Usha Vance was spotted at her official engagement without her wedding ring, just weeks after her husband JD Vance publicly revealed the religious rift in their marriage.
The Second Lady was ringless during her visit to Camp Lejeune Army Base in Richlands. North Carolina on Wednesday with the First Lady Melania Trump.
In the photos, 39-year-old Usha can be seen stepping out of the plane with her left hand in full view and her wedding ring nowhere to be seen.
Additional images from Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River confirm that the ring remained off throughout the visit.
Meanwhile, the vice president was photographed wearing a wedding ring during a speech in Washington on Thursday.
The image comes after weeks of angry trolls whispering about the state of the Vances' marriage, which began in October with He gave Vice President Erica Kirk a big hug. during a memorial for her husband, a right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Rumors of a possible rift between the Second Couple were sparked by the Vice President's admission that he had begged his wife to convert from Hinduism: he is a Catholic.
The visit was Usha and Melania's first time together and was intended to lift the spirits of the troops ahead of Thanksgiving.
Second Lady Usha Vance was seen driving to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune on Wednesday with her wedding finger visibly exposed.
Usha's engagement ring went missing when she gave a speech to the military on November 19. Meanwhile, husband J.D. was seen wearing his wedding ring at a performance in Washington the next day.
They also went to Lejeune High School and met with students before heading to a nearby elementary school to do arts and crafts with other kids.
Moreover, photos of Usha's previous appearance on November 10 – a visit with her husband to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center – show that she also did not wear a bracelet at that event.
As the photos started going viral on X, commenters suggested that Usha might be being less subtle about her feelings for her 41-year-old husband.
One user joked that Usha was “Quietly leaving her husband,” while another said “there were signs…” and posted an image of Vance hugging Kirk.
Others were more supportive of Usha, with Corey Talbot writing: “Yes, a lot of people (not just women) don't wear wedding rings all the time.
“But she needs to know that she'll be photographed and commented on/speculated… so I definitely think making some kind of 'statement' makes sense.”
Gina Milan wrote: “Many people leave their wedding rings at home when they travel. Many people take them off at night and forget to put them back on because they manipulate children and real life. And somehow these clowns turn this into a “catch”? The coverage is absolutely insane.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the second lady's spokesman said Usha is “a mother of three young children who does a lot of washing up, takes frequent baths and sometimes forgets her ring.”
Kirk and Vance's hug occurred last month in Utah at an event honoring Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while hosting an event on campus a few weeks earlier.
The Vice President and Second Lady were photographed together on November 10 while visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Usha was also seen without her ring.
Wusha, who has been married to the vice president since 2014, was last photographed wearing an engagement ring on November 8 at the Maritime Ball.
The vice president was seen awkwardly wrapping his arms around former reality TV contestant Kirk's waist and hugging her tightly while she appeared to run her hands through his hair.
Lip reader Nicola Hickling told Mirror US that Kirk could be seen saying: “I can't do this, I don't want to do this.”
When she walked on stage and hugged Vance, he told her, “I’m proud of you.”
In an interview late last month, the vice president revealed another point of contention between him and his wife: their different religions.
The second lady is Hindu and, according to her husband, grew up in a non-religious family.
Vance, on the other hand, is a devout Catholic who plans to raise his three children in a Christian home.
“Usha will go to church with me almost every Sunday now,” Vance told a MAGA audience at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi.
“Yes, my wife did not grow up a Christian. I think it's fair to say she grew up in a Hindu family, but not in a particularly religious family,” he said.
After an emotional speech during which Erica remembered her late husband, she greeted the vice president on stage with a hug.
The vice president converted to Catholicism in 2019, and Usha, the mother of his three children, grew up in a non-religious Hindu family.
The vice president then revealed that he told Usha that he wanted her to “believe in the Christian gospel,” which was the first time Vance had publicly stated that he wanted Usha to convert to Christianity.
“As I told her, I said publicly and I will say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends,” Vance continued. “Do I hope that in the end she will be touched in the same way that the church touched me?”
“Yes, I sincerely desire this, because I believe in the Christian gospel and I hope that in time my wife will come to the same view.”
He added: “But if she doesn't, then God says everyone has free will and so it's not a problem for me.”
