Erika Kirk Reflects on Grief 1 Year After Charlie Kirk's Assassination: ‘I Can Have a Broken Heart and Still Experience Joy'

Days before the one-year anniversary of the death of Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk reflected on grief in a guest essay for The New York Times. Charlie Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a political organization that began in 2012 as an advocacy group for conservative politics on school campuses but has since expanded to become an influential voice in the conservative media landscape. Charlie and Erika married in 2021. On Sept. 10, 2025, Kirk was speaking at an event on the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem, Utah, when he was was shot in the neck. He was pronounced dead later that day. RELATED: Erika Kirk Challenges Pastors To Be Bold Because 'It Might Be Your Last Sermon' Tyler Robinson, 23, who is accused of firing the shot, is currently awaiting trial for seven charges, including aggravated murder. Following Charlie Kirk's murder, Erika Kirk took over as CEO and board chair of TPUSA. Over the past year, Kirk has spoken candidly about her faith in the midst of grief, even offering words of forgiveness to her husband's killer. In her essay, Kirk recounted the harrowing experience of returning to her home in Arizona one day after the death of her husband. 'As I walk to the front door, there's a tightening in my chest I don't recognize,' wrote Kirk. 'Is this what grief feels like? I sit on the couch where Charlie sat two nights ago watching the Cubs with our kids. I feel a wave building inside me, and I know it's about to crash.' Kirk recounted that she had told Usha Vance, second lady of the United States, that she didn't know how she was 'going to do this.' Vance told her, 'You know when you're on an airplane with your kids, and you're going to land in 15 minutes, but the kids are going crazy, screaming, throwing things, and then the plane lands, and the kids relax, and everything is fine again?' RELATED: 'Evildoers' Sparked a Fire—Erika Kirk Pledges To Continue the Work of Her Slain Husband, Charlie Kirk 'That's how it will be,' said Vance. 'Just get through the next 15 minutes.'