Erika Kirk says she and her children are 'doing the best you could expect', credits TPUSA's support

WASHINGTON, DC: Erika Kirk opened up about how her family is doing on Monday, December 8, three months after the murder that shattered her world.

The 37-year-old widow of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk returned to Fox News as she launched a full week of appearances to promote his posthumous book, 'Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life.'

Erika Kirk on living with the 'permanency' of loss

Fox News host Sean Hannity gently asked how she and the couple’s two young children were holding up.

“Doing the best you could expect,” she said. “God is good, and we have the most amazing TPUSA family. They rally around myself, my children, and, you know, chosen families, everything, and then we’re blessed with our family itself, but people like you, Ainsley, it’s priceless. It’s priceless.” 

Hannity then asked how she dealt with the brutal, everyday reality that Charlie isn’t coming back. 

She admitted the “permanency” of it all still knocks the wind out of her.

“There are moments where the reality hits you. He's not coming home. Right? The permanency. I will always struggle with the permanency,” she said. “It's the love of my life. I still talk to him every single day as if... When I'm getting ready in the morning, when I'm getting ready to go to bed, when I'm just going about my day. It's — I still feel him so much with me.” 

Erika Kirk on speaking to children about their late father

Hannity then turned to faith, whether believing that Charlie is in heaven has given her any comfort. Erika said it has and revealed the incredibly tender nighttime ritual she shares with her young daughter.

“It does,” she said, describing the conversations that happen when the house gets quiet. “My daughter and I, we’ve talked about this at night. She would ask, ‘What do you think Daddy did today in heaven?’ And I’ll have her relay that back to me.”

Erika was asked how she even began to explain Charlie’s death to their children.

“We’ve come to the understanding, and I’ve tried to explain this to her, that Daddy’s still with us, he’s just in a different location and he’s building us a home in heaven,” she said. “And I’ve said this before, but she said, ‘I can’t wait to go.’ I said, ‘Me too, baby.’” 

A murder that shook the nation

Charlie Kirk was just 30 years old when he was shot and killed on September 10 while addressing students at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. 

Police arrested Tyler James Robinson, 22, the following day. He has been charged with aggravated murder and multiple felonies. Robinson has not yet entered a plea, and prosecutors have indicated they will seek the death penalty if the case goes to trial.

Erika faced the unimaginable head-on. At Charlie’s public memorial at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21, she stunned thousands when she publicly forgave the man accused of killing her husband.

“I forgive him because it is what Christ did,” she said. “The answer to hate is not hate.” 

Dreams of a bigger family, cut short too soon

During a sit-down with Megyn Kelly in November, Erika revealed another wound time hasn’t come close to healing.

They married in May 2021 and share a son and a daughter whose names they’ve kept out of the public eye. But according to Erika, they weren’t done.

“We wanted to have four [children],” she said. “And I was praying to God that I was pregnant when he got murdered. … Both of us were, we were really excited to just expand our family.” She said the idea of another child “would [have been] the ultimate blessing out of this catastrophe.”

“Now when I see young couples, I tell them, ‘Please, don’t put it off,’” she added. “Especially if you’re a young woman, don’t put it off. You can always have a career, you can always go back to work. You can never just go back to having children.”

Erika stepped into Charlie’s shoes as chairman and CEO of Turning Point USA just days after his death.