JD Vance celebrates mother’s 10-year sobriety at White House

Vice President JD Vance and his mother marked her decade of sobriety this year with a celebration at the White House last Friday.

Vance and his mother, Beverly Aikins, gathered with friends and family in the Roosevelt Room across from the Oval Office for the ceremony during which she received a 10-year medallion, according to a press release from the vice president’s office.

“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 tweeted Monday, along with photos from the event. “Mom, I am so proud of you.”

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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.

Mom, I am so proud of you. pic.twitter.com/aGIKebEPYb

— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) April 7, 2025

At times, the meeting became emotional, according to Salena Zito, a reporter for The Washington Examiner, who attended the celebration.

“Well, here we are. 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,” Vance said, adding, “I’m gonna try not to cry here.”

Vance, whose bestselling 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy recounted the turmoil of growing up in Appalachia with a drug-addicted mother, reportedly also choked up when he recounted that he once feared she would never get the chance to meet his own children, all three of whom were there.

“When I think about everything you’ve accomplished over the last 10 years and the fact that when I was thinking about becoming a father, I didn’t know whether you would live long enough to have a relationship with my kids,” he said. “And now here they are, almost 8, 5, and 3, and you’re the best grandmother that these kids could ever ask for.”

“It is really an amazing thing to watch. It is one of the great blessings of becoming a father, is that I’ve been able to see these kids develop the love and the affection for you and to see it in return. And that’s just an incredible blessing,” he added.

Aikens, who primarily abused alcohol and heroin before getting clean, now works as a nurse at an addiction recovery center in the Cincinnati area. A press release from Vance’s office noted that she encourages those battling addiction “to reach out, to try to get help, and that recovery is hard, but it’s so worth it.”

Vance first floated the idea of celebrating his mother’s milestone at the White House when he introduced her to the cheering crowd during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last year.

“I’m proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober,” Vance said at the time. “I love you, Mom. And, you know, Mom, I was thinking. It’ll be 10 years officially in January of 2025, and if President Trump’s OK with it, let’s have the celebration in the White House.”

During his Convention speech, JD Vance promised his mom a celebration in the White House to mark 10 years of sobriety.

The Vice President and his mom Bev just celebrated her achievement together in the Roosevelt Room.

Promises made, promises kept … by both mother and son.… https://t.co/C2dggqCaZApic.twitter.com/BlfDGYyrI1

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 6, 2025

During an interview with The Movie Times around the release of the film adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy, Aikins said it was “heartbreaking” to read her son’s book and learn how deeply she had unwittingly hurt him while in the throes of her addiction.

“I never knew his pain until I had read the book, so it caused me to grow up a lot,” she said.

During an interview last summer with Fox News opinion host Jesse Watters, Vance said he doubts his mother would have survived her addiction if the drugs pouring over the border now had been available 20 years ago.

“If the poison that is coming across the border now had been coming across 20 years ago, I don’t think that my mom would be here,” he said.