On Thursday night, Fox News aired Erika Kirk’s first sit-down interview since the murder of her husband, Charlie Kirk.
Erika has made several public appearances in the weeks since the shooting, but this was the first time that she opened up about the very moment when she received the news.
Despite initial reports to the contrary, it seems that Erika was not present at Utah Valley University when her husband was killed.
Erika Kirk was at home in Arizona when she learned of her husband’s death
Though she often traveled with him during his speaking tours, on this occasion, Erika was forced to remain at home in Arizona due to her mother’s health issues.
“He was like, ‘Home needs you … Come with me on Thursday to the next event we have. That night, he was so excited,” she told Jesse Watters during last night’s interview (via Us Weekly).
She added that Charlie was running late in the morning and didn’t have time to give her a goodbye kiss.
Erika explained that she was at a doctor’s appointment with her mother when she received the news.
“I have my phone, and I see the video come in with him flinging out the hats. And I said, ‘Mom, look, it started.’ So we saw the hats being flung. I put my phone down, and it was on silent,” she recalled, adding:
“So I had no reason to look back at it. I moved my mom. I went back to grab my phone, and that’s when Mikey started calling me.
“I’m just like, ‘Charlie’s been shot. He’s been shot. Get the kids. Get security. Get the kids. He’s been shot.’ I sprinted out of her treatment center, just collapsed in the middle of the parking lot.”
Erika Kirk says she will ‘never’ watch assassination video
Erika then recalled arriving at the hospital and arguing with police officers who advised not to view Charlie’s body.
“The room got quiet because half the room knew it’s probably a good idea, and the other half the room was like, ‘There is no way she’s listening to you right now,’” she explained.
“And 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.’ And I said the same thing to the doctor.”
Erika says Charlie looked “so alive,” and she has no regrets about entering that hospital room.
“He was still warm and his eyes were slightly open. He had this smirk on his face,” she shared. “It meant three things to me. First, that he died doing what he loved. Second was that he was at peace. [Third], I gave him a kiss,”
Erika went on to reveal that she has never seen the widely circulated video of her husband’s shooting, and she never intends to watch it.
“There’s certain things you see in your life that you can never unsee. There’s certain things you see in your life that mark your soul forever,” she said.
“I want my husband’s public assassination to be something I never see. I never want my kids to see. And for people who actually enjoy watching that she’s quite literally sick.”