She stunned mourners during her emotional speech saying she forgave her late husband’s killer.
“I forgive him,” she told the crowd, breaking down in tears.
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did. And is what Charlie would do.
“The answer to hate is not hate, the answer we know from the gospel is love and always love.
“After Charlie’s assassination, we didn’t see violence, we didn’t see rioting, we didn’t see revolution.
“Instead, we saw what my husband always prayed he would see in this country. We saw revival [of Christian faith].”
Dressed in a white blazer and matching trousers, Erika thanked attendees for travelling from across the globe to celebrate her late husband.
She told mourners she was living through a “heartache I never knew existed” as she delivered her moving tribute.
Remembering the tragic day of her husband’s assassination, Erika said: “On the afternoon of September 10th, I arrived at a Utah hospital to do the unthinkable: To look directly at my husband’s murdered body.
Charlie Kirk memorial speakers and special moments
“I saw the wound that ended his life.”
Erika added: “I will miss him so much.”
The heartbroken widow would end her emotional speech by speaking directly to her late husband in a touching moment.
She said: “I love you Charlie, baby. I will make you so proud.”
President Donald Trump, his Vice President JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk were also at the huge memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona — home of the Arizona Cardinals American football team.
Musk told reporters: “Charlie was someone who believed in dialogue and open debate. He was a man of ideas. He spoke eloquently and basically never raised his voice. He was a man of peace and now he has been murdered in cold blood.
11
Donald Trump took to the stage after Mrs KirkCredit: Getty
11
The President embraced Kirk’s widow on stage before delivering his speechCredit: AP
“He was killed because his voice made a difference.
“He was showing people the Light and he was killed by the Dark.”
Vice President JD Vance described Kirk as having built a movement that has “changed the course of American history”.
He told Mr Kirk’s sea of supporters: “They tried to silence my friend Charlie Kirk but we are spreading his message loudly.”
Mr Vance, whose Catholicism has been central to his own political rise and mission, added: “We must remember that he is a hero to the United States of America — and he is a martyr for the Christian faith.”
He noted that the Trump administration was at the memorial not just because of their relationship with Kirk, but because “we wouldn’t be here without him”.
11
Thousands watched on as Erika delivered her heartfelt speechCredit: Getty
11
An estimated 100,000 people turned up at the event to pay their respects to KirkCredit: AFP
11
Fans were left in tears by Mrs Kirk’s emotional wordsCredit: Reuters
Tearful fans queued up for 12 hours for the first-come, first-admitted service organised by Turning Point USA, the high school organisation set up by Kirk to help spread conservative politics on campuses.
Some wore black, others attended in flag-emblazoned T-shirts and Make America Great Again hats.
Sporting a Trump T-shirt, Aaron Knight, 28, from Houston, Texas, reckoned: “Charlie Kirk was a godly Christian man.
“He provided a sacrifice for this country and the fight for free speech. We are here in mourning but also celebration for the incredible man he was.”
Ashley January, 35, brought her seven-month-old baby Theodore from Kansas to “witness history”. She said she and husband Skylar “fell in love with Charlie after seeing him in Kansas.”
She added: “We want to raise our son to have the same morals as him. It’s going to be something Theo will read in his historybooks and he can say he was there.”
A man said he had camped out from 8pm the night before. One woman even brought a buggy full of puppies with her.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the stadium when Charlie’s widow Erika spoke about her love for the husband she lost.
We had already been confronted with a picture of her and Charlie at the doors of the stadium but hearing her speak made it hit home.
Seeing his family up on stage – who have been cruelly robbed of a husband and a father – brought a tear to the crowd’s eye.
One lady said being a part of it was special as she got to witness how loved Charlie was. The mood shifted from defiance when JD Vance was speaking to one of tenderness and sadness.
Those who were cheering at other speeches and chanting ‘USA’ fell silent when Erika spoke.
A hush fell when Trump came on stage. His speech is more personal than most presidential speeches revealing how close the pair really were. Aides say he had a lot of input in writing the speech.
The nearby Desert Diamond Arena served as overflow for an additional 19,000 people who watched the event on TV screens.
Kirk, 31, was shot dead while giving a speech at Utah Valley University earlier this month.
Tyler Robinson, 22, is charged with aggravated murder. He is in custody and could face the death penalty if convicted.
She said: “I told our lawyer, I want the government to decide this. I do not want that man’s blood on my ledger.
