FACT CHECK: Has J.D. Vance Been Divorced Twice?

A viral post shared on Threads claims 2024 Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance has been divorced twice.

Post by @drspl5

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Verdict: False

There is no evidence to support the claim. Multiple sources indicate Vance married his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, in 2014 but do not mention anything about previous marriages or divorces.

Fact Check:

Vance made his first solo appearance of the 2024 campaign at a rally in Ohio on July 21, according to The Associated Press. The rally was held at Vance’s high school in Middletown, the outlet reported.

The Threads post, which has received over 1,000 likes as of writing, claims Vance has been divorced twice. “Vance, twice divorced, chastised others for divorcing like changing unerwear [sic],” the post, which does not provide a source to support its claim, reads.

The claim is false. According to The New York Times, Vance married his wife Chilukuri Vance in Kentucky in 2014. The pair met at Yale Law School, the outlet reported. Likewise, Christian Today also reported Vance and Chilukuri Vance wed in 2014. The couple had both Christian and Hindu ceremonies when they married, Business Insider indicated. None of the three articles mention previous marriages or divorces, as the Threads post claims, however.

In addition, Vance has neither mentioned the claim via his website nor his verified social media accounts. Check Your Fact also found no credible news reports to support the claim. Actually, the opposite is true. On July 19, USA Today reported the claim was false. Vance’s spokesperson, Luke Schroeder, denied the claim’s validity in an email to the outlet.

“Senator Vance was not married prior to his marriage with Usha,” Schroeder said, according to USA Today.

While the claim about Vance being divorced twice is false, the Threads post correctly attributes the “changing underwear” quote to him. According to VICE, Vance said people “shift spouses like they change their underwear” while delivering remarks at Pacifica Christian High School in Southern California in September 2021.

“This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that like, ‘well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term,’” Vance said in response to a question about whether or not people should stay in unhappy marriages for the sake of their children, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Does This Video Show J.D. Vance Saying A Homophobic Slur?)

Check Your Fact has contacted Vance’s spokesperson for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received.