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Ashley Biden, the daughter of former President Joe Biden and former first lady Jill Biden, has filed for divorce from her longtime husband, Howard Krein
The former first daughter filed the divorce papers in Philadelphia on Monday, Aug. 11, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which cited her spokesperson
Ashley married the plastic surgeon, who is 15 years her senior, in 2012, with then-Vice President Biden telling PEOPLE at the time that Krein was “the right guy” for his only surviving daughter
Ashley Biden, the daughter of former President Joe Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden, has reportedly filed for divorce from her husband, Dr. Howard Krein, after 13 years of marriage.
On Monday, Aug. 11, Ashley, 44 — who married Krein, 58, on June 2, 2012 — filed the documents in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, citing her representative.
On the same day, Ashley posted a since-deleted photo of herself walking through a park, giving a thumbs up on her Instagram Stories, while Beyoncé’s “Freedom” played in the background, per the outlet.
The former first daughter had also reposted the quote, “New life, new beginnings means new boundaries. New ways of being that won’t look or sound like they did before,” on Instagram, set to the tune of Ms. Lauryn Hill’s “Freedom Time,” the newspaper noted.
A representative for Ashley did not immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment. PEOPLE has also reached out to Krein.
As previously reported by PEOPLE, Ashley and Krein tied the knot at the steepled St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church, in Greenville, Delaware, in a ceremony combining the bride’s Catholic traditions and the groom’s Jewish ones.
Afterward, the newlyweds and around 200 family members and close friends headed to the Biden family’s lakeside home in nearby Wilmington for a reception and dinner served family-style in the backyard.
Lau Fook Kong, The Straits Times/AP Photo
Ashley Biden, Joe Biden, Jill Biden and Howard Krein during a 2013 ceremony in Singapore
Joe, who was the U.S. vice president at the time, personally prepped for the big event, with him and his wife, Jill, laying fresh sod and planting special fast-growing vines up the latticework around the party tent.
The now-former president escorted the bride down the aisle and had prepared to be emotional about giving away the youngest of his children.
“I kept telling Ash, we’ve got to open up the church and practice walking up and down the aisle so I can handle it,” he previously told PEOPLE in the days leading up to the wedding.
While reminiscing about the only other time he’d seen his daughter in a veil — at her First Communion — Joe added at the time, “I think to myself, aw, God, my little girl! This can’t have passed so quick.”
Andrew Harnik/Getty
Joe Biden and his daughter Ashley at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19, 2024
Ashley and Krein started dating in the summer of 2010, after meeting through Beau Biden, one of her two older half-brothers. They then got engaged in October 2011 after Krein proposed at sunset on a cliff in Big Sur, Calif.
Joe previously told PEOPLE of Krein asking for his permission to marry his daughter, “This is the right guy. And he’s getting a helluva woman.”
Ashley has largely lived life away from the spotlight, but she did bring her father to tears after she introduced him at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024.
She mentioned how emotional her father was on her wedding day in her speech, saying, “Before he walked me down the aisle, he turned to me and said he would always be my best friend. All these years later, Dad, you are still my best friend.”
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Krein was in the Oval Office with the Biden family on an important day in 2024, when Joe delivered a speech on his decision to abandon his reelection bid.
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