Unexpected Challenges in JD and Usha Vance's Interfaith Marriage Revealed
Second Lady Usha Vance and Vice President JD Vance are detailing how they’ve managed to make their interfaith marriage work.
“I think people really caught on to the idea, at one point, that JD was interested in my conversion,” Usha, 40, told CBS’ Sunday Morning national correspondent Robert Costa on the Sunday, June 14, episode of the news program. “And I think that was misunderstood for the fundamental reason that he is Catholic, part of his faith is wanting to spread his faith, but it’s not like he’s prophesying to me every day.”
JD, 41, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, sparked near-instant controversy when he admitted that he hopes Usha, the daughter of immigrant parents from India who was raised in the Hindu faith, one day chooses to follow his brand of Christianity.
“For us, it works out now most Sundays — Usha will come with me to church, as I’ve told her, and I’ve said publicly, and I’ll say now in front of 10,000 of my closest friends, do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by the church? Yeah, I honestly, I do wish that, because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way,” the vice president said at a 2025 Turning Point USA event.
“But if she doesn’t, then God says everybody has free will, and so that doesn’t cause a problem for me,” he added.
After receiving criticism for his seemingly lack of support for his wife and her religious beliefs, Vance doubled down on his desire to one day see his wife convert to Catholicism.
“My Christian faith tells me the Gospel is true and is good for human beings,” JD wrote via X at the time. “My wife — as I said at the TPUSA — is the most amazing blessing I have in my life. She herself encouraged me to reengage with my faith many years ago. She is not a Christian and has no plans to convert, but like many people in an interfaith marriage — or any interfaith relationship — I hope she may one day see things as I do. Regardless, I’ll continue to love and support her and talk to her about faith and life and everything else, because she’s my wife.”
While speaking to CBS on Sunday, JD admitted that his religious journey has been one rooted in his search for something stabilizing and grounding following his tumultuous upbringing and chaotic childhood.
“I grew up in some ways in a very non-traditional household,” the vice president explained. “Revolving door of people coming in, people coming out. Raised by my grandparents at some points and my parents at some points — my mom, my dad. So there was a certain movement and chaos to my youth. And I do think that I was searching for something that, again, was a little more rooted and a little more stable.”