J.D. Vance Admits His ''Childless Cat Ladies' Insult Was Boneheaded' and 'One of the Dumbest Things I Ever Said'

Vice President J.D. Vance officially walked back his infamous 2021 "childless cat ladies" remark, labeling it "one of the dumbest things I ever said" and a "boneheaded comment." The admission is featured in his new memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, released on Tuesday, June 16.

In early excerpts obtained by NBC News, Vance reflected on the political and cultural firestorms ignited by his initial remarks. He framed the admission as a lesson in his faith journey and conversion to Catholicism, noting Christian statesmen must be willing to admit error.

The 2028 Republican presidential hopeful admitted it was "enraging" to the public, which ultimately distracted from his broader policy arguments regarding family-friendly societal structures.

He also said the comment was deficient in charity toward millions of Americans who do not have children due to circumstances outside of their control.

“One of the dumbest things I ever said came when I argued that ‘childless cat ladies’ across the Democrat[ic] Party were running our country into the ground,” Vance wrote.

“The comment caused two firestorms: the first when I made it, the second years later during a political campaign,” Vance admitted. “It was a boneheaded comment, intentionally (and successfully) provocative rather than illuminating.”

Vance originally made the controversial comment during a July 2021 appearance on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show while running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio.

At the time, he claimed the United States was effectively run by "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.”

“What I was basically saying is that we’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made. And so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance told Carlson. “And it’s just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”

Harris has stepchildren from her husband, Doug Emhoff. New York Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, does not have children, while Buttigieg has two children, fraternal twins born in August 2021, with his husband, Chasten Buttigieg.

The then-Senate candidate doubled down on his cringe comment, adding, “I just wanted to ask that question and propose that maybe if we want a healthy ruling class in this country, we should invest more. We should vote more. We should support more people who actually have kids, because those are the people who ultimately have a more direct stake in the future of this country.”

The comments resurfaced aggressively during the 2024 presidential election after Donald Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

Rather than apologizing in 2024, Vance spent months defending the remark as "sarcastic.”

The ongoing backlash became a rallying point for political opponents and cultural figures, culminating in high-profile reactions such as pop titan Taylor Swift enndorsing Harris while proudly signing her post as a "childless cat lady.”

With the release of Communion, Vance has shifted his approach, choosing a rare moment of public self-criticism as political analysts view him as a potential contender for the 2028 presidential race.

The least popular vice president in American history, according to polls, said he “could have made that point much more effectively, and with the benefit of showing a little charity to the many Americans who — some for reasons beyond their control —­ don’t have children. When I consider the Church’s admonition to respect the dignity of every life, this was a clear moment where I failed.”

The dialback may not matter: Vance faces historically low approval ratings, with recent polling placing his net approval at -18 to -21 points. Tracking data from Civiqs shows a steady decline since the inauguration, with his unfavorable ratings consistently outweighing his favorable.