Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk (née Frantzve), answered some lingering questions about her onstage hug with Vice President JD Vance.
“My love language is touch, if you will,” Erika, 37, explained during a recent Megyn Kelly Live appearance. “So, I will give you a play-by-play: They just played the emotional video. I’m walking over, [JD] is walking over. I’m starting to cry.”
Then they embraced.
“He says, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ And I say, ‘God bless you,’ and I touch the back of his head,” Erika recalled. “Anyone whom I have hugged, that I have touched the back of your head when I hug you, I always say, ‘God bless you.’”
Kelly, 55, chimed in to add, “They were acting like you touched the back of his ass!”
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Erika agreed.
“I feel like I wouldn’t get as much hate if I did that!” she added.
Erika’s explanation came after the vice president’s wife, Usha Vance, released a statement after she was photographed without her wedding ring.
“[She is] a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths and forgets her ring sometimes,” a rep for Usha, 39, told People on Saturday, November 22.
Erika’s hug with JD, 41, took place during a Turning Point USA event on October 29. Erika honored her late husband before introducing the vice president to the crowd.
“No one will ever replace my husband,” Erika said at the time. “But I do see some similarities of my husband in JD — in Vice President JD Vance. I do. And that’s why I am so blessed to be able to introduce him tonight.”
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The nature of the hug raised some eyebrows as, Erika said, she rested her hands on the back of his head. The vice president briefly put his hands on her waist during their brief interaction.
Erika became the CEO of Turning Point USA following the death of her husband, Charlie, earlier this year. The conservative commentator was shot and killed at age 31 on September 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University.
Late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk knew that he and wife Erika Kirk (née Frantzve) were meant to be from their first conversation. Erika revealed in a 2023 Instagram post that the couple met in 2018 for what was supposed to be a job interview. However, after chatting about their shared beliefs, Charlie told the woman […]
Tyler Robinson was later arrested and charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, two counts of obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and committing a violent offense in the presence of a child in the wake of Charlie’s death. The 22-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Erika got emotional during the same conversation with Kelly, revealing that she and Charlie had hoped to expand their family prior to his death.
“We wanted to have four [children],” Erika, who shared two kids with Charlie, 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 added, “Now, when I see young couples, I tell them, ‘Please don’t put it off.’ 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.”