With thousands of social media sleuths analyzing every moment of the infamous 'super-intimate' embrace between JD Vance and the widow of Charlie Kirk, body language experts have explained exactly what the hug says about the 'familiar' personal relationship between Erika Kirk and the vice president.
Barely seven weeks after the 31-year-old commentator was shot dead while speaking at Utah Valley University, Erika set the online rumor mills turning when she took to the stage at a Turning Point USA event in Mississippi and was held by Vance in a tight embrace, with the 41-year-old married vice president placing his hand on her hip.
During the tender clinch, Erika can also be seen placing her hand into the hair of her long-time friend, which has raised eyebrows and highlighted some of her past comments about their relationship.
Previously, Charlie Kirk's widow has admitted 'no one will ever replace my husband, but I do see some similarities in JD.'
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Body language analysts have been quick to point out the surprising familiarity of the moment on stage at the University of Mississippi, October 29, with expert Traci Brown telling HuffPost of Erika putting her fingers in Vance's hair: “That’s a super-intimate move, but beyond that, it controls his attention — so, she’s controlling what he’s looking at."
The closeness of their bodies could also reveal something of their private relationship.
“In the hug, also, they’re pressed up against each other, he is smiling, and the little crème de la crème [...] is she’s running her hands through his hair,” said nonverbal communication expert Patti Wood.
“She’s got her hands inside of his hair, and if you look at the fingers, there’s a tightening, that’s a curling around of the fingers, meaning she is pulling him closer,” Wood added.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Erika made a veiled reference to the wave of speculation regarding her and the vice president when asked whether cameras should be allowed in the courtroom for the trial of her husband's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson.
Speaking to Jesse Watters, she said: "There have been cameras all over my friends and family mourning. There have been cameras all over me, analyzing my every move, analyzing every smile, my every tear, we deserve to have cameras in there."
However, this has done little to quell online speculation after her 'super-intimate' cuddle with Vance on stage, with body language expert Karen Donaldson pointing out the hidden meaning behind their movements: “It suggests, or signals, she’s comfortable. And there’s some type of familiarity there. He’s familiar to her as well.”
Brown added: “His hands drop to her hips, and that is not formal, and that is, in many instances, not appropriate. However, it’s what they’re doing."
Donaldson went on to explain the 'intimate space' created by the two on stage at Ole Miss, with them 'touching chest to chest and pelvis to pelvis,' during the now infamous hug.
“They’re facing each other directly and they are in each other’s intimate space — and what I want to say about that is it’s mutual, because no one’s pulling away,” she added.
UNILAD has previously contacted Vance and Turning Point USA for comment.
Topics: JD Vance, Charlie Kirk, Social Media
William Morgan