Joe Biden's candid advice for a successful marriage in new NYT correspondent's book

Rogers' book, "American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden", is due to be released in the upcoming week.

According to Rogers' account, as noted by Reuters, when Biden withdrew from the presidential race in 2004, he shared the news with his colleagues. Jill Biden, his wife, entered the room wearing a blouse with the word "NO" on her belly. Biden, who is now 81, admitted to them that he had no significant intent to run further for the presidency.

"I would prefer being at home, making love to my wife, while our children are asleep," he said. Although this detail only takes up a few paragraphs in the expansive 276-page book, it has attracted some media attention.

The casually candid admission about his personal life by Biden provoked a shoulder shrug from the White House press spokesperson at the time. "Then-Senator Biden is deeply and ardently in love with his wife," Rogers quotes the spokesperson as saying.

"Joe, now as a president, may have refrained from public bedroom declarations, but he joked to colleagues that 'good sex' is the secret to a long-lasting, happy marriage, much to his wife's chagrin," Rogers observed.

As per Reuters, the book mentions the sorrow Biden felt after his first wife, Neilia, and their daughter, Naomi, died in a car crash in 1972. Biden married Jill in 1977, however, his proposal was accepted only after he had asked her five times.

"I was patient to the extent possible, but it was getting on my nerves. You either decide to marry me, or that's it. I won't ask again," Rogers recounts Biden declaring at his fifth attempt.