Melissa Cohen Biden
Melissa Cohen Biden | |
|---|---|
_(1).jpg) Biden in 2021 | |
| Born | Melissa Batya Cohen October 15, 1986 |
| Education | Greenside Design Center College of Design University of California, Los Angeles |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, filmmaker |
| Spouse |
Jason Lavender
(m. 2011; div. 2014) |
| Children | 1 |
| Family | Biden (by marriage) |
Melissa Batya Cohen Biden (née Cohen; born October 15, 1986)[1] is a South African‐American activist and documentary filmmaker. She is married to Hunter Biden, a son of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Early life and education
[edit]Melissa Cohen was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She lived in an orphanage and was three years old when adopted by Lee and Zoe Cohen, a South African Jewish couple with three sons.[2][3] She attended King David High School Victory Park, a Jewish day school, before studying interior design at Greenside Design Center College of Design in South Africa.[4][5] She moved to Los Angeles when she was 21 years old to attend the University of California, Los Angeles.
Later life
[edit]While in Los Angeles, she met American businessman Jason Lavender. They married in 2011 and separated in 2014.[6] Cohen was an advocate for environmental and nature conservation groups.[4]
After her divorce, Cohen launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a documentary about tribal communities.[7]
In 2019, she met Hunter Biden, son of then-former U.S. Vice President and presidential candidate Joe Biden, through friends. She helped Hunter Biden seek treatment for substance use disorder.[8] They have matching "Shalom" tattoos on their left biceps.[2] On May 16, 2019, six days after meeting, they married in a ceremony at her apartment in the Hollywood Hills.[9][10][11] In 2019, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[1]
Their son, Beau, was born in March 2020 in Los Angeles.[12][13] She is the step-mother to Biden's three adult daughters—Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy—with his first wife and to the daughter, Navy Joan Roberts, he had in 2018 with Lunden Roberts.[14]
She attended the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021.[13]
She and her family live in Malibu, California.[15]
In June 2024, she accompanied her husband to his trial on federal gun charges, where he was found guilty on all 3 counts in Wilmington, Delaware. During a break in the trial on June 4, she confronted Garrett Ziegler, a former aide to President Donald Trump, outside the courtroom. Cohen approached Ziegler, pointed her finger at him and said in a loud voice, "You have no right to be here, you Nazi piece of shit." Her husband had filed a lawsuit against Ziegler, who has been compiling a searchable database of emails discovered on Hunter Biden's laptop, in September 2023.[16][17]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Exclusive: Hunter Biden talks getting married after 6 days and why his life is in 'the best place I've ever been'". ABC News. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ a b "What Hunter Biden's memoir tells us about Melissa Cohen, his Jewish wife". The Forward. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ Miltz, Nicola (3 June 2021). "Biden's daughter-in-law in SA for mom's funeral". Jewish Report. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ a b Keren David (9 November 2020). "Joe Biden's very Jewish family". The Jewish Chronicle.
- ^ "Meet Joe Biden's South African daughter-in-law". News24. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
- ^ "Who Is Melissa Cohen? Filmmaker And Hunter Biden's Wife". Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ Kaloi, Stephanie (13 February 2021). "Who Is Hunter Biden's Wife, Melissa Cohen?". The List. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ "Hunter Biden details lifelong addiction struggle in memoir". AP News. 2021-03-31. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ "Hunter Biden Just Married His Girlfriend of One Month". W Magazine. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ Newman, Meredith (July 1, 2019). "Hunter Biden talks about his addiction, 'I was in that darkness'". The News-Journal. Wilmington, Delaware. Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
- ^ Heil, Emily (June 12, 2019). "Hunter Biden's messy personal life is back in the news. Will it cause political headaches for his dad?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 13, 2019. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
- ^ Carlson, Adam (April 1, 2020). "Joe Biden's Son Hunter & His Wife Welcome a Son Less Than a Year After Whirlwind Wedding: Report". People. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
- ^ a b Stump, Scott (January 21, 2021). "Joe Biden and baby grandson share precious moment at inauguration — and his name is Beau". Today. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2021.
- ^ "Hunter Biden's 5 Children: Everything to Know". Peoplemag. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ Nerozzi, Timothy (23 July 2022). "Hunter Biden makes rare public outing amid investigation". Fox News. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
- ^ "'You Nazi piece of s---': Hunter Biden's wife confronts Trump ally in hallway outside gun trial". NBC News. 2024-06-04. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ Morris, Kyle (2024-06-04). "Hunter Biden's wife lashes out at former Trump aide during court appearance: 'Piece of s---'". Fox News. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- People from Johannesburg
- Living people
- Biden family
- South African emigrants to the United States
- South African Jews
- South African women environmentalists
- South African women film producers
- South African adoptees
- Jewish American activists
- Jewish women activists
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Hunter Biden
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- 20th-century South African women
- 21st-century South African women
- 20th-century American women
- 21st-century American women
- 21st-century American Jews
- 1986 births