Jill Biden on cover of new issue of Harper's Bazaar
CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 5/31/2022, 2:13 p.m.
Originally Published: 31 MAY 22 10:02 ET
By Kate Bennett, CNN
(CNN) -- First lady Dr. Jill Biden appears on the cover of the June/July issue of Harper's Bazaar magazine, the first time in the magazine's 155-year history a first lady has appeared on the cover, according to a release from the magazine.
In the feature story, which was written earlier this spring, Biden discusses her role as first lady to a country in crisis.
"Even as a Senate spouse, I was working, going to grad school, doing campaign events, raising kids," says Biden in the interview. "Showing up matters. That's the feeling I get. You're exhausted. You just do it."
Biden also discusses her relationship with President Joe Biden.
"I try to be a support for Joe because I don't know how many people are saying to him, 'That was great. That was brilliant.' I try to be that person for him," she said. "Some days, I see Joe and I'm just like, 'I don't know how you're doing it.' It's the pandemic and then it's the war and then it's the economy and then it's the gas prices. You feel like you're being slammed."
Biden shares several personal anecdotes in the interview, including that she and the President developed a habit of having spats over text during the Obama administration, so the Secret Service would not hear them fight, which they continue to this day -- they call it "fexting."
She also discusses her financial struggles after her brief first marriage, which led her to caution women not to rely on a man.
"I knew I would never, ever put myself in that position again -- where I didn't feel like I had the finances to be on my own, that I had to get the money through a divorce settlement. I drummed that into (my daughter), Ashley: Be independent, be independent. And my granddaughters -- you have to be able to stand on your own two feet."
Biden also tells the magazine she sets her alarm each day for sunrise so she can have time to herself before the day begins.
The photo shoot for the cover and story took place on location in Philadelphia on April 1.