Usha Vance’s Spokesperson Addresses Marriage Rumors After She’s Spotted Without a Wedding Ring During an Outing with Melania Trump

After Usha Vance was spotted out without her wedding ring on, rumors about her marriage to Vice President JD Vance began to swirl. A spokesperson for the second lady has now addressed them.

The second lady, 39, visited Camp Lejeune, a military training facility in Jacksonville, N.C., alongside first lady Melania Trump on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Usha did not wear her wedding ring during the appearance, and after photos of the outing were published, rumors of trouble in her marriage to the vice president, 41, picked up steam on social media.

Amid the speculation, a spokesperson for the second lady — who is very private and rarely speaks with the press — addressed the ringless appearance in a statement to PEOPLE.

The spokesperson said 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 and JD have been married since 2014 and share three children: sons Ewan, 8, and Vivek, 5, and daughter Mirabel, 3.

Rumors that the couple had split were also fueled by the vice president’s embrace with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing political organizer Charlie Kirk, which went viral in late October.

Weeks after Charlie’s assassination during a Turning Point USA event, Erika — who took his place as Turning Point’s CEO — opened a University of Mississippi tour stop with a tearful speech, during which she said she sees “similarities” between her late husband and JD while introducing the vice president.

Shortly after, Erika and JD shared a hug onstage in a moment that went viral.

“No one will ever replace my husband. But I do see some similarities between 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 Oct. 29 event before intimately embracing JD.

After tightly squeezing the vice president, Erika moved her hand to the back of his head, and his hands briefly rested on her waist. The greeting surprised many internet users and spawned a series of viral posts analyzing their hand placements and debating whether the hug was appropriate for the situation, given Erika’s recent loss.

The Turning Point CEO has previously said that JD has “been a blessing” in the wake of her husband’s death, and praised both him and Usha for their support.

“He’s been a blessing. He and Usha are the most incredible people. Incredible. With such genuine love,” Erika said in an interview clip that was recorded ahead of the viral event. She told Fox News host Jesse Watters, “I mean, just everything they did for us was so humanized. They were there for us. They’ve been there for us.”

 

JD also made headlines for comments he made about his wife’s religion at the Oct. 29 Turning Point event.

After a student asked the vice president about his multi-faith household, he admitted he hopes that his wife, who was raised and still considers herself Hindu, will one day convert to Catholicism as he did in his 30s. (Before converting, JD was a self-described atheist.)

“How are you teaching your kids not to keep your religion ahead of their mother’s religion?… Why are we making Christianity one of the major things that you have to have in common to be one of you guys, to show that I love America just as you do?” the student asked.

“Everybody has to come to their own arrangement here,” JD responded, in part. “The way that we’ve come to our arrangement is she’s my best friend. We talk to each other about this stuff. So, we’ve decided to raise our kids Christian.”

He continued, “Most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church. Do I hope, eventually, that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved by in church? Yeah, honestly, I do wish that, because I believe in the Christian gospel and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way. But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.”

The vice president concluded his answer by stating that “one of the most important Christian principles is that you respect free will.”

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