Vice President JD Vance has revealed he held a private ceremony with his mother at the White House last week to mark the 10-year anniversary of her sobriety — and that the president gave her a special gift.
Vance’s mom, Beverly Aikins passed her inspiring decade mark in January, and the vice president said he was finally able to herald that milestone Friday at a teary event with family and friends at the White House.
“This year marks my mom’s 10th year of sobriety, and I’m grateful that we were able to celebrate in the White House with our family,” Vance wrote on X on Monday, while commending Aikins.
“Mom, I am so proud of you,” Vance said.
President Trump was in Florida for the LIV Golf tour at his golf resort at the time.
But he had a gift prepared for Aikins.
“This is one of the president’s challenge coins,” Vance said to his mom during the event, according to the Washington Examiner. “He asked me to give this to you. And I will say that I love you, and I’m so glad that we’re here. I love you.”
In Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy,” the veep explained his mother was a nurse and abused her access to prescription drugs, something that eventually escalated into a heroin problem.
Vance’s grandparents stepped in and raised him. Despite all the hardship growing up, Vance and his mother managed to patch things up.
The tome helped propel Vance into the national spotlight.
“Well, here we are,” Vance told his mom during the ceremony as his eyes welled up, the Examiner reported. “And you made it, and we made it. And most importantly, you’re celebrating a very, very big milestone. And I’m just very proud of you.
“I’m, I’m gonna try not to cry here,” he said.
An emotional Aikins recalled how she “hit rock bottom when my parents died” and got to a point where her siblings and children weren’t speaking to her.
During the tribute to his mother, Vance also recounted how she met House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for the first time during the Republican National Convention last summer.
“Mom, who was sitting next to President Trump, and sitting next to another guy, sort of a shorter guy, good-looking, very well-spoken, very kind, and Mom turns to him and says, ‘Who are you? You work in politics, too?’ And he says, ‘I’m Mike Johnson, I’m the speaker of the House,’ ” Vance reportedly recalled.
The VP also gave his mom, family and friends a tour around iconic places within the White House on Friday, including the Rose Garden, Roosevelt Room, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
“I meet a lot of people who think that there is no other side for those who suffer from addiction,” Vance said at the event. “Unfortunately, we know that for some, that’s true, but for many, there is another side.”
