Second Lady Usha Vance says conventional therapy didn’t work for her husband, Vice President JD Vance, telling CBS that he felt more at home with church than with exploring his feelings through treatment. In the same interview, JD tied his search for stability
When Second Lady Usha Vance sat down with CBS’ Sunday Morning on Sunday, June 14, she didn’t frame her husband’s journey as a debate about mental health. She framed it as a personal mismatch.
Usha, 40, told the program’s Sunday Morning national correspondent Robert Costa that she once told Vice President JD Vance, 41, “Therapy didn’t work for you, church does.” In her telling, JD didn’t reject help—he rejected the process.
“It’s not that therapy doesn’t work for other people,” Usha said. “JD just didn’t have the right kind of trust in that [therapy] process.”
She added that he “didn’t feel at home in it, really exploring some of the feelings that he had in trying to figure out how he wanted to be the person that he wanted to be for the rest of his life.”
JD’s faith, especially after his conversion to Catholicism in 2019, has been central to how he describes feeling “rooted” and “grounded.” In the same Sunday interview, he said his constant search for stability is tied to a childhood marked by instability in Middletown, Ohio.
“I grew up in some ways in a very non-traditional household,” JD said. “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.”
He described parents who divorced when he was a toddler and said his mother struggled with substance abuse issues. “So there was a certain movement and chaos to my youth,” he continued. “And I do think that I was searching for something that. again. was a little more rooted and a little more stable.”.
That sense of rootedness also comes with friction at the highest levels of religious and political life. Despite his claims of a working relationship with Vatican leadership. JD has faced public disagreements with Pope Leo XIV over President Donald Trump’s and his controversial administrative priorities. including immigration and the war in Iran.
When asked about disputes with the Vatican, JD told Fox News back in April that “we’re going to have disagreements from time to time.” He said it was a “good thing” that the Pope advocates for what he cares about, adding, “But we’re always going to have disagreements on matters of public policy.”
JD also addressed immigration directly. saying: “The Pope has been critical of our immigration policy. but ultimately the immigration policy of the United States is set by Donald Trump. The Pope is going to have disagreements on other issues. We certainly respect the Pope, we certainly have a good relationship with the Vatican.”.
At the same time, Trump has taken a far more personal and public aim at the Pope. On April 12. Trump claimed via his social media platform. Truth Social. that “[The Pope] talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump administration. but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church. and all other Christian Organizations. had during COVID when they were arresting priests. ministers. and everybody else. for holding Church Services. even when going outside and being ten and even twenty feet apart.”.
Trump then went on to call the Pope “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.”
For Usha Vance, the thread connecting the interviews is blunt: therapy didn’t fit JD, and faith did. For JD. the thread connecting faith and politics is more complicated—he sees stability in church. but he’s still willing to acknowledge sharp differences with Vatican leadership when it comes to policy.
Usha Vance JD Vance therapy church does CBS Sunday Morning Robert Costa Middletown Ohio Catholicism 2019 Pope Leo XIV Donald Trump Truth Social immigration policy war in Iran
So therapy is just optional now? Cool.
I mean if church helped him then whatever. But people are gonna take this and be like therapy doesnt work at all, watch.
Wait he said his stability stuff was childhood chaos, right? Like growing up with grandparents and stuff. But then she says trust in the process like it’s a “right kind” of therapy?? I’m confused, because doesn’t any therapist just help you feel things? Idk.
I’m not saying church is bad but this sounds like another rich-person coping strategy article. Like he converted to Catholicism in 2019 and suddenly he’s “grounded”… convenient timing. Also “didn’t feel at home exploring feelings” like that’s some universal thing. Therapy helped lots of people, they can’t act like it’s only for the weak or something.