There was no ring on the ring finger of second lady Usha Vance when she visited Camp Lejeune, a military base, alongside first lady Melania Trump earlier this week.
The duo was photographed on Nov. 19 walking together in North Carolina. And the second lady – the wife of Vice President JD Vance – was seen without her wedding ring, talking to the troops and to the first lady. Despite the online discourse, Vance has been pictured with and without her wedding band on numerous occasions.
By the time Friday, Nov. 21, rolled around, the split rumors surfaced on social media. Speculation about the state of the second couple's marriage intensified. But Vance, 39, is the first second lady of her kind, a reserved and hesitant public figure, more focused on motherhood than statesmanship.
A spokeswoman for the second lady told USA TODAY in a statement Nov. 21 that Vance is "a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes." The Vances have three children: Ewan, 8, Vivek, 5, and Mirabel, 3.
Once viewed simply through the lens of their vows, Vance is among a growing bipartisan group of modern women in America who are bucking the constructs and constraints of political marriages.
