On September 10, Conservative activist and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, 31, was fatally wounded while answering a question about firearm violence at Utah Valley University in front of about 3,000 people.
He succumbed to his wound after being taken to a local hospital, and the incident took a massive socio-political shape overnight, especially with President Donald Trump condemning the assassin and vowing to bring them to justice.
Highlights
- Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, recently wrote a tribute to mark the first anniversary of his demise in which she described the horrifying ordeal of the hours just after the incident.
- Netizens blasted the mother of two, accusing her once again of “milking” her husband’s assassination.
- Erika also revealed a conversation she had with Usha Vance that helped her through the tough times.
Amid the chaos, Charlie’s wife, Erika Kirk, quickly became the public face of his legacy and began making public appearances.
The choice of outfits and grand theatrics at these events, on top of her rapid transition from grieving widow to businesswoman, sparked worldwide backlash against the mother of two.
After Erika recently penned a tribute to her late husband to mark the anniversary of his demise, netizens mercilessly picked her apart once again.
“She mocks him constantly,” one said.
Erika Kirk described the grief she went through the day after Charlie Kirk’s assassination
On September 7, The New York Times published a guest column by Erika Kirk where she detailed the aftermath of Charlie’s passing and how she had dealt with the grief ever since.
“The past 24 hours feel like a fever dream as I land in Phoenix from Utah and return home,” she wrote. “I get out of the car, and my kids run into my arms. They have no idea where I was or what I was doing. They care only that I am home.”
“As I walk to the front door, there’s a tightening in my chest I don’t recognize. Is this what grief feels like? I sit on the couch where Charlie sat two nights ago watching the Cubs with our kids. I feel a wave building inside me, and I know it’s about to crash.”
She shared that she eventually found the “courage” to go into their bedroom, and when she did, she “stared at his pillow and wondered how long a person’s scent can last in sheets.”
However, she avoided the bedroom for months afterward: “I told myself it was OK to confront the pain gradually and to sit with each memory as it came to me.”
The former Miss Arizona goes on to talk about how she missed Charlie during every festival and special occasion, but over time, she learned to make peace with it.
“Grief is strange. Time continues even when every part of you wants it to pause or, better yet, rewind,” she wrote.
“But the people we love who have passed on would not want us to spend the rest of our lives trying to rewind.”
Readers brought back old insults after Erika Kirk’s latest essay
As Erika Kirk stepped up as the new CEO of Turning Point USA, allegedly at Charlie's request, critics came at her from all sides with several allegations. Some accused her of taking advantage of Charlie’s passing, and others accused her of neglecting her children.
Her white pantsuit at Charlie’s September 2025 memorial service drew negative attention, while later appearances in bright, sequined dresses fueled comparisons with “WWE entrances” and “beauty pageants.”
Ex-Turning Point USA employee and political commentator Candace Owens even argued that Erika may have orchestrated her husband’s assassination in an ambush takedown video series, Bride of Charlie.
Erika’s latest column brought back the jibes, although a few defended her and berated the detractors for judging how someone mourns a close one.
“She’s getting ready to bring the fireworks out again,” one person said. Another wrote, “Is she gearing up for an anniversary tour?”
“Like the part where she put on a sparkly pantsuit and walked onto the stage under fireworks? Was that one of the devastating moments?” said a third. A fourth wrote, “Here we go again: the tissue-wiping, dry-eye tour.”
“It’s so crazy to me how everyone can come down on her for the way she’s grieving. I am a widow, and I can honestly say I went insane for three days,” one woman said.
“Each of us loses people. Many will lose a life partner. I can't imagine how difficult it is,” wrote a second.
Something Usha Vance told her the day after Charlie’s passing stayed with Erika Kirk
One thing that helped Erika Kirk through the difficult days was something Vice President JD Vance’s wife, Usha, told her the day after Charlie’s demise.
“I don’t know how I’m going to do this,” Erika recalled telling the Second Lady of the United States in The New York Times column.
“You know when you’re on an airplane with your kids, and you’re going to land in 15 minutes, but the kids are going crazy, screaming, throwing things, and then the plane lands, and the kids relax, and everything is fine again? That’s how it will be,” Usha Vance responded. “Just get through the next 15 minutes.”
“Her words are seared into my heart,” Erika said.
In late October 2025, rumors about an “affair” between Erika Kirk and JD Vance began circulating online after they shared a hug at a Turning Point USA event in which she touched the back of his head.
Speculation intensified after Usha was photographed without her wedding ring around the same time.
Erika addressed the matter on Megyn Kelly Live in November and said, “He says, ‘I’m so proud of you,’ and I say, ‘God bless you,’ and I touch the back of his head.”
“Anyone whom I have hugged, that I have touched the back of their head, I always say, ‘God bless you.’”
"She felt her relevance disappearing," one viewer joked