“When I get to heaven, and Jesus is like, ‘Uh, eye for an eye? Is that how we do it?’.
“And that keeps me from being in heaven, from being with Charlie?”
Before the service started, photos of Kirk were projected on big screens accompanied by a playlist of praise and worship songs.
Among those paying respects and giving speeches were President Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr, right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson and homeland security adviser and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
Kirk founded Turning Point USA — whose headquarters are in Phoenix — in 2012, at the age of 18.
Mrs Kirk has been unanimously elected to succeed her late husband as CEO of the organisation.
11
Attendees at the event wore patriotic red, white and blue to honour CharlieCredit: Getty
11
President Donald Trump would take to the stage shortly after Erika KirkCredit: Reuters
11
Mourners were given signs with a drawing of Charlie on them reading ‘Here I am lord, send me’Credit: Getty
A WOMAN busted her bigamist husband’s secret marriage after the second wife gave birth at the hospital where she worked.
Vaithialingam Muthukumar from India married his Singaporean wife in 2007 – only to cheat on her 15 years on.
2
The bigamist was caught after his second wife got pregnant (stock picture)Credit: Getty
He then moved to Singapore and got into a relationship with Salmah Bee Abdul Razak, a younger work colleague.
She reportedly knew about his marriage.
In 2022, Muthukumar married Salmah in a secret wedding, promising he would divorce his first wife.
The sick liar managed to juggle both wives until last year, when Salmah got pregnant.
She was rushed to a hospital for delivery, which also happened to be Muthukumar’s first wife’s workplace, according to CNA.
To his nightmare, Muthukumar was caught emerging from the hospital’s delivery suite – where no guests were allowed – by his first wife.
When confronted, Muthukumar revealed he was secretly married to Salmahn in a bigamy, which is a criminal offence in almost all countries.
Salmah later reported to the Ministry of Manpower that he was still married to another woman, leading to a police probe.
Investigations revealed that Vaithialingam had also lied in immigration documents when applying for permanent residency as the spouse of a Singapore citizen.
He falsely declared he had no other marriages, though his application was rejected.
New vid of Coldplay kiss cam CEO Andy Byron shows ‘cheating’ pair standing out in crowd in plain view of Chris Martin
Muthukumar pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to commit bigamy and another for making a false declaration in his permanent residency application.
A Singaporean court jailed him for three months and three weeks.
Bigamy carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and a fine of up to Singaporean $7,800 (£5,800).
THIS is the woman who is hired by others to get their husbands to dump their lovers in secret.
Wang Zhengxi, who operates out of Henan province in northern China, helps women deal with a growing problem.
5
Wang Zhengxi, who operates out of Henan province in northern ChinaCredit: Susan Norget Film
5
She has been featured in a documentary by the Hong Kong filmmaker Elizabeth LoCredit: Getty
5
Wang comes to the rescue after Ms Li found texts on her husband’s phone suggesting he was having an affairCredit: Susan Norget Film
As growing numbers of women suspect their husbands of cheating, Wang is on call to help save their marriages.
Speaking to one client Ms Li, she said: “The most urgent matter at hand is how to inject me organically into your family.”
Wang comes to the rescue after Ms Li found texts on her husband’s phone suggesting he was having an affair.
Instead of confronting her husband, Ms Li is employing Wang to help save her marriage.
She will befriend a cheating husband and his mistress and convince them to both break it off.
Wang is one of a growing number of “mistress dispellers” – and has been featured in a documentary by the Hong Kong filmmaker Elizabeth Lo.
In the film, Wang says: “When people come to me for help because a mistress has appeared, I can provide them with solutions to fix the problem.”
It comes amid a crisis of confidence in the institution of marriage across China.
There were fewer than 300,000 divorces back in 1978, but this jumped by 2019 to 4.7 million.
Lo said: “In Asian cultures, the mode of conflict resolution is different.
Meet China’s shady ‘Sea Dragons’ – the elite unit training for Taiwan invasion with underwater pistols & pirate battles
“Solving a problem and maintaining face on the surface while not poking a hole directly in the bubble or reality they live in is a form of preserving harmony.”
When she approaches the husband and mistress, Wang works subtly.
She asks Mr Li to teach her badminton and befriends the mistress at the same time.
Wang said: “When someone becomes a mistress, it’s because they feel they don’t deserve complete love.
“She’s the one who needs our help the most.”
