Charlie Kirk’s mother has spoken publicly for the first time since his death, to push back on conspiracy theories that his family has turned against widow Erika Kirk.
Kathryn Kirk spoke to Vanity Fair, the first media outlet she’s talked to since her son Charlie Kirk was killed, to address rumors of a family rift.
Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025. He was 31.
Eight days later, his widow Erika was named his successor at Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization Charlie founded when he was 18.
Where the rift rumors started from
Online speculation has suggested Charlie’s parents blame Erika for his death, and that the family is fighting her over his will and the future of Turning Point.
Kathryn, however, says none of it is true.
“We were 100 percent behind her,” Kathryn said.
“Erika and I have, through the trauma, grown closer. 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.”
In the interview she also recalls the calls starting minutes after her son was shot. A TMZ reporter reached her before she’d even spoken to her own daughter. She explains how she wanted to stay a private citizen this whole time, but says even her silence got read as confirmation by people looking for a scandal.
The only moment she cried during the interview wasn’t about any of that. It was talking about how upset Charlie would be to see how his wife has been treated online.
She and Erika have also sat side by side for five days in July, at a preliminary hearing in Provo, Utah, for Tyler Robinson, 23. He’s charged with aggravated murder over Charlie’s death and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. A judge ruled in September that the case will go to trial.
Why Charlie kept his parents out of the 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 actively working on his will before he was killed and had planned to go into his office the Monday after his death to sign the paperwork.
Kathryn said Charlie deliberately kept his parents out of any succession discussions, because it “would just go right into our fears.”
But board members, Erika, and several people close to Charlie all said he’d made it clear his wife should take over if anything ever happened to him. The board voted two days after his death.
The involvement of Candace Owens
Much of the online criticism traces back to Candace Owens, a close friend of Charlie’s and a former Turning Point employee.
Owens started questioning whether Israel or Erika had been involved in his death on her Youtube videos shortly after it happened. Some of the videos have more than 5 million views.
According to the Vanity Fair piece, this has led to Owens becoming a source of tension inside Turning Point, driving a wedge between the organization’s leadership and donors who follow her closely.
Turning Point has reportedly spent the past year chasing down internal leaks to Owens, and has fired employees suspected of being the source.
“My sense is that the leadership of the organization is wholly focused on Candace Owens,” Tucker Carlson said, adding that he “loves Candace” and considers her “a very humane and decent person,” despite this view upsetting some people at Turning Point.
“What’s been the most interesting is how savage women are to women,” Erika said.
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