside Design Center College of Design in South Africa.
She was previously married to an American entrepreneur Jason Landver between 2012 and 2014. In March, she gave birth to a son with Hunter. The child is reportedly named after his deceased uncle, Beau.
Hunter Biden And Melissa Cohen Got Married Six Days After They Met
Hunter and Cohen’s relationship moved at warp speed. A few days after their first date, he had the word “shalom” tattooed on his left bicep to match her ink. A few days after that, he proposed. They were married within 24 hours.
“I called my dad and said that we just got married,” Hunter told the New Yorker. “He was on speaker, and he said to her, ‘Thank you for giving my son the courage to love again.'”
Melissa Cohen Claims She Was Raised By A Tribeswoman In The Jungle
Cohen apparently comes with her own bizarre baggage. According to the Daily Mail, the 33-year-old, who is adopted, claims she spent the first few years of her life being raised by African tribeswomen. The self-described “jungle girl” says her native tongue is Xhosa, a tribal dialect. Friends believe “she may have embellished some aspects of her background in order to raise money for her various conservation projects.”
Sources also revealed unsavory details about her former marriage to Landver. “She decided she wanted to stay in America so she gave him an ultimatum,” said an insider. “She said we need to get married to get my visa or she would have to leave. It was very manipulative.”
Despite living a lavish lifestyle on Landver’s dime, the two ultimately called it quits. She accepted a $50,000 payment, kept her two-and-a-half carat ring, and even had her ex-husband finance a one-month trip to Europe “to ease the pain of their split.”
Hunter Biden Credits Melissa For Helping Him With His Sobriety
Hunter recently released his memoir, Beautiful Things. As ABC News reported, he uses the book as an opportunity to confront many of the controversies that have followed him over the years. In one of the most personal revelations from the book, he admits that he’s had a long and hard battle with drugs and alcohol.
Hunter had his first drink when he was just eight years old – a flute of champagne while celebrating his dad’s reelection to the Senate. As he got older, his alcohol consumption increased, and he developed a destructive addiction. He eventually started experimenting with drugs. He got busted for cocaine at 18, but the run-in with the law didn’t curb the habit. Crack cocaine eventually became another addiction he had to control.
In the book, Hunter credits his wife for helping him reach his sobriety goals. She was unphased by his problems and quickly helped him remove some of the toxic elements of his life. “She pushed away everyone in my life connected to drugs,” he wrote in the memoir. She confiscated his car keys, wallet, and computer to keep him from relapsing. As Hunter dealt with painful withdrawals, Cohen was right by his side.
We’re glad that Hunter could find such a supportive partner to help him face his demons. Time will tell if the two wild-child personalities are a match for the long run, but with such a deep connection, they seem like they’re well on their way to a happily ever after.