Eventually, at his home, Wang reveals Ms Li’s suspicions to her husband when the wife is out of the room.
“He confessed everything, but you should pretend to know nothing,” Wang whispered to Mrs Li.
“I think there’s hope, but I don’t know the girl yet. I can only advise you after I see her.”
Mr Li even broke down in front of Wang at one point.
On a recent evening in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, an imam named Ibrahima Diane explained to a group of men why they ought to be more involved in household chores.
“The prophet himself says that a man who does not help to support his wife and children is not a good Muslim,” said the 53-year-old, as he described bathing his baby and assisting his wife with other duties.
Some of the men chuckled, not entirely convinced, while others applauded.
Diane was participating in a “school for husbands”, a United Nations-backed initiative in which respected male community members learn about “positive masculinity” in relation to health and social issues, and promote these concepts within their communities.
In Senegal, as in many other West African countries with large rural or conservative populations, men often have the final say in major household decisions, including those related to health.
Women may require their husbands’ permission for life-changing decisions, such as accessing family planning or other reproductive health services, as well as hospital deliveries or prenatal care.
After attending the school for husbands, Diane regularly delivers sermons during Friday prayers, in which he discusses issues around gender and reproductive health, from gender-based violence to combating stigma surrounding HIV.
“Many women appreciate my sermons,” he said. “They say their husbands’ behaviour has changed since attending them.” He added that some men have told him the sermons inspired them to become more caring husbands and fathers.
The programme was launched in Senegal in 2011, but in recent years has attracted the attention of the Ministry of Women, Family, Gender and Child Protection, which regards it as an effective strategy for combatting maternal and infant mortality.
“Without men’s involvement, attitudes towards maternal health will not change,” said Aida Diouf, a 54-year-old female health worker who collaborates with the programme. Many husbands prefer their wives not to be treated by male health workers, she explained.
Discussions for men have also focused on girls’ rights, equality, and the harmful effects of female genital mutilation.
The programme now operates at least 20 schools throughout Senegal, and more than 300 men have been trained.
In some communities, men who once enforced patriarchal norms now promote gender equality, a shift which has led to a reduction in the number of forced marriages and greater acceptance of family planning, according to Senegal’s Ministry of Gender.
Men join the groups after being recruited based on trust, leadership and commitment. Candidates must be married, respected locally, and supportive of women’s health and rights.
After training, the men serve as peer educators, visiting homes and hosting informal discussions.
Although maternal and infant deaths in Senegal have declined over the past decade, experts say there is still much progress to be made. The country recorded 237 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, and 21 newborns out of every 1,000 died within their first month. The UN’s global target is to reduce maternal deaths to 70 per 100,000 live births and newborn deaths to under 12 per 1,000 by 2030.
A key problem is that many women have continued to give birth at home, said El Hadj Malick, one of the programme’s coordinators.
“By educating men about the importance of supporting their wives during pregnancy, taking them to hospital and helping with domestic work at home, you are protecting people’s health,” Malick said.
He noted that he still encounters difficulty in changing attitudes on some issues.
“But when we focus on women’s right to be healthy, it gives a human face to the concept and it becomes universal,” Malick said.
A self-professed ‘germaphobe’ says she’s been left alarmed by her husband’s ‘vile’ behaviour during a long-haul flight, and now fears she may never get past the serious ‘ick’ she’s been left with
She’s now struggling to get past her husband’s ‘vile’ behaviour (Stock Photo)(Image: Getty Images)
A woman says she was left so “horrified” by her husband’s behaviour during their first long-haul flight together that she is struggling to get over it.
According to this disturbed wife, she and her husband travelled domestically together across the US on a number of occasions, apparently without issue.
In an anguished agony aunt letter, penned to MailOnline’s Jane Green, the traveller recalled how, after positioning his eye masks and neck pillow, her husband then proceeded to make himself really at home by removing his shoes and socks.
Admitting that the incident has given her a “huge ick” that she’s struggling to move on from, the wife, who went only by the pseudonym ‘Turbulent Romantic’ wrote: “I was horrified as I then watched him also take a trip to the restroom without bothering to put anything on his feet. Yuck!
“I am a total germaphobe and would never remove my shoes – let alone my socks – to walk around on an aeroplane. It must have been because the trip was so long, but it made me wonder how I have never realised his vile uncleanliness.
