Candace Owens is accusing Erika Kirk and her mother, Lori Frantzve, of being social climbers.
Speaking on episode 2 of her docuseries, Bride of Charlie, which dropped on Thursday, February 26, Owens claimed Erika, 37, and Lori have long held ambitions of being famous.
The conservative podcast host, 36, suggested that Lori had often encouraged Erika to work the room, even before Erika married prominent right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. (Charlie was shot dead at Utah university campus on September 10, 2025.)
“What people have said to me is she is the person who has always been the person in Erika’s ear. She’s this type A person that tells her who to go after in each and every room. She knows who those people are, who Erika should instantly transform into, what she has to say,” Owens said in the episode.
She continued, “I mean, one of [Erika’s] exes was very clear. He said to me, ‘I was warned by another person in the beauty pageant world that that girl will do anything to get to the top and her mother will do anything to help her get to the top.”
Owens went on to claim that outsiders suspected that Lori has likely been “the person in her ear” but also suggested that Erika was a willing participant in this as she had similar goals.
“She wanted Erika to be famous. But let’s not remove Erika from this. Erika desperately wanted to be famous. No one can deny that,” Owens added.
Owens also referenced Erika’s past relationships, including JT Massey. Erika and Massey, her then-boyfriend, auditioned to compete on The Amazing Race together in 2014.
“Tomorrow when we now begin in earnest to go through Erika’s life, you will see she’s never dated a normal guy. She’s never dated a guy with a nine-to-five job,” Owens continued. “You can see, like, she was going to be with somebody. She was, ‘Okay, you’re going to the NFL. You’re going to the MLB. We can be on the Amazing Race together.’”
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Erika Kirk and Lori Frantze for comment.
Erika took over the role as Turning Point CEO after her husband, Charlie, was fatally shot in the neck while speaking at an outdoor event on the Utah Valley University campus on September 10, 2025. He was 31. (A 22-year-old male was arrested in connection with the shooting on September 11, 2025, but has yet to enter a plea.)
Owens, a former Turning Point USA communications director, has grown increasingly critical of Erika since Charlie’s death.
In January, Owens leaked audio of Erika, which was reportedly recorded two weeks after Charlie was fatally shot, and suggested the widow was possibly moving on too fast from the loss.
“That’s moving pretty quickly to the acceptance phase now,” Owens told her viewers at the time. “We know everybody grieves differently. In my imagination, I just thought she would be more upset.”
For her part, Erika shared a tribute to Charlie via her Instagram to commemorate turning 37 on February 20.
“I always loved celebrating you, and maybe because it was a reflection of how beautifully you always celebrated me. I romanticized growing old with you, the love of my life,” Erika, who has a son and daughter with Charlie, shared. “I used to wonder what our faces would look like with wisdom-wrinkles. You’d always tell me how you hoped I’d keep my long hair even when we were both gray and also that l’d always wear white (because it was the color you loved me wearing the most).”
Erika added, “We’d laugh about how you’d probably still be out on college campuses in your 80s, doing ‘Prove Me Wrong’ campus events because you loved those students. And then we’d both start to tear up when talking about our babies growing older and having a family of their own. A full life.”
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