Usha's First Impression Of JD Confirms What We Suspected About Their Marriage

JD Vance's first meeting with Usha Vance might've set the mood for their entire relationship down the line. Some have questioned the passion, or lack thereof, that the couple conveys toward each other in public. JD's and Usha's own behavior has even hinted that their marriage is on the rocks. However, their past might secretly explain the platonic energy they give off, as Usha's first impression of her future husband wasn't very romantic. The two were in the same circles before they even became friends, let alone lovers. During their first semester at Yale Law School, Usha revealed that she and JD had many of the same classes, so running into each other was unavoidable. 

But a turning point in their friendship came when they were assigned to do a project together. Their law professor, Amy Chua, described JD as absolutely smitten over Usha around that time. "I've never seen anybody so starstruck. It was love at first sight," Chua once said in an interview with NBC News. But Usha's feelings toward JD seemed tame by comparison. By the California native's own admission, the first thing that stood out about JD was his work ethic. "And I liked that he, you know, was very diligent. He would show up for these 9 a.m. appointments that I set for us to start working on the brief together," Usha said to NBC News. 

The compliment would be more flattering if a professor was talking about a student, or a manager was describing their employee's work ethic. But Usha's description of JD seems to lack the spark and excitement you'd expect from someone reminiscing about their partner, which may provide insight into what their marriage is like today.

On the surface, Usha Vance and JD Vance might've appeared to be the last two people to end up together. Even their professor, Amy Chua, told NBC News that she initially wasn't able to see the pair actually being in a relationship because of their surface-level differences. But Usha asserted that if you went beyond the surface, the two had more similarities than some might think. 

Despite their "really different backgrounds," as she put it in a June 2025 discussion with USISPF, the qualities they do share helped inform both their friendship and their relationship. When it came to becoming a couple, however, they operated at completely different speeds. Usha made it pretty clear that JD wanted a relationship much more than she did at the time. "I think it's fair to say that JD was sort of the pedal in this relationship, and I was a little bit of the brakes, because I was sort of focused on all the schooling part of it," she explained. 

A lot has obviously changed since the couple's college days. But the buddy-buddy vibe between the two has seemingly remained the same. So much so that when we peek inside JD's married life with Usha, we wonder if the second lady of the U.S. is still playing the "brakes" to some extent.