The New York Times published an extensive profile on Sunday detailing the relationship between Hunter Biden and Zoë Kestan, a former downtown New York artist and social media personality who met the president's son while working at Vivid Cabaret, a Midtown Manhattan strip club, in 2017.
According to the article, Kestan, who was 24 at the time, had no idea who Hunter Biden was when they first met at Vivid Cabaret. Their encounter led to an 11-month relationship that would later make her a key witness in federal investigations into Hunter's conduct.
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The profile reveals intimate details of their time together, including stays at luxury hotels across New York and Los Angeles, describing how Hunter, then 47, showed interest in her creative work and introduced her as his girlfriend to his social circle.
Kestan, now 31, described to the New York Times how she witnessed Hunter's struggles with addiction, particularly during their stay at the Chateau Marmont, where he would retreat to the bathroom with a laptop and crack pipe, making phone calls all night and turning to cam girls on the internet when no one answered while she slept.
The relationship ended in November 2018 when Hunter sent her an email announcing his marriage to "the love of his life," but its aftermath continued to affect Kestan's life. When Hunter's laptop contents became public in 2020, she found herself unexpectedly thrust into the national spotlight. She later testified in federal court about Hunter's drug use during their time together.
Now working as a design director, Kestan told the New York Times, "It was only a year of my life, but it doesn't feel like something that should have defined me for so long."
The article comes just days after President Joe Biden announced his decision to pardon his son, who faced federal charges related to gun possession and tax evasion.