“Worse, when we got off the plane and arrived at the hotel, he refused to shower before going to sleep. Is there a way to move past this?”
In response to Turbulent Romantic’s desperate plea, Jane sympathised with her shudders, confessing that she herself lives with “footphobia”. However, the wise agony aunt appeared optimistic that the couple could move past this episode, which they may well look back on in time as a “funny story”.
Offering her suggestions, Jane advised actually opening up to her husband about her “ick” rather than letting it fester, adding that some compromise on both sides may be needed on this occasion.
She urged: “Talk to him and explain that you are a germaphobe – that you have a real problem both with his walking around a plane barefooted and with his refusal to shower before getting into clean sheets.
“He may laugh. He may find you ridiculous. But all marriages are about compromise. If you have a serious issue with this – and the fact you are writing suggests this is indeed serious – then he ought to listen.
“Of course, we can never guarantee what anyone will do, but if he is engaging in behaviour that upsets you, the loving thing to do is find a compromise. Perhaps he uses socks that are reserved only for when he’s on aeroplanes?”
Dolly Parton is putting new music on hold following the death of her husband, she disclosed on the podcast “Khloé in Wonder Land.”
The 79-year-old country legend sat down with host Khloé Kardashian to discuss her faith, career and life advice on Wednesday’s episode. Though famously private about her marriage, Parton opened up about her decision to press pause on music while she grieves her husband of almost 60 years, Carl Dean, who died in March at 82.
“Several things I’ve wanted to start, but I can’t do it,” Parton said. “I will later, but I’m just coming up with such wonderful, beautiful ideas. But I think I won’t finish it. I can’t do it right now, because I got so many other things and I can’t afford the luxury of getting that emotional right now.”
Parton and Dean wed May 30, 1966, and remained together until his death. Despite Parton’s fame, Dean avoided the spotlight and was rarely seen in public.
“We were so good for each other, because he’s a total loner,” Parton told Kardashian. “We could just be in the house all day and say two or three words, didn’t matter. Or we could talk all afternoon or lay in bed and talk at night “
“I really think that there’s just certain personalities that are great for each other. And we were together 61 years,” she said. “We were just so different, but we were so similar.”
Parton also noted that their zodiac signs were compatible: She’s a Capricorn and he was a Cancer.
The “Jolene” singer won her first Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) award in 1966, the year she and Dean married. He rented a tuxedo and got dressed to go to the ceremony but ended up taking it off before making it out the door, Parton said.
“I knew right then that I’m just gonna keep him private as best I can, never ask him to do nothing,” she said. “But he was very proud of me. We got along great, because we didn’t have nothing to fight over like that.”
“Oh you are my rock / A soft place to land / My wings, my confidence / You understand / Your willingness / Beyond compare / No I wouldn’t be here / If you hadn’t been there,” she sings on the heartfelt track.
Kardashian is a longtime Parton fan. In 2024, her sister Kim Kardashian threw her a “Khloéwood”-themed 40th birthday party inspired by Dollywood in Tennessee. Kardashian and Parton collaborated earlier this year on a new denim line for Kardashian’s Good American fashion label: Dolly’s Joleans.
“They make your butt look good,” Parton said of the jeans, which she was wearing during the interview. “Even if you don’t have a good butt, they make it look good. And if you got a good butt, it’s amazing.”
During the hourlong conversation, Parton and Kardashian discussed everything from the singer’s love of makeup to Whitney Houston’s cover of Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” Parton also shared her reaction to Beyoncé’s version of her 1973 hit “Jolene,” which appeared on “Cowboy Carter” last year.
“She flipped it around, thinking, ‘You think you can take my man?’ ” Parton said. “But she’s that cool. … I loved it, because as a songwriter, you love to hear how other people interpret your songs. And the fact that she did it, I knew I was gonna make a lot of money.”
In February, Parton was featured on the deluxe edition of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet.” She joined the 26-year-old pop star on a twangy reimagination of her chart-topping single “Please Please Please.”
When asked about her plans for the future, Parton said she didn’t know but that she has faith there’s more in store for her.
“I always look at my life like it’s been a tree. It had roots, deep roots, then it had all the limbs, then it had all the little leaves. Everything branches out to something else,” Parton said. “I know God’s gonna give me something else. I try to leave myself wide open. I try to keep myself very private in my world so I can hear what I’m supposed to know. And that I can act on. And I’ll go for it, and I’ll work it to death.”
