President Joe Biden has revealed that he thought about taking his own life following the death of his first wife and 13-month-old daughter in an automobile accident.
In an interview with radio broadcaster Howard Stern for Stern's SiriusXM program, Biden made this revelation.
On December 18, 1972, the president's first wife Nelia and their 1-year-old daughter Naomi perished in a Delaware vehicle accident.
"You don't have to be crazy to commit suicide if you've been to the top of the mountain and you think you'll never be there again," Biden said to Stern, recalling the agonies of the past.
I briefly considered going to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and jumping off it, but I had two children.
The President added that he used to pull out a bottle of scotch and plot to get wasted after his wife passed away, but he was never able to get himself to do so.
"It's not a virtue that I don't drink. Simply put, I never drank.
And I would just pull out a bottle of scotch as I sat there thinking that. "I was going to just drink it and get wasted, and I can never bring myself to do that," he stated, referring to the alcohol that was always present in the home.
Biden has frequently discussed his reasons for not drinking, saying, at one point, that "there are enough drunks" in his family.
The US President additionally declared that he would be open to a debate with Republican opponent Donald Trump, stating, "I am, somewhere, I don't know when, but I am happy to debate him."