Former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave Americans a look behind the podium in a Vanity Fair article published Tuesday.
Jean-Pierre, who chose to keep his personal life private while working in the Biden-Harris administration, has opened up about a private health battle that has placed significant strain on him and his family.
“It was the first time since the pandemic began that the administration felt safe to host a dinner,” Jean-Pierre said, recalling attending the Bidens’ first state dinner in December 2022. That evening, Jean-Pierre was accompanied by his mother, who said it was “the happiest day of my life.”
The state dinner was the last time Jean-Pierre “recognized my mother as the woman I grew up with.” Unfortunately, things changed and just a few months later, her mother was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. Jean-Pierre learned that his mother was sick while visiting Poland with then-President Joe Biden.
“My mother has always been a private person. When she finally accepted reality, she told me, ‘Don’t tell anyone. Don’t tell the president that I have cancer,'” the former press secretary wrote.
White House reporters reflect on covering the reclusive Biden and what they hope to see in covering Trump.
Then-White House Press Secretary Carine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 30, 2023. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP, Getty Images)
Biden is believed to be “one of the few people in the White House” who knows what Jean-Pierre’s mother is going through. Jean-Pierre said Biden “showed up for me” during difficult times.
While in her mother’s care, Jean-Pierre, along with his siblings, drove to New York “to see her every weekend” and returned late at night to get “a few hours of sleep” before heading to the White House.
White House Press Secretary Carine Jean-Pierre holds a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Andrew Hanich/Getty Images)
Despite taking on a very public role as a “second full-timer” in the Biden-Harris administration coordinating her mother’s care, Jean-Pierre explained that being “private” was just one of the reasons she was unable to do so. Reveal your mother’s battle with cancer. The former press secretary said that he too is working with the ‘weight’ of being ‘the first’.
“I am the first black press secretary. The first press secretary of color. The first openly queer press secretary. The first Haitian-American immigrant press secretary. The first press secretary to be all of the above. The first press secretary. Being a first-timer meant that the responsibilities went beyond what was stated in the job description, and the responsibility to the community I represented was even greater,” Jean-Pierre wrote.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF 2024
Jean-Pierre also claimed that she believed sharing her mother’s diagnosis would be viewed as an “excuse” because “society does not allow women of color to be vulnerable in the workplace, giving them the benefit of the doubt.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has held the role since May 2022, when Jen Psaki left for MSNBC. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
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While in the White House briefing room, Jean-Pierre faced criticism for a series of embarrassing and controversial moments.
In one of her most infamous moments, Jean-Pierre accused the media and others of creating a “cheap fake” that made Biden “look particularly frail or mentally disturbed.” When Americans wondered whether the Commander-in-Chief was capable of carrying out his duties, Jean-Pierre angered them by calling this ‘misinformation’ and ‘false information.’
After Biden spoke out against Georgia’s voting law, calling it “Jim Crow 2.0,” Jean-Pierre raised eyebrows by claiming that “high voter turnout and voter suppression can occur at the same time.”
Jean-Pierre also took on the task of denying the possibility that the president would pardon his son Hunter Biden. Despite the president’s repeated pledges not to pardon his son, Jean-Pierre explained the reason, saying, “Things have changed.” She also criticized then-President-elect Trump, saying the president was trying to protect her son from “retaliation” from the Republican Party.
In May 2022, Jean-Pierre replaced predecessor Jen Psaki, who served as Biden’s press secretary for nearly a year and a half. When handing over the reins to Jean-Pierre, Psaki called her successor “an amazing person” before listing his qualifications for the position.
