By Vice President JD Vance is pushing back against swirling online speculation about his marriage to Second Lady Usha Vance after she was repeatedly photographed without her wedding ring at public events. Speaking in a Thursday interview, Vance said the pair finds the attention more humorous than troubling and emphasized that their relationship remains strong.
The rumors first surfaced in November when Usha Vance appeared without her ring during an event alongside First Lady Melania Trump, noted The Daily Mail. She was again seen without the jewelry this month during a visit to Joint Base Andrews, renewing questions on social media about the state of the couple’s marriage.
“I think that we kind of get a kick out of it,” Vance said Thursday in an interview with NBC News when he was asked whether he was frustrated over a recent rash of tabloid-style headlines about the second lady being spotted without her wedding ring.
“With anything in life, you take the good with the bad,” Vance added as he sat in his West Wing office, where photos of him and Usha Vance and their children line the tables around his desk. “You accept that there are some sacrifices and there are some very good things that come along with it, too. But our marriage is as strong as it’s ever been, and I think Usha’s really taken to it, and it’s been kind of cool to see how she’s developed and evolved in this new role.”
He did not minimize the personal challenges that accompany national office. “There are certainly ways in which it’s difficult on the family … I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t,” Vance said. “But it’s the sacrifice that we signed up for.”
Vance also offered a lighthearted retelling of one moment that fueled the speculation, saying Usha forgot her rings as the couple scrambled to leave for the White House ahead of an event with the First Lady. After showering, she realized she had left the rings upstairs. “She was like, ‘Oh, if I don’t go back and get them, there’s going to be some ridiculous psycho who talks about it on social media,’” Vance recalled. “And I was like, ‘Let them. It’s not even worth the trip to run back upstairs.’ So we actually have a little bit of fun with it. And we thought that whole viral social media cycle was kind of funny.”
A spokesperson for Usha Vance previously attributed the missing ring to routine domestic life, noting that she “does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”
The couple, who married in 2014 and have three children, has faced periodic online commentary, including questions about Usha Vance’s religious background after the Vice President mentioned that he encouraged her to convert from Hinduism to Catholicism. Vance later clarified, “[Usha] herself encouraged me to re-engage with my faith many years ago. She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage – or any interfaith relationship – I hope she may one day see things as I do,” he wrote.
“Regardless, I’ll continue to love and support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she’s my wife.
“Yes, Christians have beliefs. And yes, those beliefs have many consequences, one of which is that we want to share them with other people. That is a completely normal thing, and anyone who’s telling you otherwise has an agenda.”
Despite the scrutiny, Vance praised his wife’s adjustment to public life, highlighting her new advocacy efforts on childhood literacy. “It’s been amazing to see her really lean into this child literacy thing. And I think it speaks very highly of her,” he said.
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