Biden admits he considered suicide and 'picking up a bottle of Scotch' after his wife's death in 1972... even though he is tee-total

President Joe Biden opened up about the dark times he endured after his first wife and daughter died in a car crash, describing to radio host Howard Stern on Friday how he contemplated suicide.

Biden sat for a surprise interview during a visit to New York. 

In one of the most revealing passages he talked of his despair at the death of Neilia and their 13-month-old daughter Naomi in December 1972.

'I don't drink. That's not a virtue. I just never drank,' he said.

'And I used to sit there and think to myself, I think I'll take out a bottle of Scotch. We always had liquor in the house ... and I was going to just drink and get drunk and I could never bring myself to do it. 

In this file picture senator-elect Joseph Biden and wife Nelia cut his 30th birthday cake at a party in Wilmington, November 20th, 1972, with their two sons Hunter and Beau

Biden spoke to Sirius XM host Howard Stern

'And I actually thought about you know, you don't have to be crazy to commit suicide. If you've been at the top of a mountain you think it's never going to be there again. 

'And just a brief moment, I thought maybe I just go to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and jump. but I had two kids.'

The live radio interview took listeners by surprise. Biden has sat for few interviews since taking office and the appearance was not listed on his public schedule.

He spent Thursday night in New York City after a fundraiser at the home of actor Michael Douglas in Westchester County. 

The president spent Thursday night in New York City after attending a fundraiser hosted by actor Michael Douglas in Westchester County. 

Then, before flying back to the White House, he stopped by a Manhattan studio to chat with Sirius XM radio host Stern.

He made some news during the interview, with Biden saying he would be 'happy' to meet Trump on the debate stage.

Stern asked a series of heart-wrenching questions about the car accident that took the wife of Biden's first wife Neilia and his one-year-old daughter Naomi. 

But things soon turned to the period when Biden was romantically available – and women took notice.

President Joe Biden gave an hour-long interview with Howard Stern on Sirius XM, speaking about his youth and his career in politics, including the time when he was a bachelor senator

Biden with Nelia soon after he was elected senator in 1972. She died weeks later

In the new interview, Biden said: 'And just a brief moment, I thought maybe I just go to the Delaware Memorial Bridge and jump. but I had two kids'

'I got put in that ten most eligible bachelors list,' he told Stern, who observed he was a U.S. senator at the time. 

'And a lot of lovely women, but women, would send very salacious pictures and I just give them to the Secret Service. And I thought somebody would think I was ...' he said, without clarifying why the agency who handles presidential security would be involved.

He decided to tap the brakes on his romantic pursuits.  

'And I just gave up,' Biden said. Then, 'I got a call from my brother. So I have a girl here at Delaware – Jill is nine years younger than I am. He said you'll love her. She doesn't like politics,' he continued, describing events that set up his second marriage.

Stern asked a series of softball biographical questions in an interview that culminated with the host sharing his own exasperation about how people could vote for someone who told a Georgia election official to 'find 11,780' votes.  

Biden recounted his time working as a lifeguard in a predominantly black neighborhood in Delaware.

Biden recounted pulling six people from distress, without bragging about the endeavor.

'You ever save anyone's life when you were a lifeguard?' he asked.

Biden said he would be 'happy' to debate Donald Trump

'Half a dozen times,' Biden responded.

Stern was ready to see more on the big screen. 

'It’s a big deal. We should play that up in the movie of your life,' Stern advised. 

Biden also regaled Stern with stories about his high school football career.

'You were the like the first string guy. You were the guy who caught the ball,' Stern told him.

'Runner up state scoring! What the heck,' Biden followed on. 'Wow,' said STern.

Stern tried to pry comments out of Biden about the Supreme Court, whose conservative rulings have shaped election politics, even when saying the Violence Against Women Act he helped author was under threat.

'I’ve got to be careful what I say about the court,' Biden said, calling the law one of his 'proudest achievements.'

It was Stern who recounted the time Senate Republicans led by Biden's friend Sen. Mitch McConnell killed Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.  

'These maniacs in the sen said no way. And now we’ve got a Supreme Court that’s nuts,' Stern said.

'It's a really conservative court. Maybe the most conservative court in modern history,' said Biden.

Biden said women would send him 'salacious' photos during the time he was single after the death of his first wife, Nelia. He married Jill Tracy Jacobs (now first lady Jill Biden) in 1977

Stern, who has interviewed Trump in the past, didn't get into the Stormy Daniels trial underway in his home state of New York. But he popped off on the January 6 charges against Trump. 

'What are we debating? A man picked up the phone and wanted to say fake the election. Give me 11,000 votes. I don't know how any American who loves this country. That's the end of the debate. You don't get to run if you're going to fix an election.'

Biden went after Trump's inaction in the White House during the Capitol riot. 'It was derelict. It was almost criminal,' he said. 

In his comment on debating Trump, Biden moved beyond earlier hedging. 

'I am, somewhere I don’t know when. I’m happy to debate him,' he told Stern.

Back in March, Biden had hedged, saying in March that 'It depends on his behavior.'

'Ok let’s set it up!' Trump campaign senior advisor Chris LaCivita posted soon after the comment.