Erika Kirk recalls last moments with Charlie before his ‘horror movie’ murder, addresses assassination video

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, revealed she has never watched video of her husband’s assassination as she opened up about how she has been coping with his death in a raw, emotional interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters.

“I never saw the video, I never will see it,” she revealed to Fox News. “I never want to see it, there are certain things you see in your life that you can never unsee. There are certain things you see in your life that mark your soul forever. I don’t want my husband’s public assassination to be something I ever see. I don’t want my kids to ever see that.”

The night before Charlie was assassinated, Erika and her daughter slept in the couple’s bed. Charlie slept in their daughter’s bedroom. She claimed she wanted him to get a “good night’s sleep” before his speaking engagement the next day.

Charile Kirk and his wife, Erika Lane Frantzve and their two children at Christmas in December 2024. (Charlie Kirk via Facebook)

“That night, he [Charlie] was so excited. I mean, he was like I can’t wait, it’s going to be the best,” Erika Kirk said.

The next morning would mark her final moments with Charlie.

“He came in and he grabbed that [wedding ring and necklace] and then he left. I didn’t even get to give him a kiss goodbye,” she said on “Erika Kirk: In Her Own Words,” a special edition of “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

Kirk remained in Arizona that day to tend to her mother, who was reportedly experiencing a medical issue.

“[Charlie] was like, home needs you. Home needs you, be home. Come with me on Thursday to the next event we have,” she explained.

At the doctor’s office, she and her mother watched a video of Charlie tossing hats into the crowd at Utah Valley University. Moments later, she received a call.

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a college event in Utah. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via Reuters)

“Mikey [McCoy] called me,” she recounted. “I’ll never forget, him just being like, Charlie’s been shot. He’s been shot, get the kids. Get security, get the kids, get the kids, he’s been shot. I sprinted out of her treatment center and just collapsed in the middle of the parking lot.”

Charlie was fatally struck in the neck by a single round from a bolt-action rifle just past noon local time.

From that moment, Erika said she entered an “unbelievable nightmare.”

Charlie Kirk speaks before he is assassinated during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

“The way the bullet hit him, he died instantaneously,” Kirk explained. “He died on the scene. But I’m so glad he didn’t suffer, I’m so glad he didn’t suffer. No one deserves to suffer, but a handful of people. He literally blinked and probably thought he was raptured and looked around and was like, where’s everybody else? He blinked, and he was with the Lord.”

The 36-year-old said she had communicated her safety concerns to Charlie, who at times engaged in heated debates on college campuses, but was met with his fearlessness.

“I used to say, Charlie, have you ever thought about wearing a vest?” she revealed. “He would nod to that and be like, you know, I’ve looked into it, but he would always say, ‘if they’re going to get me, they’re gonna get me.’ He wasn’t afraid. Wouldn’t have mattered anyways if you wore a vest.”

Charlie Kirk debates with students at The Cambridge Union on May 19, 2025 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. (Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)

Upon arriving in Utah, Kirk wanted to see her deceased husband right away, but said a police officer advised her to wait for the mortuary given the state he was in.

She refused to wait.

“I responded back to him and I said, with all due respect, sir. I want to see what they did to my husband and I want to give him a kiss because I didn’t get to give him a kiss this morning,” she explained.

Erika viewed her husband’s lifeless body in a hospital room, which she said looked “so alive.”

Erika Kirk weeps over her late husband Charlie’s casket. Turning Point USA CEO Charlie Kirk was killed on Sept. 10, 2025, during an event at Utah Valley University. (@MrsErikaKirk/Instagram)

“I’m just so glad I saw him because… when you see someone at the mortuary, they never look the same,” Kirk reflected. “They have awful makeup and they’re cold. He was still warm, and his eyes were slightly open. It was so powerful, Jesse. He had this smirk on his face.”

The final image, she said, has come to embody Charlie’s undying spirit and mission.

“That smirk to me is that look of: you thought you could stop what I’ve built,” she reflected. “This vision, this movement, this revival, you thought you could do that by murdering me. You got my body. You didn’t get my soul.”

Erika Kirk will receive the first-ever Charlie Kirk Legacy Award at the seventh annual Fox Nation Patriot Awards in New York Thursday.

Nora Moriarty is a Production Assistant at FOX News.