Hunter Biden convinced 'reluctant' Joe to publicly support his relationship with Beau's widow Hallie

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Hunter Biden convinced his father Joe in early 2017 to put out a statement approving of the affair he was having with his deceased brother Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, telling Joe that if he didn't, the relationship would "seem wrong."

"'Dad,' I told him, 'if people find out, but they think you're not approving of this, it makes it seem wrong," Hunter Biden wrote in his book, "Beautiful Things," to be released April 6. A copy of the book was obtained by Fox News.

He approached his father only after he was put "in a box" by a reporter calling to confirm or deny the relationship. Biden had left the vice presidency only a month before, according to Hunter Biden. He told his father he and Hallie were "incredibly lucky" to have found each other.

He suggested Biden's grandchildren would pay the price emotionally if the former vice president didn't make a positive statement about the affair. "'The kids have to know there's nothing wrong with this, and the one person who can tell them that is you,'" Hunter pleaded.

The senior Biden was reluctant but finally agreed to put out a statement:

"We are all lucky that Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness. They have mine and Jill's full and complete support and we are happy for them."

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The next day the news broke, and according to Hunter, "it was the beginning of the end."

In fact, rather than putting their lives back together, Hunter says he and Hallie were living "lives of quiet desperation" that were now on "full display" for the public and noted he was continuing his long history of substance abuse after "backsliding" following rehab. 

"I was madly trying to hold on to a slice of my brother, and I think Hallie was doing the same," Hunter wrote.

Neither had planned on a long-term relationship, but now they felt they needed to try to make it stick.

"If we weren't all in, we worried, the relationship would be perceived as a salacious fling," he wrote. "So we tried to make something work that, in hindsight, was never in the cards."

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A series of catastrophes ensued, as "fallout rained down everywhere." Hunter's daughters were "devastated." His business endeavors "evaporated."

He admitted he "might have dealt with all this more effectively" had he been "clean and sober."