Joe Biden's Daughter To Divorce Cherry Hill Native

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Ashley Biden, the daughter of former President Joe Biden, filed for divorce Monday from her husband, Cherry Hill native Howard Krein, according to reports.

The former first daughter issued the filing in Philadelphia, where she and Krein long made their home, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Krein is an otolaryngologist and plastic surgeon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia.

He was born and raised in Cherry Hill and volunteered as a firefighter from ages 16-20, according to the Observer.

In his youth, Krein developed an interest in horses and competed in CowTown — a weekly summertime rodeo in Penns Grove.

"Growing up in Cherry Hill, there weren’t that many active horse farms," Krein said, according to the report. "But there was one when I was growing up and I got a job exercising the horses there starting when I was about 12. It just so happened that the guy who owned the farm was a cowboy, he was a calf roper, and, you know, working at the farm, I slowly picked it up. He took me under his wing and taught me calf roping."

Krein graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's in neuroscience. In 1996, he obtained a doctoral degree in cell and development biology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Four years later, he graduated from medical school at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

He began dating Ashley Biden in 2010 after being introduced by Ashley's late half-brother, Beau Biden. Joe Biden was vice president at the time.

Krein proposed in October 2011 as he and Ashley Biden watched the sunset on a cliff in Big Sur, California, according to People Magazine. The following June, they wed in a Catholic-Jewish interfaith ceremony at St. Joseph on the Brandywine — the church in Greenville, Delaware, where Ashley was baptized.

In 2020, Krein was an unofficial advisor to Joe Biden's presidential campaign on its COVID-19 response, participating in daily calls to brief Biden on health policy. Politico raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest.

The report also said that Krein's venture capital business, StartUp Health, announced plans for major investments in COVID-related startups.

"Krein simultaneously advising the campaign and venturing into Covid investing could pose conflict-of-interest concerns for a Biden administration or simply create the awkward appearance of Krein profiting off his father-in-law’s policies," Politico's report said.

A Biden campaign official later told The Hill that, as an informal advisor, Krein merely offered his medical expertise occasionally. At the time, a StartUp Health spokesperson told ABC News that Krein doesn't make investment decisions for the company, nor does he advise or help companies on getting government contracts.