The ex-husband of Jill Biden said he longed to ‘never be apart’ from his second wife Linda in footage that resurfaced on Tuesday after he was charged with killing her.
William Stevenson – who was married to Jill Biden from 1970 to 1975 – was arrested on Monday for the murder of 64-year-old Linda Stevenson in their Delaware home.
In a 2020 interview, William revealed a seemingly heartfelt story about running into Linda at a local haunt – and how the couple had not separated since.
‘She was sitting across the bar with a common friend,’ he told Inside Edition as his now-deceased wife stood next to him.
William then described how he inquired about the woman he would go on to marry.
‘I said, “Is that Linda?” and he said, “Yes.” And from that day on, we have never been apart,’ William recalled.
The reporter asked: ‘Quite a romantic, this guy?’ Linda replied: ‘Yeah, yes.’
‘He was persistent,’ the reporter continued in a now ominous comment. Linda replied: ‘Yes, very.’
Former First Lady Jill Biden’s ex-husband William Stevenson (pictured right) said he would ‘never be apart’ from wife Linda (pictured center) in a resurfaced interview after he was charged with killing her
The 77-year-old, who was arrested on Monday over the killing of 64-year-old Linda Stevenson at their home in Delaware, spoke in 2020 about his love for Linda during a chat about the Biden presidential campaign
The seemingly lovestruck William now stands accused of killing his wife, who was found unresponsive in their home on December 28.
Linda was discovered on the floor by first responders at 11.16pm after a report of a domestic dispute. Despite first responder performing life-saving measures, Linda was pronounced dead.
A cause of death has not been released. Linda’s obituary stated she died unexpectedly. The tribute made no mention of her husband.
Linda leaves behind one daughter, Christina Vettori; and one grandchild, Ciara.
William Stevenson married then-Jill Jacobs while she was an 18-year-old college student at the University of Delaware. He a 23-year-old businessman.
‘Looking back, it may seem like that relationship was a mistake of youth,’ Jill Biden wrote in her 2019 memoir. ‘But there was a time when I truly believed we were destined for each other.’
The pair divorced in 1975 and two years later she married Joe Biden, then a New Castle County Councilman.
William Stevenson later claimed Jill had cheated on him and that he kicked her out of the house when he learned of the affair with Joe Biden.
Bill, who was married to First Lady Biden from 1970 to 1975, told Inside Edition met Linda at a bar and have never separated since
Bill Stevenson and Jill Biden were married from 1970 to 1975
Stevenson was charged with first-degree murder of his wife and, after failing to meet the $500,000 cash bail, was committed to the Howard Young Correctional Institution.
Speaking with the Daily Mail during Joe Biden’s run for president in 2020, William Stevenson described how he believed Jill had cheated on him.
‘One of her best friends told me she thought Joe and Jill were getting a little too close. I was surprised that she came to me,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Stevenson said his suspicions were confirmed after a man told him Joe had been driving his wife’s car when they were involved in an accident together.
‘I asked Jill to leave the house, which she did,’ he said. ‘Her father was begging me to take her back when he found out what was going on. He asked me to give her a second chance, but I wasn’t interested.’
Representatives for Jill told Inside Edition in 2020 that the affair claims were ‘fictitious’ to ‘sell and promote a book’ that Bill was preparing to release.
‘The relationship of Joe and Jill Biden is well documented,’ the spokesman said.
Bill is pictured with Jill Biden in the 1970s. The couple married in 1970, when Jill was still in college, and divorced in 1975
Jill married Joe Biden in 1977 and have been together ever since
‘Jill Biden separated from her first husband irreconcilably in the fall of 1974 and moved out of their marital home. Joe and Jill Biden had their first date in March of 1975, and they married in June of 1977.’
Bill Stevenson repeated a version of his claim, saying he introduced Jill to Joe in 1972, while working on his first campaign.
‘Jill, Joe, [Joe’s first wife] Neilia and I were all in his kitchen. How do you forget that?’
In her 2019 memoir, When the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, Jill admitted she first thought she and Stevenson were ‘destined for each other.’
Jill’s biographer detailed how the former first lady was disillusioned by the relationship and had to ‘compartmentalize’ her first marriage in order to move on.
‘She had these expectations of sort of what that marriage was going to be, and the marriage did not live up to those expectations,’ Julie Pace told People Magazine in 2022.
‘She was incredibly young and probably a bit naive about what life was going to look like, and it stings her. It really stings her, and it makes her question quite a bit,’ she added.
