Usha Vance has spoken out after rumors spread about her marriage to Vice President JD Vance.
The usually private second lady addressed the growing public attention in a rare interview, which followed online chatter after she appeared at events without her wedding ring.
Speaking to USA Today in an interview conducted on December 8 and published December 13, she reflected on how different her life has become since her husband entered national politics.
“There are things that I miss and things that I’m excited to have moved on from,” she said.
As interest in her marriage grew, Usha noticed how closely people watched even the smallest details.
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“I find that one of the really curious things about this life is that people really like to read the tea leaves, and there’s a kind of an industry building stories about everything that they can imagine,” she said.
Still, she made it clear that the rumors have not shaken her family.
In fact, she said the talk has become more of a running joke at home.
“I’d rather just sort of live in my marriage and in the real world and less in kind of the fever dreams that surround it,” she explained. “So I mean, it is kind of a family joke, but also not something that I spend very much time thinking about.”
That relaxed attitude also applies to the wedding ring that started it all.
After questions swirled online, a spokesperson previously explained that Usha is “a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”
Usha echoed that message herself, keeping her response simple.
“I wear it when I wear it, and I don’t when I don’t,” she said.
She added, “Sometimes I’m wearing it, and sometimes I’ve just been to the gym and showered and I’m not wearing it.”
The rumors gained even more attention after a ringless visit to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where she appeared alongside first lady Melania Trump.
More chatter followed after JD Vance was seen embracing Erika Kirk at a political event in October. Comments he later made about religion also added fuel.
At the event, JD said he hopes his wife, who was raised Hindu, might one day convert to Catholicism.
Usha addressed her background calmly.
Growing up in Southern California, she said she was surrounded by people of many beliefs.
“Everything you could possibly name,” she said.
Usha and JD met at Yale Law School and have been married for over a decade. They share three children — Ewan, 8, Vivek, 5, and Mirabel, 3 — and are raising them Christian.
This Christmas, the family plans to spend time with Usha’s relatives.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
