JD Vance’s childhood is not what you’d typically expect of someone destined for the White House. Raised in Middletown, Ohio, he grew up alongside his half-sister, Lindsay, with a mother who battled drug addiction. After his parents divorced, his mother’s violent tendencies became increasingly apparent.

Vance’s childhood was fraught with difficulties, many of which he documented in his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. These experiences were later adapted into a film by Ron Howard, with Amy Adams and Glenn Close starring in it.
In an interview with NPR, Vance recounted harrowing moments, including when his mother threatened to crash their car with him and his sister inside. “[I] hopped in the back seat to hide from her,” Vance recalled. “This got her really angry. She stopped the car, pulled over, and I think she was going to start hitting me. So, I ran.”