A look inside the marriage of Mike and Karen Pence

Mike and Karen Pence have been married for 33 years.They met in 1983, and ultimately became evangelical Christians together.They exercise and pray together — and the vice president forgoes eating alone with women other than his wife.There's a quiet but powerful force at work in the White House.Her name is Karen Pence.The Second Lady's influence often goes unnoticed amid the noisy exits and vicious power struggles that characterize the Trump White House.But she is in fact the closest adviser to her husband, US Vice President Mike Pence — President Donald Trump's second-in-command.At the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference, when Karen Pence took to the stage to introduce her husband, she revealed that he enjoys winding down on Friday nights with a “supreme thin crust” pizza and a bottle of O'Doul's alcohol-free beer. She also told the crowd that her husband is a talented cartoonist and an avid reader.Karen Pence has sometimes been a focus in some recent controversies, like the couple's expensive decision to walk out of a NFL game over flag protests. The Washington Post reported that she has often asserted she never attempts to sway policy.But her 32-year marriage to the former Indiana governor has been a major influence on him throughout his political career. Karen — who Mike Pence refers to as “Mother,” according to the Rolling Stone's extensive profile in 2017 — is a major player behind the scenes.Here's a look inside the marriage of Mike and Karen Pence.