Charlie Kirk is being remembered on what would have been his 32nd birthday.
A new video, shared by his widow, Erika Kirk, and his nonprofit Turning Point USA via Instagram on Tuesday, October 14, paid tribute to the memories the right-wing influencer left behind with his family, including clips from the couple’s wedding day, the birth of their children and past milestone moments.
“He was the perfect father. He was the perfect husband,” Erika, 36, said in a voiceover as a snippet from his proposal was shown. (Erika announced her engagement to Charlie in December 2020 with the caption, “When God writes your love story, you get to marry your best friend.”)
The pair exchanged vows the following year in Scottsdale, Arizona, on May 8, 2021. Charlie’s conservative nonprofit organization funded their wedding reception at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess hotel.
Erika and Charlie Kirk's Relationship Timeline: Inside Their Love Story
Erika and Charlie later welcomed a daughter in August 2022 and a son in May 2024.
“And over and over, he would tell all these young people to come and find their future spouse, become wives and husbands and parents,” Erika can be heard saying in the video, discussing her late husband’s political mission. “And the reason why is because he wanted you all to experience what he had.”
She said one of his greatest joys was “raising a family” and he was keen to share that message.
On Tuesday, Charlie was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“Today, we’re here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, a beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I’ve ever seen before. And an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber. The late, great Charlie Kirk,” President Donald Trump said of Charlie’s legacy during an appearance at the Rose Garden.
Charlie, a right-wing political commentator and advocate, was fatally shot in the neck at Utah Valley University on September 10 while on the microphone at his signature “Prove Me Wrong” table as part of his American Comeback Tour. He was 31.
A suspect, 22, turned himself into authorities after a 33-hour manhunt and was subsequently arrested and charged for allegedly murdering Charlie. He is currently being held without bail in a Utah jail. If he is found guilty, the 22-year-old faces the death penalty.
Charlie Kirk’s Family Guide: Meet Political Commentator’s Wife and 2 Kids
In the wake of Charlie’s death, Erika is now the Turning Point USA CEO and chairman of the board after a unanimous vote, following which she delivered a heartfelt eulogy at his funeral located at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21.
While giving her remarks, Erika vowed to follow her husband’s example and fulfill his goals while sharing that she forgave the man allegedly responsible for her husband’s death.
Over the weekend, Erika spoke out about her journey with grief, explaining that it comes in waves.
“One day you’re collapsed on the floor crying out the name Jesus in between labored breaths,” she wrote via Instagram on October 11. “The next you’re playing with your children in the living rooms surrounded by family photos, and feeling a rush of something you can only attempt to define as divinely planted and bittersweet joy as a smile breaks through your face.”
She continued, “They say time heals. But love doesn’t ask to be healed. Love asks to be remembered. It’s humbling to realize that this magnitude of suffering didn’t steal my love for my husband. It amplified it. It crystallized it.”