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Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff is defending her stepmother after video surfaced of JD Vance attacking Harris for not having children of her own. Emhoff, who affectionately calls Harris “Momala,” posted a quote from her mother Kerstin Emhoff on Instagram Stories also criticizing the attack with the caption, “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have adorable kids like Cole and I,” along with the thinking emoji.
“I love my three parents,” wrote Ella Emhoff, 25. Her post came in response to a resurfaced 2021 clip of Vance criticizing Harris during a Fox News interview that has now gone viral. In the clip, Vance told former host Tucker Carlson that the US was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are unhappy in their own lives and the choices they’ve made and want to make the rest of the country unhappy too.”
Vance, 39, specifically named Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “The entire future of the Democrats is determined by people who don’t have children,” Vance said. “How does it make sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t have a direct stake in it?”
The video began circulating again after Vance was named Trump’s vice presidential pick and Harris secured enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, with Biden dropping out of the race on Sunday. Though Harris has never had children, she helped raise her two stepchildren, Ella and Cole, 30, the children of her husband, Doug Emhoff, and his ex-wife, Kerstin. Harris married Doug in 2014.
Doug Emhoff’s ex Kerstin also came to Harris’ defense with her own scathing response to the criticism. “These are baseless attacks,” she said in a statement. “For over a decade, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has co-parented with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective and always present.”
“I love our blended family and am grateful that she is a part of it,” she continued. Kerstin Emhoff has also posted several times in support of Harris’ presidential bid. Vance’s video has also received negative feedback from others, including actress Jennifer Aniston.
Aniston, 55, took to Instagram Stories on Wednesday with some harsh words for Vance. “I honestly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of the United States,” the Friends star wrote. “All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is lucky enough to have children of her own one day.”
“I hope she doesn’t have to have IVF as a second option. Because you’re trying to take that away from her too,” she continued. Aniston, who currently stars on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, has been candid about her fertility struggles and her attempts to conceive for years.
Another Democrat specifically named in Vance’s attack, Buttigieg, announced in September 2021 that he and his husband had adopted twin babies. That announcement came more than a month before Vance made his comments.