Hunter Biden Named His Now-8½-Month-Old Son Beau, Honoring His Late Brother

Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen named their now-8½-month-old son after his late brother Beau Biden.

The sentimental choice was confirmed when Biden transition officials told reporters Tuesday that one "Beau Biden" was among family members flying with Joe Biden from Delaware to Washington, D.C., for his presidential inauguration. At Wednesday's swearing-in, Hunter, 50, held the baby boy, whose coos could be heard during the nationally televised ceremony.

Hunter and Cohen, who wed in May 2019, welcomed their baby son in late March, according to previous reports. Hunter had three children with Kathleen Buhle before their 2017 divorce. Beau died from brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.

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Last January, former vice president alluded to Beau's political prospects being cut short, tearfully telling MSNBC's Morning Joe, "Beau should be the one running for president, not me."

Beau's death in May 2015 impacted his father's political path, with the elder Biden determining he could not run for president in the 2016 election while he and his family were still in the throes of grief.

"Look, dealing with the loss of Beau, any parent listening who's lost a child, knows that you can't — it doesn't follow schedules of primaries and caucuses and contributors. Everybody grieves at a different pace," Biden said at the time.

Hunter has largely avoided the spotlight since facing increased scrutiny from Republicans and conspiracy theorists' during his father's 2020 presidential campaign. Biden, 78, has dismissed the attacks on Hunter — including a rehashing of his addiction and other issues — as a political "smear campaign."

"Look, everybody faces pain," Hunter once told The New Yorker. "Everybody has trauma. There's addiction in every family. I was in that darkness. I was in that tunnel — it's a never-ending tunnel. You don't get rid of it. You figure out how to deal with it."