JD Vance is opening up about what family life really looks like now that he and his wife, Usha Vance, are raising the Vance kids in the middle of Washington’s nonstop spotlight. In a candid conversation with NBC News, the vice president said the transition for the three young children hasn’t been simple. “There are certainly ways in which it’s difficult on the family,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend that it isn’t. But it’s the sacrifice that we signed up for.”
The Vance kids are 3, 5, and 8, and each one is handling this new reality in a completely different way. The vice president went on to describe how each child copes with the pressure of being the second family.
Majority of Americans love The JD Vance family. Leave a ♥️ for the Second Family. pic.twitter.com/vf10rygIDt
— Trump Lover❤🇮🇳🇺🇸 (@SUBRATA30016572) November 3, 2025
Vance said their oldest child, Ewan, struggles the most with the attention. “Our 8-year-old really doesn’t like it,” he explained. “He wants to have as private of a life as possible.” When he walks into a White House event and sees cameras pointed in every direction, it’s overwhelming for the kid. Vance said he and Usha try to shield him whenever they can, keeping him away from situations that would make him uncomfortable.
This is exactly the kind of leadership America needs.
Vance is serving military families Thanksgiving food alongside his own family, humanizing kids in public places.
We need more of this. pic.twitter.com/qTTHkYknBP
— Anna Lulis (@annamlulis) November 26, 2025
Things couldn’t be more different for their middle child, who Vance joked is “a little bit more like me.” Their 5-year-old, Vivek, loves being recognized and enjoys the small perks that come with being a vice president’s child. “He probably likes it too much,” Vance said with a laugh. “He loves the fact that wherever he goes, people treat him very specially. They always give him candy or cookies” he shared. It’s a reminder to the family that even within the same household, the experience of growing up under national attention can feel completely different from one child to the next.
He didn’t speak about Mirabel, the couple’s only daughter. As the youngest of the Vance kids, at just 3 years old, the public often sees her as mostly along for the ride. And she often sparks comments when Usha posts photos of her on social media.
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Recently, Usha shared some images on her Instagram account. In the post, JD, Usha, and the Vance kids were serving the troops at Fort Campbell during Thanksgiving week. Interestingly, it was the photo of Mirabel passing out the butter that grabbed everyone’s attention. One user said, ” Your daughter passing out the butter is the cutest.”
For Usha Vance, the adjustment has been its own journey. She rarely gives interviews, but she has taken on a larger public role inside the Trump administration. Usha leads a childhood literacy initiative. She travels around the country to read to children, visit classrooms, and encourage early learning. Vance said watching her embrace that work has been one of the highlights of their move to Washington. “It’s been amazing to see her really lean into this child literacy thing,” he said. “It speaks very highly of her.”
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He admitted he might be “very biased,” but it’s clear the program has become a meaningful part of her identity in this new chapter. Vance also shared that he and Usha’s marriage is “stronger than ever.”
Vance makes it clear that the day-to-day story is a family trying to make things work. There’s one kid who hides from cameras, one who runs toward them, and one who’s still too young to know the difference. But, as Vance pointed out, “[I]t’s given us a new adventure to go on, and we’ve both had a good time.”
