Claim:
Images from November 2025 authentically showed U.S. second lady Usha Vance not wearing her wedding ring.
Rating:
On Nov. 19, 2025, Melania Trump and Usha Vance — the first and second ladies of the United States — began their first trip together with a visit to North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast. Images of the two deboarding the plane circulated widely online, with many users claiming Vance was not wearing her wedding ring.
The claim followed unfounded rumors in October 2025 that Vice President JD Vance and Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, were having an affair.
The images of Trump and Usha Vance spread on several platforms, including Reddit (archived) and X (archived). “Interesting. Usha Vance minus a wedding ring yesterday at Camp Lejeune,” Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote on X.
Usha Vance is not wearing a wedding ring anymore
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The images are authentic; two widely circulated images are publicly available on Getty Images and a Marine Corps photographer took the third. The images shared were not digitally manipulated; they authentically show her hand without her wedding ring.
(Getty Images)
While her ring truly was not visible in any of these images, which were available on the reputable news photograph database Getty Images, online detractors assigned unproven meaning to the second lady’s missing ring. Usha Vance has not, as of this writing, addressed the images, making the rumors regarding the state of the Vances’ marriage purely speculative.
We were unable to reach the second lady’s team for comment, but a spokesperson for her reportedly told USA Today in a Nov. 21 statement, “[Usha Vance] is a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”
Rumors regarding the stability of the Vances’ marriage after JD Vance stated at a Turning Point USA event in October, “I believe in the Christian gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way,” may have further fueled the circulation of the images in question.
However, even after these rumors about JD and Usha Vance took off in late October and early November 2025, other publicly available Getty Images showed Usha Vance wearing her wedding ring.
We also reached out to JD Vance’s team seeking comment, and will update this story if we receive a response.
Sources
‘Care Packages and Cardstock Turkeys: First and Second Ladies Visit Marines and Their Relatives’. AP News, 19 Nov. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/melania-trump-usha-vance-military-north-carolina-e208c5836eb8687f0950ad7625ab3203.
‘First and Second Ladies of the United States Visit MCB Camp Lejeune, MCAS New River’. DVIDS, https://www.dvidshub.net/image/9398487/first-and-second-ladies-united-states-visit-mcb-camp-lejeune-mcas-new-river. Accessed 21 Nov. 2025.
Liles, Jordan. ‘Erika Kirk and JD Vance Spark Affair Rumors, but There’s No Evidence They’re True’. Snopes, 31 Oct. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//news/2025/10/31/erika-kirk-jd-vance-affair/.
MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-in/lifestyle/weddings/no-wedding-ring-usha-vances-photos-with-melania-trump-sets-off-speculations/ar-AA1QUzMA. Accessed 21 Nov. 2025.
Stahl, Jay. ‘Usha Vance, Missing Wedding Ring, Belongs First to Herself’. USA TODAY, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/21/usha-vance-melania-trump-no-wedding-ring/87399269007/. Accessed 21 Nov. 2025.
‘Second Lady Usha Vance and First Lady Melania Trump Depart a Plane As…’ Getty Images, 19 Nov. 2025, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/second-lady-usha-vance-and-first-lady-melania-trump-depart-news-photo/2247486341.
‘Second Lady Usha Vance and First Lady Melania Trump Depart a Plane As…’ Getty Images, 19 Nov. 2025, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/second-lady-usha-vance-and-first-lady-melania-trump-depart-news-photo/2247484848.
