--- title: Mike Pence: Donald Trump Praises Pence's Marriage description: President Donald Trump kidded Vice President Mike Pence about his marriage amid online debate over Pence’s rule over women canonical: https://time.com/4721721/donald-trump-mike-karen-pence-wife-marriage/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-31T21:17:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:09:21.012Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump: Mike Pence Has 'One Hell of a Good Marriage' og:description: Pence won't eat alone with any woman but his wife og:url: https://time.com/4721721/donald-trump-mike-karen-pence-wife-marriage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbc8758f03b2bdd/6988c0df4dd215748defe5ac/pence.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Participates In Roundtable With Women Small Business Owners og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump: Mike Pence Has 'One Hell of a Good Marriage' twitter:description: Pence won't eat alone with any woman but his wife twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbc8758f03b2bdd/6988c0df4dd215748defe5ac/pence.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump: Mike Pence Has 'One Hell of a Good Marriage' by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 31, 2017 9:17 PM UTC  Vice President Pence listens while meeting with women small business owners with U.S. President Donald Trump, on March 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Vice President Pence listens while meeting with women small business owners with U.S. President Donald Trump, on March 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.Pool—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 31, 2017 9:17 PM UTC President Donald Trump kidded Vice President Mike Pence about his marriage amid online [debate over Pence’s rule of avoiding eating dinner with women other than his wife.](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/pence-wife-billy-graham-rule/521298/) At a White House signing ceremony Friday, Trump turned to Pence and said “He has one hell of a good marriage going” and grabbed his arm jokingly. In [a profile in the Washington _Post_ earlier this week,](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/karen-pence-is-the-vice-presidents-prayer-warrior-gut-check-and-shield/2017/03/28/3d7a26ce-0a01-11e7-8884-96e6a6713f4b%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.f2597d81ae0a) an old anecdote from a 2002 story resurfaced that Pence never eats alone with another woman or attends an event where alcohol is served without his wife Karen. > [](https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/847905481054146561) Called the “Billy Graham rule” for the famed evangelical preacher, the restriction on eating alone has long been common in conservative Christian circles, but it drew criticism online. “If there’s alcohol being served and people are being loose, I want to have the best-looking brunette in the room standing next to me,” Pence said in the 2002 story. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4721721/donald-trump-mike-karen-pence-wife-marriage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4721721/donald-trump-mike-karen-pence-wife-marriage/"},"headline":"President Trump: Mike Pence Has 'One Hell of a Good Marriage'","datePublished":"2017-03-31T21:17:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:09:21.012Z","description":"Pence won't eat alone with any woman but his wife","url":"https://time.com/4721721/donald-trump-mike-karen-pence-wife-marriage/","keywords":["Mike Pence","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbc8758f03b2bdd/6988c0df4dd215748defe5ac/pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bbc8758f03b2bdd/6988c0df4dd215748defe5ac/pence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Participates In Roundtable With Women Small Business Owners","caption":"President Trump Participates In Roundtable With Women Small Business Owners","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mike-pence/","name":"Mike Pence"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4721721/donald-trump-mike-karen-pence-wife-marriage/","name":"President Trump: Mike Pence Has 'One Hell of a Good Marriage'"}}]}] ```