JD Vance has lived a fascinating life indeed. The now-Vice President of the United States had an extremely challenging upbringing with a drug-addicted mother, and was ultimately raised by his grandparents. While he seemed to be heading down the wrong path, Vance turned his life around by joining the army. Later, at Yale, he met the love of his life, Usha.

JD Vance and Usha met in college and have stayed together ever since. They are now husband and wife and have welcomed three children. But while they seem like a happy couple, one clip from Vance just days ago has left social media users enraged. What JD said about his wife has been branded arrogant, disrespectful, and even tasteless.

Vance’s childhood was not what many might have expected. Born in Middleton, Ohio, he grew up with his half-sister, Lindsay Vance, in a home where their mother was a drug addict. When he was only a child, Vance’s mother and father divorced, and as the years went by, the former displayed violent tendencies.

Vance experienced many tragic days as a child. In an interview with NPR, he touched on some incidents which he also wrote about in his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. It was later adapted into a film by Ron Howard named Hillbilly Elegy, starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close.

In the NPR interview, Vance recalled the terrifying moment his mother threatened to crash their car, killing both her son and daughter.

“[I] hopped in the back seat to hide from her. And this got her really angry. And she stopped the car and pulled over and, I think, was going to start hitting me. And so I ran,” Vance said.

JD Vance

Their grandparents adopted JD and Lindsay, and while things weren’t necessarily easy, the half-siblings had each other. When his half-sister moved out and settled down with a husband and children, Vance tried to find his way. He didn’t know what he wanted to do, and his sister felt terrible for leaving her half-brother behind.