Second Lady Usha Vance was recently seen wearing her wedding ring during the White House’s traditional Thanksgiving turkey pardon ceremony on Tuesday.

This appearance follows a wave of harsh online criticism aimed at the vice president’s wife, who was seen without her wedding ring last Wednesday during a visit to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, with First Lady Melania Trump.

Usha addressed the speculation with a spokesperson clarifying, “As a mother of three young children, she often does dishes and bath times, and sometimes forgets her ring.”

She silenced her detractors once more on Tuesday, wearing her ring at the turkey pardon event alongside JD Vance and their daughter, Mirabel.

Usha and JD Vance, who met at Yale Law School, have been married since 2014. Their family includes sons Ewan, 8, and Vivek, 5, as well as their 3-year-old daughter, Mirabel.

The recent image emerges after weeks of online speculation about the Vance marriage, stemming from the vice president’s embrace of Erika Kirk at a memorial for her spouse, right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, in October.

The speculation about a possible rift between the Second Couple was fueled by the VP admitting that he has pleaded with his wife to convert from Hinduism: he is a Roman Catholic.

Second Lady Usha Vance was spotted wearing her wedding ring today at the traditional turkey pardoning Thanksgiving ceremony at the White House 

Usha wearing her ring on Tuesday

Vice President JD Vance (C), alongside his daughter Mirabel (L) and Second Lady Usha Vance (R) pose next to a pardoned turkey named Gobble in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Second Lady Usha Vance was seen traveling to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune on Wednesday with her wedding finger noticeably bare 

Photos of Usha’s previous appearance on November 10 – a joint visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with her husband – show she was not wearing her band at that event either. 

As the photos began circulating on X, commenters suggested that Usha may be not-so-subtly indicating her feelings towards her husband, 41.

One user joked that Usha was ‘Quiet Quitting her husband’ while another said ‘there were signs…’ and posted an image of Vance hugging Kirk.

Others were more supportive of Usha and Kori Talbot wrote: ‘Yes, many people (not just women) don’t wear their wedding rings all the time.

‘But she has to know she’ll be photographed and it will be commented/speculated on…so I definitely think it’s purposeful to make some sort of “statement”.’

Gina Milan wrote: ‘So many people leave their wedding rings at home when they travel. Plenty take them off at night and forget to put them back on because they’re juggling kids and real life. And somehow these clowns spin that into a ‘gotcha’? The reach is absolutely insane’.

Kirk and Vance’s embrace happened last month in Utah at a memorial event for Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead while hosting a campus event weeks earlier.

The Vice President was seen awkwardly putting his hands around the waist of Kirk, a former reality TV contestant, and hugging her tightly while she ran her hands through his hair.

Following an emotional speech, during which Erika evoked her late husband, she greeted the Vice President on-stage with a hug

The clinch quickly became fodder for critics who claimed the intimacy was inappropriate, despite many arguing it was clearly a moment of shared grief between two people who adored Charlie.

Erika addressed the hug for the first time in an interview with Megyn Kelly during an on-stage event in Arizona on Friday.

‘So for those of you who know me, I’m very-,’ Erika said as Kelly finished her statement: ‘You’re an intense hugger!’

‘My love language is touch, if you will … So I will give you a play by play. They just played the emotional video. I’m walking over, he’s walking over. I’m starting to cry. He says, “I’m so proud of you.” And I say, “God bless you,” and I touch the back of his head.

‘Anyone whom I have hugged that I have touched the back of your head when I hug you, I always say, God bless you.’

Kelly responded with a quick joke, ‘They were acting like you touched the back of his ass!’

‘I feel like I wouldn’t get as much hate if I did that!’ Erika said with a laugh.

In an interview late last month, the Vice President revealed another point of contention between him and his wife – their different faiths.

US Vice President JD Vance, his wife Usha Vance, daughter Mirabel and sons Ewan (L) and Vivek pose during their tour at the Taj Mahal in Agra on April 23, 2025

The Second lady is Hindu and did not grow up in a religious household, according to her husband.

Vance, on the other hand, is a devout Catholic who plans to raise his three children in a Christian household.

‘Now, most Sundays Usha will come with me to church,’ Vance told a MAGA audience at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi.

‘Yes, my wife did not grow up Christian. I think it’s fair to say that she grew up in a Hindu family but not a particularly religious family in either direction,’ he said.

The Vice President then revealed he had told Usha that he would like her to ‘believe in the Christian Gospel,’ the first time Vance publicly revealed that he wanted Usha to convert to Christianity.

‘As I’ve told her, and I’ve said publicly, and I’ll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends,’ Vance continued. ‘Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church?

‘Yeah, I honestly do wish that because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way.’

He added: ‘But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me.’