‘THIS HAS DRIVEN ME CRAZY’

‘That Would Be Weird’: Pence Aide Denies That He Calls His Wife ‘Mother’

The unsettling pet name was first reported by Rolling Stone four years ago.

One of the very few intriguing bits of lore about former Vice President Mike Pence is that he supposedly calls his wife “Mother.” However, one of his aides has spoken out about the unsettling nickname, saying that Pence does not refer to Karen Pence as “Mother,” and that it would be “weird” if he did. Appearing on the global affairs podcast One Decision, Alyssa Farah, a former Pence press secretary, was asked about the rumor. “This has driven me crazy for years because it’s weird,” she said, according to The Hill. “That would be very weird if he called her ‘Mother.’” The claim originated in a 2017 Rolling Stone article in which Pence was quoted as asking Karen: “Mother, Mother, who prepared our meal this evening?” Farah added: “She was always ‘Karen’ when I was around, and the rest of us called her Mrs. Pence or the second lady... He does not call her ‘Mother.’”