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The ex-wife of Kamala Harris’s husband has yet again defended the vice president on social media after she was attacked for not having biological children.
Kerstin Emhoff rushed to Harris’s defense after Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared to sneer at the Democratic presidential candidate for not having biological children at a town hall event in Flint, Michigan with Donald Trump on Tuesday.
“My kids keep me humble,” Sanders, who also served as White House Press Secretary under Trump, said at the event. “Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
Emhoff was quick to speak out against the comments on social media on Tuesday night.
“Cole and Ella keep us inspired to make the world a better place,” she wrote. “I do it through storytelling. Kamala Harris has spent her entire career working for the people, ALL families. That keeps you pretty humble.”
Kerstin Emhoff was married to Harris’s now-husband, Doug Emhoff, for 16 years, and they had two children: Cole and Ella Emhoff. The two split in 2010, and Doug married Harris four years later. Ever since, the vice president has been a parent to Cole and Ella, who affectionately refer to her as “Momala.”
Kerstin has consistently supported Harris politically and personally, including attending her 2021 inauguration as the vice president. She defended Harris in July against the “childless cat lady” attacks hurled by Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance. She told CNN that Kamala has been a “co-parent” with her and Doug since their kids were teenagers.
“I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it,” Kerstin said.
Ella, a 25-year-old model, fashion-designed and artist, also defended her stepmother on Instagram: “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I?”
Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments come from a resurfaced 2021 Fox News clip. The Ohio senator claimed, “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.”
“Look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” he continued.
Several celebrities also spoke out against the comments, including Friends star Jennifer Anniston.
“I truly can’t believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States,” Anniston wrote on Instagram.
“All I can say is… Mr Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option,” she continued. “Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”
