What to Know
After the conservative activist and podcast host Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a Turning Point USA event in September 2025, his wife, Erika Kirk, began to make more and more public appearances. Those who oppose her, her late husband’s message, and her general ideas were quick to point out how much she has been away from home on what some call a “press tour.” One woman on TikTok even made a video where she wrote text on the screen that is clearly targeted at Erika.
Erika and Charlie share two children, and Erika has spoken out about how she has tried to explain Charlie’s death to her toddler daughter. Outside of any empathy that Erika’s critics might have for her and her family, many can’t seem to help themselves in talking about how Erika preaches women staying home with their children and taking on that traditional gender role, when in fact, she has been making appearances almost nonstop since her husband died. Ope.
@rachel.c220 Fr#girls #kids #momsoftiktok #trending #fyp ♬ Ordinary (Wedding Version) – Alex Warren
Erika Kirk is kind of everywhere these days.
In the TikTok video, text on the screen says, “If you ever feel like a s–tty mom, just remember that at least you aren’t doing a months long press tour while your small children are at home trying to process their dad’s sudden and violent death.” The user does not name Erika, but the criticism is one that people have shared before and did specifically name Erika.
In the comments, someone wrote, “Shouldn’t she be home anyway? Isn’t that their whole thing?” Another user added, “All while preaching about how mothers need to be home with their kids.” “Imagine losing your dad and your mom just goes on tour right away,” someone else wrote.
Other comments include, “It’s okay, they’re at Vance’s house with his wife and kids while he stays with Erica to make sure she’s okay,” “Those kids didn’t know him – look at his schedule during their lives,” and, “I hadn’t thought of that. This makes her even more of a villain.”
After Charlie’s death, Erika spoke at his televised memorial special, appeared at a Turning Point USA event at University of Mississippi, accepted an award at the Fox Nation Patriot Awards, and appeared on Fox News multiple times, just to name a few of Erika’s stops on her unofficial press tour. Most of her Fox News appearances are for Charlie’s book, Stop, in the Name of God, however.
Even before that, though, Erika was on Jesse Watters Primetime.
Every month following Charlie’s death, Erika was seen at some kind of public event. In some cases, she appeared and spoke at numerous events. Because of this, her critics are not here to give Erika grace in the face of losing her husband.
Instead, they are ready to point out the inconsistencies in her message.
Erika Kirk told her daughter that Charlie Kirk is in Heaven “working with Jesus.”
After Charlie died, Erika spoke on her podcast Midweek Rise Up about how she explained to her children what happened to their father. She said that she told her daughter Charlie is “on a work trip with Jesus, so he can afford your blueberry budget.” Although that was obviously meant as a way to share how she explained the loss to her daughter, some people took this to be a bit performative.
When someone brought up the “blueberries” story in the comments under the TikTok about Erika being on a press tour, another person replied, “She said it immediately after it happened too! I remember she brought it up during the first interview she did after Charlie’s death. Definitely the kind of thing her daughter is going to remember and have to work through in therapy in a decade or two.”
