Julia Louis-Dreyfus got candid about her friendship with Joe Biden during night four of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. The Veep star recalled the former vice president’s “warmth and kindness” after she revealed her cancer diagnosis.
“A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer and I was absolutely terrified,” she began. “One of the first people who called me was Joe. His real warmth and kindness on that call, man, I got to say, it made me cry.”
“Our current president has made me cry too, but it’s never had anything to do with his warmth or kindness,” she continued. “Joe Biden’s empathy is genuine. You can feel it. That’s why President Obama asked Joe to head up the Cancer Moonshot. President Obama knows what we all know, Joe Biden understands suffering and loss and sacrifice.
Earlier when the multi-Emmy Award winner opened the night — and before all her multiple digs at Donald Trump — she also recalled when she met Biden, as well as a sweet exchange between the two.
“I first met Joe Biden when I was doing my show Veep. I played the vice president and he was, in fact, the vice president, and we hit it off immediately. Soon after, I was asked to be on the cover of a magazine. Remember those?” she cracked. “And I was so excited, like, ‘Oh, what’s it going to be, People or Vogue or Rolling Stone?”
“Well, it turns out it was for Arrive, the official onboard magazine of Amtrak. Which nobody ever reads even though it’s free. And the day it came out, my phone rang and it was the vice president telling me he loved the cover and the whole article and that it was one of the best issues of Arrive he had ever read,” she continued. “And that is just one of the many reasons that I wanted to be here tonight for Joe, and to remind you that Joe Biden not only knows how to read but also he reads everything.”
