On Sunday evening, Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, Usha, announced the arrival of their fourth child, baby boy Alec Neel Vance. “Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother,” the announcement said.
But for the past two years, “happy” is not the impression of Usha you would get from certain corners of the internet. Since her husband took office, progressives have insisted that the Second Lady is actually miserable, held hostage in her own marriage.
Online, their relationship is always doomed. Anytime the Vances post a picture of themselves together, #FreeUsha comments follow. Divorce rumors never stop, sparked by everything from Usha being photographed without her wedding ring last November to the way J.D. hugged Erika Kirk on stage at a Turning Point USA event fewer than two months after the assassination of her husband, Charlie. “He’s throwing his wife under the bus. Poor Usha,” Joy Reid said at the time, wondering if the vice president would ditch his “brown Hindu” wife for a “white queen.”
In 2024, The Cut asked in a headline, “What Is Usha Vance Thinking?” while Slate wondered what goes through her mind “when her idiot husband says he loves his wife,” then concluded that progressives ultimately need to accept her fate, even if “we just don’t like it, and we want to give her more chances to escape.” Even MSNBC host Jen Psaki said in 2025 that Usha is afraid of her husband. “I always wonder what’s going on in the mind of his wife. Like, are you okay? Please blink four times. We’ll come over here. We’ll save you.”
