Vice President JD Vance's wife, Usha Vance, was initially not interested in having a fourth child, he wrote in his new memoir, "Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith."
Then, "something changed" after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
The vice president and second lady share two sons, Vivek and Ewan, and a daughter, Mirabel. Usha Vance is pregnant with their fourth child, a boy due in July.
In the book, released June 16, JD Vance recalled how he and Usha Vance accompanied Erika Kirk on Air Force Two in September 2025 to escort her husband's body to Arizona for burial, writing that he had "never seen a person so heavy with grief."
"As my wife held Charlie Kirk's widow on the first day of her terrible sorrow, Erika told Usha between sobs that she regretted having only two kids with Charlie," he wrote.
Vance credited the experience with helping shift Usha Vance's mindset about growing their family.
"For years I had asked Usha to have another baby, and for years she had told me she was done — especially now that public service had elevated us into the national spotlight," he wrote. "But something changed for Usha, and not long after we buried my friend, she became pregnant with our fourth child, a boy. One life was stolen from us, but another was given."
In an interview that aired on "CBS Sunday Morning" on June 14, Usha Vance said that Erika Kirk's wish for more children was "very powerful" and "certainly very moving to both of us," but that having a fourth child had already been on her mind.
"I think I had already started to open my mind to the possibility," she said. "I wouldn't say that this was, for me in any way, the decisive factor. But it came in the middle of a conversation that we were already having."
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Talia Lakritz is a Life correspondent at Business Insider. Talia covers politics and power through a lifestyle and visual storytelling lens. She has reported from the White House as well as military installations, mansions, and museums across the country, bringing readers inside the people, places, and systems that influence American life through immersive features.Previously, she wrote for The New York Jewish Week and SciShow Space.Talia holds a BA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Barnard College of Columbia University and ordination as an interfaith minister from One Spirit Learning Alliance. She hopes to one day visit all 50 states and all 14 public presidential libraries.Talia can be found on LinkedIn, Instagram, and X.Politics and power:
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