Inside The Strange Rumor That Usha Vance Wasn't JD's First Wife

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JD Vance has been subject to all kinds of crazy rumors. While his purported use of eyeliner remains a favorite topic, perhaps the most enduring speculation surrounds his marriage to Usha Vance. Any time an awkward photo of the Vances appears, gossip about a troubled marriage goes haywire. The idea of JD and divorce is also stuck in some people's minds in a slightly different way — due to a rumor that the vice president was married before he and Usha tied the knot.

A July 2024 Threads post proclaimed, "Vance, twice divorced, chastised others for divorcing." While some respondents appeared to believe the claim, many doubted it from the start and inquired about the poster's source of information. Almost as quickly, USA Today published a piece that debunked it, declaring, "A spokesman for Vance said he has not been married previously, and there is no credible evidence indicating otherwise."

Instead, it's likely that the poster mixed up Donald Trump and JD's marital histories, since Trump has gone through two divorces. The rumor also lacks believability, given the short time JD would have had to marry/divorce before his 2014 nuptials with Usha. In 2010, they were both attending Yale Law School. Although they started as friends, JD and Usha still spent a significant amount of time with each other. "We were in all our classes together, and so I saw him several hours a day," Usha informed NBC News in 2017.

For a while, JD Vance remained firmly in Usha Vance's friend zone. However, by their second semester in law school, JD started opening up about his personal history, and her mindset shifted. "I started to think of him in this different way, as something other than a friend, but one of the more interesting people I'd ever met in my life," Usha recalled on the "Citizen McCain" podcast in June 2025.

In contrast, JD made up his mind about Usha much more quickly. "After a few weeks of flirtations and a single date, I told her that I was in love with her," he admitted in his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy." Despite being smitten, JD struggled with conflict resolution, to the point of believing splitting up was easier than staying together. Fortunately, Usha helped him overcome these difficulties. After one big blow-up, "She calmly told me through her tears . . . I had to learn to talk to her," JD wrote in his book. "She gave me a hug and told me that she accepted my apology and was glad I was okay." 

Of course, behavior changes take time, and JD's continued admissions that about his tendency to yell at Usha have kept the divorce chatter alive. However, Usha and JD's interactions at a November 2025 Marine Ball may have helped dispel that rumor, at least temporarily. The couple laughed and smiled as they sashayed across the dance floor.