Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave Americans a look behind the podium in a speech Vanity gallery Piece published Tuesday.
Jean-Pierre, who chose to keep her personal life private while working in the Biden-Harris administration, revealed a private health battle that has weighed heavily on her and her family.
Jean-Pierre remembers They attended the Biden family's first state dinner in December 2022, saying it was “the first time the administration felt the dinner was safe to host since the pandemic began.” That evening, Jean-Pierre was accompanied by her mother, who told her it was “the happiest day of my life.”
The formal dinner was the last time Jean-Pierre recognized my mother as the woman she had grown up with. Unfortunately, things took another turn, and just two months later, her mother was diagnosed with stage 2 colon cancer. Jean-Pierre discovered that her mother was sick while visiting Poland with then-President Joe Biden.
“My mother was always a private person. When I finally caved in, she said, 'Don't tell anyone. Don't tell the president I have cancer,'” the former press secretary wrote.
Then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 30, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden was supposed to be “one of the few In the White House“Who knew what Jean-Pierre's mother was going through. Biden 'showed up for me' during the difficult time,” Jean-Pierre said.
While navigating her mother's care alongside her siblings, Jean-Pierre would drive to New York “every weekend I could see my mother,” then return late at night to get “a few hours of sleep” before heading to the White House.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a news conference in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 9, 2024 in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Despite serving in a public-facing role in the Biden-Harris administration through her “second full-time job” coordinating her mother's care, Jean-Pierre explained that being a “private person” is one of the reasons she didn't do that. Making her mother's battle with cancer public. The former press secretary said she was also working under the “heaviness” of being a “first.”
“I am the first black press secretary. The first press secretary of color. The first openly gay press secretary. The first press secretary of Haitian-American immigrants. The first press secretary to be all of the above. Being the first meant that I had responsibilities that went beyond those I had,” Jean-Pierre wrote. In the job description, the burden was heavier and I bear a certain responsibility towards the communities that I represent.”
Karen Jean-Pierre's most unforgettable moments of 2024
Jean-Pierre also claimed that she believes sharing her mother's diagnosis would have been seen as an “excuse” because “society doesn't allow women of color to be vulnerable at work. When you're first, you don't get the presumption of good faith.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took over the position in May 2022, when Jen Psaki left for MSNBC. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
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During her time in the White House briefing room, Jean-Pierre faced criticism for a series of embarrassing and controversial moments.
In one of her most famous moments, Jean-Pierre accused the media and others of creating “cheap fakes” that made Biden “appear particularly weak or mentally disoriented.” While the American people were wondering whether the Commander-in-Chief was capable of carrying out the duties of his office, Jean-Pierre was gaslighting them by calling it “disinformation” and “disinformation.”
After Biden spoke out against Georgia's voting laws, calling them “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 was also tasked with walking back his denial of the possibility that the president would pardon his son Hunter Biden. Once the president pardoned his son, despite repeatedly pledging not to do so, Jean-Pierre clarified the pivot by saying that “circumstances have changed.” She also blamed then-President-elect Trump, saying the president was trying to protect his son from Republican “retaliation.”
In May 2022, Jean-Pierre took over from her predecessor, Jen Psaki, who served as Biden's press secretary for about a year and a half. When she handed over the reins to Jean-Pierre, Psaki described her successor as a “wonderful person” before mentioning her qualifications for the position.
