JD Vance Looks So Different In Throwback Megyn Kelly Interview Before Political Fame
Many people didn't know who JD Vance was before Donald Trump chose him as his left-field VP pick in July 2024. So, it may come as a shock to see just how much he's changed over the course of the last decade. It's no secret that JD has shifted some of his opinions and political stances over the years, but how he looks has changed quite a bit, too.
It's no surprise that JD's wife Usha Vance is unrecognizable in her high school yearbook photo. After all, who among us still looks like we did as a teenager? Yet, JD looked like a completely different person as recently as 2017. Megyn Kelly interviewed him on NBC News about his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," and looking back on it may cause you to do a double-take. His clean shave and slightly goofier haircut gave him a rounder, more baby-faced look. It's clear that he has naturally aged in the years that followed, with one example being that 2017 JD's hair had no signs of graying. And, while it wasn't quite so intense, it seems that JD's viral eye makeup look was already in the works even back then.
The author and VP's recognizable bearded look eventually became his staple, and it stuck around when JD was elected a senator of Ohio in 2022.
We saw photos of an even younger JD Vance as he opened up about his childhood
Since JD Vance's interview with Megyn Kelly was focused on "Hillbilly Elegy," the future VP spoke a lot about his childhood and the past that led him to a career in politics. During the conversation, the NBC News segment showed photos of Vance in his youth, even offering up a baby picture. Interestingly, it was just as easy to recognize Vance in the photo of him when he was still learning to talk as it was when he was in a 2017 interview — perhaps because he was devoid of facial hair in both?
Yet, the interview revealed more about how much Vance has changed than just his looks. "I've criticized a lot of Trump's rhetoric, and I'm not a big fan of some of the things that he's said," Vance explained, before noting that he didn't agree with folks looking down on Trump for the way he spoke. It's difficult to believe watching this interview that, in 2025, Donald Trump would be president again, and Vance would be his vice president.
Of course, Vance said far worse about his future political partner before he changed his tune. He identified as a "Never Trump guy" and suggested that Trump was "America's Hitler," per Politico. So, his interview with Kelly is clear evidence that you never know how things might differ over time — especially when it comes to Vance.