Rumors over the couple’s alleged marital difficulties were fanned last month when the vice president hugged Erika Kirk at a Turning Point USA tour stop(Image: Getty Images)
Public speculation over possible marital troubles between Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, reached a fever pitch this week after Usha was photographed during a speech in North Carolina without her wedding band.
The second lady, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, visited the military training facility of Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River on Wednesday, where she addressed service members and their families ahead of the holiday season. Keen social media users were quick to point to images of Usha’s left hand as she stood behind a podium, conspicuously missing a wedding ring.
Usha, in response to the online chatter, said that she “is a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets about her ring sometimes.” It comes as the daughter of Donald Trump’s doctor made a bombshell claim about his health.
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Rumors over the couple’s alleged marital difficulties were fanned last month when the vice president hugged Erika Kirk at a Turning Point USA tour stop at the University of Mississippi, during which it appeared Vance placed his hands on Kirk’s hips while she ran her fingers through his hair.
According to Daily Mail columnist Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, a former Fox News commentator, Usha’s appearance on stage without her ring may have been less of an accident and more of a strategic message to her husband.
Usha said she removes her wedding ring to give her children baths and wash dishes, and must have forgotten to wear it on Wednesday(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“A little thing like a forgotten ring can go an awfully long way in reminding a clumsy husband how precious and irreplaceable his wife truly is,” Kennedy wrote. “Usha has now seen the uproar a tiny omission can stir.”
She described the act as an intentional act of public humiliation for her husband, though she said it was “not the most efficient vehicle for the Holy Spirit to persuade someone to your faith.”
Usha’s appearance on stage without her ring may have been less of an accident and more of a strategic message to her husband(Image: Getty Images)
“Try a little tenderness, JD. And if that fails – who knows, perhaps the next message Usha sends will be a little less quiet and a lot more interesting,” Kennedy wrote.
Following the social media uproar over the wedding ring incident, body language expert Judi James, who viewed footage of the appearance, said she doubted the move was intentional. “Would Usha Vance, an elegant, intelligent, and very enthusiastic-looking woman with a ten-year marriage and three children tucked under her belt, really choose a high-profile solo outing with Melania to coyly drop a visual hint to the world about the state of her marriage in the style of a Z-list celebrity trying to kick-start rumors and press attention?” James asked.
Usha accompanied Melania Trump to the military training facility of Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River on Wednesday,(Image: Getty Images)
“I’d describe it as an unlikely and way too inelegant a move for Usha,” added James. “Leaving your wedding ring off deliberately as an announcement ritual tends to be the act of immature celebs who want to prove something to their husbands or wives after some kind of a hiccup.”
“Usha’s appearance here shows her emerging as a very competent ‘Second’ Lady in her own right, so the idea that she would do so while deliberately teasing her marital status would surely be unthinkable,” James said.
It comes after a lip reader revealed Trump’s furious 8-word question to Melania as he went into a meltdown on board Marine One.