Usha Vance explains why she never converted to Christianity like JD Vance: 'Not felt the same need'

WASHINGTON, DC: Second Lady Usha Vance addressed her religious upbringing and her decision not to convert to Catholicism in an interview with CBS News, a clip that resurfaced widely on social media this week.

Vance, who was raised Hindu, was asked by CBS reporter Robert Costa whether Vice President JD Vance's religious journey, detailed in his new book 'Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,' had shaped her own faith. She said her upbringing gave her no reason to look elsewhere.

Usha Vance describes her path as 'more in our relationship' than personal

"I grew up in a Hindu household that was a very stable household. I have not felt the same need to seek something different that he has," Usha Vance said.

She added, "So I think the journey has been more in our relationship, right? Trying to understand where he is, the different ways he's thinking about things, how that fits into the life that we have together... and less a religious journey of my own."

While discussing the different paths she and her husband took in life, Usha said her upbringing had given her a sense of stability that JD spent years searching for.

JD Vance, who chronicled a turbulent childhood in his bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, told CBS that he spent much of his life looking for something that felt "rooted" and "stable".

"That's exactly right," Vance said when asked whether faith helped provide that stability.

Usha, who was raised in a Hindu family by Indian immigrant parents in Southern California, appeared to draw a contrast between their experiences. She revealed that she did not feel the same need for religious transformation because she had grown up in a stable environment.

"I grew up in a Hindu household that was a very stable household. I have not felt the same need to seek something different that he (JD Vance) has," she said.

She also reflected on her husband's spiritual journey, recalling a remark she once made to him: "Therapy didn't work for you; church does."

JD Vance’s faith journey is different from Usha Vance's

Vance, who grew up evangelical, converted to Catholicism in 2019, years after they married. He has publicly stated that he hopes one day his wife will share his faith.

In a speech to an audience last year, he said he hopes his wife is “moved by the Christian gospel” the way he was, but he said he would support her no matter what she decided.

Usha Vance, in a separate interview, said she has no plans to convert, noting their children go to a Catholic school but have the choice of being baptized or not, and that they are also exposed to Hindu traditions through her family, which includes a grandmother she described as a devout practitioner who visits the temple regularly.

Usha revealed that conversations with Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, influenced discussions about expanding their family.

"I think it really heightened JD's sense that he'd been talking about this for a while," she said. "That sense that if you could have that other child, then you would have nothing to regret."

She stressed, however, that the decision was already under discussion and was not driven by a single conversation.

Usha Vance and JD Vance, married since 2014, have three children and are expecting a fourth later this summer. Neither has issued additional comment on the resurfaced clip as of Wednesday, June 24.