The Strange Rumor Circling About JD And Usha Vance's Marriage

There are a number of differences between J.D. and Usha Vance's marriage and that of Donald and Melania Trump's, one of the biggest being that pre-Melania, Donald was married twice. However, that hasn't stopped a ton of social media users from claiming that like his running mate, J.D. said his "I do's" with two other women before marrying Usha. 

ICYMI, in July 2024, one Instagram Threads user claimed that J.D. was hypocritical for criticizing divorce despite having dissolved two marriages of his own in the past. The post went on to get a bunch of likes and shares, but that's not to say there was any truth to it. Au contraire, at the time of writing, the post actually bears a disclaimer that fact-checkers have disproven it outright. 

Fact-checkers aren't the only ones to have weighed in on the Instagram Threads claim, though. In wake of it going semi-viral, a rep for J.D. spoke to USA Today, and denied the claim outright. "Senator Vance was not married prior to his marriage with Usha," Lance Schroeder said to the outlet. Short, sweet and to the point. Having said that, anyone familiar with J.D.'s story would likely have known that already. After all, he's long been very open about his life, from the tragic experiences he and his sister Lindsay Vance had in their childhood, to meeting Usha in the first place. 

While we can't ignore some of J.D. Vance's more strange actions over the past few years (ahem, comparing Donald Trump to Hitler, only to become his running mate for the 2024 election), there can be no denying that he's shared a lot about his early life with the world. Even, it should be said, some of his most traumatic moments. Hello, "Hillbilly Elegy." J.D.'s memoir went on to become a bestselling book, which was then adapted for the screen and even earned two Oscar nominations. Accolades aside, what stands out is that in his widely-publicized story, the early days of his relationship with Usha Vance were center-stage. 

Granted, in the book, J.D. did mention that he'd been in relationships with other women prior to meeting Usha. In fact, he even shared that some of the relationships had been pretty serious, though he declined to go into detail. However, he explained that his feelings for Usha had been entirely different to anyone else he'd been with. His exact words? "Usha occupied an entirely different emotional universe. I thought about her constantly. One friend described me as 'heartsick' and another told me he had never seen me like this," he recounted (via The Independent). 

It's a similar sentiment to that which Amy Chua, his and Usha's professor at Yale Law School told NBC News. That is, "I've never seen anybody so starstruck. It was love at first sight."

Of course, if J.D. Vance had been married before tying the knot with Usha Vance, one could argue that he merely wanted to pretend it hadn't happened. After all, it certainly wouldn't gel particularly well with his stance on divorce. 

That said, it bears mentioning that at the time "Hillbilly Elegy" was released in 2017, J.D.'s views on divorce weren't exactly public knowledge. More than that, though, he went on the record to say he had zero plans to go into politics. In fact, in an interview with Megyn Kelly for "Today," he laughed off the very idea. "I'm very flattered when people ask me, and you never say never, but it's just not something that I think about doing right now," he said, stifling a giggle.

As an aside, in the same interview, Usha said she'd support J.D. if he changed his mind about that (zero hints at hiding anything like, ahem, two divorces, detected). Some may remember that our body language expert spotting a blip of tension now that he stands to become the next VP, so perhaps her stance on that did waver a little. Nevertheless, as evidenced by her gushy speech introducing him at the Republican National Convention, she's behind him all the way. Rumors may have suggested Usha was J.D.'s third wife, but it's safe to say she's unbothered — and even if she was, these two are smitten as can be.