Vice President JD Vance has broken his silence surrounding his marriage after his wife, Usha Vance, was spotted without her wedding ring.
America’s second lady sparked intense speculation last month when she visited Camp Lejeune, a military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina, with First Lady Melania Trump, but notably wasn’t wearing her wedding ring.
That same month, Vance himself also drew several raised eyebrows after he was caught on camera sharing an intense hug with Erika Kirk.
The Vances were friends with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and have played a huge part in supporting his wife Erika following his assassination in September – but the ‘intimate’ nature of their embrace sparked concern among supporters that perhaps the Vances’ marriage was in jeopardy.
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This was particularly apparent after Erika herself commented on the similarities between her late husband and the vice president.
"No one will ever replace my husband. But I do see some similarities of my husband in JD — in Vice President JD Vance. I do. And that's why I am so blessed to be able to introduce him tonight,” she said at the time.
However, despite the speculation surrounding his marriage, JD has finally broken his silence to set the record straight.
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“Our marriage is as strong as it’s ever been,” he told NBC News on Friday (Dec 5).
He even said he and Usha have been ‘getting a kick’ out of the rumours.
“With anything in life, you take the good with the bad. You accept that there are some sacrifices and there are some very good things that come along with it, too.”
" 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.”
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JD and Usha tied the knot back in 2014 and together share three children: sons Ewan, eight, and Vivek, five, and daughter Mirabel, three.
As per his interview, Vance revealed that he doesn’t find speculation about his marriage ‘tough’ to handle, and instead recalled poking fun at the situation with his wife.
Recalling a recent interaction the couple shared about leaving Usha’s wedding ring at home, he said: “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'.
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“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.”
Topics: JD Vance
Phoebe Tonks