Usha Vance Hints She Doesn't Mind Divorce Rumors By Ditching Her Wedding Ring Yet Again

The drama and divorce speculation swirling around JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks. Online chatter predicting their impending split really started to heat up after JD shared an awkwardly intimate embrace with Erika Kirk in October, which kicked off a firestorm of infidelity rumors. Despite Erika's best attempts to do damage control, nothing could keep the internet trolls from pounding the pair with puns, memes, and jokes, suggesting Usha was getting two-timed.

Things got even more uncomfortable on November 19, when Usha was spotted not wearing her wedding ring while visiting a military base in North Carolina. She was joined by Melania Trump, who notably wore her own sizable wedding ring. The press was quick to jump on this subtle yet telling decision, and the absence of her ring became a headline news story in a matter of hours. This makes it even more suspicious that, despite the tireless media coverage the first time around, Usha once again went sans wedding ring on December 1.

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Usha and Melania came together at a Red Cross holiday care package event at Joint Base Andrews, a military air base in Maryland, and the second lady opted to forgo her shiny sparkler yet again. Perhaps the decision was due to how much work she and Melania were set to do at the event, as they both wrote cards and assembled care packages for members of the Armed Services and their families. Although it also seems like Usha has simply stopped caring about the rampant rumors, while ironically and perhaps playfully fueling them all the same.

It's not hard to imagine that Usha Vance may be tired of her life as the second lady of the United States. She and husband JD Vance have seemed tense in recent months, and the apparent distance between them was made even more obvious during the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony in November, where they couldn't have seemed more disconnected as a family. However, nothing really fanned the flames of divorce rumors quite as much as Usha not wearing her wedding ring during a public outing to Camp Lejeune in November.

Usha tried to play off the speculation, but many felt the excuse was fairly flimsy. As a member of Usha's team told People, the second lady is "a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes." While it's true that she and JD do share three children, it seems odd that she didn't seem to forget her ring while on official SCOUTS events until after JD's awkward hug with Erika Kirk. Also, it's hard to imagine the second lady doing her own dishes; the second family has dozens of household staff members provided by the Navy. As one critic on X remarked, "She remembered to put on her make up and earrings but conveniently forgets to wear her wedding ring before a major event is a very weak excuse."

There's no word yet from Usha's reps about why she once again opted not to wear her ring to yet another public event; perhaps the dishes have piled up. However, there's no doubt that her decision will continue to spark speculation, adding more stress and drama to the Vances' seemingly strained marriage.