Former President Joe Biden announced Sunday that his fight with stage 4 prostate cancer will limit the promotional tour for his upcoming presidential memoir, Promise Me, America, cutting back on the public conversations he had planned ahead of the book's November 17 release.
In a post on X, Biden said his doctors "continue to be encouraged" by his response to treatment, but that the disease has taken a physical toll. "Some days are better than others. It hasn't stopped me. But sometimes it slows me down," he wrote. "What that means is, unfortunately, I won't be able to do as many conversations about my book as I'd hoped."
Biden added that he hopes "the words on the page speak for themselves."
The former president was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that spread to his bones in May 2025, according to Fox News Politics. He said he received the diagnosis while writing the memoir.
The book covers Biden's four years in the White House, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, his domestic legislative agenda, global diplomacy, and his decision to run for re-election before ultimately stepping aside in 2024. The memoir also reportedly details the personal deliberations behind that decision.
"While writing the book, I was diagnosed with cancer, a disease known all too well to millions of Americans and their families," Biden wrote. "The prayers and kind words and well wishes from so many of you have meant more to me and Jill and our family than you can ever know."
He closed the message with a line he attributed to his father: "Champ, when you get knocked down, get up. It's a good lesson for me. And for America."
Social media posts circulating Sunday reflected the announcement. One Instagram reel carried the caption "Joe Biden | I've written a book about my time as President," while another referenced his prostate cancer diagnosis. The posts do not include additional details beyond what Biden released publicly.
The New York Times reported that Biden said the cancer meant he "won't be able to do as many conversations" to promote the memoir as he had hoped. CNN Politics also reported that Biden announced the reduced promotional schedule Sunday. Neither outlet reported a specific number of events being canceled or scaled back, and the publisher has not released a revised tour schedule.
The announcement comes as the 46th president remains a lightning rod within his own party, with many Democrats still openly frustrated over his 2024 decision to stay in the race as long as he did. The book's release was already expected to generate uncomfortable questions about his health and the decisions made inside the White House during his final year.
It is not yet known whether Promise Me, America will address the ongoing scrutiny over his family's foreign business dealings, the southern border crisis, or the classified documents matter that followed him out of office. The memoir's publisher has not commented publicly on the contents beyond the book's release date.
Biden, 83, has largely retreated from public view since leaving office, appearing at select events and fundraisers. The reduced book tour signals that his post-presidential public schedule will remain limited for the foreseeable future.
Our Take
Every American family that has walked through a cancer diagnosis knows it is brutal, and no one at Next News Network is going to pretend otherwise. But let's be clear-eyed about the timing here. The same man who spent years being shielded from unscripted questions by his own staff, the same administration that told the country he was sharp as a tack while his handlers walked him off stage, is now saying he can't do too many interviews about the four years he wants to sell us as a triumphant chapter.
Patriots, ask yourselves: if the book is really the honest accounting Biden claims, why not sit for the hard questions? The border. The Afghanistan withdrawal. The inflation that crushed working families. The laptop. The autopen. Those are the conversations the American people deserve answers to, not just the glossy pages of a memoir arriving two years after he left the stage.
We wish Joe Biden a full recovery. Cancer is an ugly enemy and we don't root for it against anyone. But a book tour is not the same as running the country, and the American people deserved the truth about those four years long before this book was on the shelf. If the words on the page are supposed to speak for themselves, the least he can do is show up and answer for them.
