Charlie Kirk’s tragic passing sent shockwaves not only around the States but beyond. He was a well-known public figure and the founder of Talking Point USA, a major conservative youth group.

Kirk was was speaking before a large crowd at Utah Valley University (UVU) on September 10, 2025, when he was shot in the neck. He was rushed to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Ever since his death, Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has been in the spotlight. While some show support for her tragic loss, other criticise her due to her smiling demeanor whenever she appears in public.

Conservative commentator Candace Owens has been among those who questioned Erika’s behavior.

Owens criticized Erika Kirk for focusing on photoshoots shortly after her husband died instead of demanding public accountability for his death.

Erika responded to the criticism, saying there’s “no linear blueprint for grief.”

“One day you’re collapsed on the floor crying out the name Jesus in between labored breaths,” she wrote. “The next you’re playing with your children in the living room, 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 on your face.”

On what would have been Charlie’s 32nd birthday, Erika accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of her late husband.

She thanked the president for honoring Charlie, saying, “The very existence of the Presidential Medal of Freedom reminds us that the national interest of the United States has always been freedom.

“Our founders etched it into the preamble of our Constitution, and those words are not relics on parchment. They are a living covenant. The blessings of liberty are not man’s invention. They are God’s endowment.”

She then shared personal insights of her late husband’s life and described him as someone who enjoyed the small things in life. Erika then revealed their birthday tradition: mint chocolate chip ice cream, which they only ate on his birthday and the Fourth of July.

Erika Kirk wrapped up by sharing her daughter’s touching birthday message to Charlie. “Happy birthday, daddy. I want to give you a stuffed animal. I want you to eat a cupcake with ice cream. And I want you to go have a birthday surprise. I love you.”

The stuffed animal was a small but meaningful part of the bond between Charlie Kirk and his daughter Gigi. Whenever he went on his show, he often brought one of her toys with him.

“That was their little connection,” Erika Kirk said. “And he loved it too, because it was a little piece of her that he could have with her on the show.”