In August 1986, John Derbyshire married a Chinese woman in Changchun, China. He described the process in an article for The Spectator.

During a debate with Jared Taylor at the Robert A. Taft club in August 2006 Derbyshire joked that the only reason he was not an open white nationalist was because "it would get me in trouble at home." During the question and answer session Derbyshire jokingly described his two children, Danny and Nellie, as "Danny-mud and Nellie-mud." He has argued that the internment of Americans with Japanese ancestry during World War II was "not a very deplorable thing to do" and noted that in the event of serious war with China, similar internment of Americans with Chinese ancestry will occur and "I hope the camps will not be very uncomfortable, for I shall be there too-- the Derbyshires travel as a family."