Charlie Kirk's mom addresses conspiracy theories about Erika rift
Charlie Kirk's mother has spoken to the media for the first time since her son's death, and she has a blunt message for those claiming his family has turned on his widow.
Kathryn Kirk told Vanity Fair in an in-depth profile of Erika Kirk, that conspiracy theories about a family rift are false.
Online speculation has suggested Charlie's parents blame Erika for his death, and that they are fighting over his will and the future of Turning Point USA.
“We were 100 percent behind her,” Kathryn said, adding: “Erika and I have, through the trauma, grown closer.”
Advert
“We knew Charlie in a way that no one else did. We can look at each other’s eyes and we know the depth of our despair.”
Charlie was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. He was 31.
Eight days later, Erika was publicly appointed as his successor at Turning Point, the conservative youth organization he founded at 18.
Is there a rift between Erika Kirk and Charlie Kirk's parents?
Kathryn said she has been fielding calls since minutes after her son was shot.
A TMZ reporter rang before she had even spoken to her daughter. She is desperate to remain a private citizen, but is coming to terms with the fact that even her silence has been seized on by conspiracy theorists.
The only time she cried during the interviews was when she walked about how upset Charlie would be over the way his wife was treated on social media.
Erika and Kathryn also sat side by side for five days in July at a preliminary hearing in Provo, Utah. It was for Tyler Robinson, 23, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including aggravated murder, over Charlie's death.
A judge ruled in September that the case will go to trial.
As for Charlie Kirk's will, Doug DeGroote, a Turning Point board member who also manages the couple's personal finances, told Vanity Fair that Charlie and Erika had been working on it when he was killed. They planned to go to his office the Monday after his murder to sign the paperwork, he said.
Kathryn said Charlie purposely spared his parents from succession discussions ‘because it would just go right into our fears’. Board members, Erika and several close allies all said that Charlie had made clear his wife should take over if anything happened to him. The board voted two days after his death.
What has Candace Owens said about Erika Kirk?
Much of the online criticism has been driven by Candace Owens, a close friend and former Turning Point employee of Charlie's. Shortly after the killing, Owens began publicly asking whether Israel had been involved, and then whether Erika had. She said on her YouTube show that Erika ‘should be dragged into a police precinct for questioning’. Some of her videos about Charlie have drawn more than 5 million views.
The Vanity Fair article reports that Owens has become a source of tension inside Turning Point, driving a wedge between its leadership and some donors who listen to her. The organization has spent the past year chasing internal leaks to Owens, and has even fired employees suspected of being the source.
Tucker Carlson told Vanity Fair: “My sense is that the leadership of the organization is wholly focused on Candace Owens.” Carlson said he ‘loves Candace’ and considers her a ‘very humane and decent person’, a view he says has upset some people at Turning Point. Owens declined to comment.
Erika, for her part, said of the trolling she has experienced online: “What’s been the most interesting is how savage women are to women.”
UNILAD has approached Turning Point USA and Candace Owens for comment.
Thomas Bamford