Candace Owens is accusing Erika Kirk and her mom, Lori Frantzve, of being social climbers.
Talking on episode 2 of her docuseries, Bride of Charlie, which dropped on Thursday, February 26, Owens claimed Erika, 37, and Lori have lengthy held ambitions of being well-known.
The conservative podcast host, 36, advised that Lori had typically inspired Erika to work the room, even earlier than Erika married outstanding right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. (Charlie was shot lifeless at Utah college campus on September 10, 2025.)
“What folks have mentioned to me is she is the one that has at all times been the individual in Erika’s ear. She’s this sort An individual that tells her who to go after in every room. She is aware of who these persons are, who Erika ought to immediately remodel into, what she has to say,” Owens mentioned within the episode.
She continued, “I imply, one among [Erika’s] exes was very clear. He mentioned to me, ‘I used to be warned by one other individual within the magnificence pageant world that that woman will do something to get to the highest and her mom will do something to assist her get to the highest.”
Owens went on to assert that outsiders suspected that Lori has possible been “the individual in her ear” but in addition advised that Erika was a keen participant on this as she had related objectives.
“She needed Erika to be well-known. However let’s not take away Erika from this. Erika desperately needed to be well-known. Nobody can deny that,” Owens added.
Owens additionally referenced Erika’s previous relationships, together with JT Massey. Erika and Massey, her then-boyfriend, auditioned to compete on The Superb Race collectively in 2014.
Erika Kirk. (Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Photos)
“Tomorrow after we now start in earnest to undergo Erika’s life, you will notice she’s by no means dated a traditional man. She’s by no means dated a man with a nine-to-five job,” Owens continued. “You may see, like, she was going to be with anyone. She was, ‘Okay, you’re going to the NFL. You’re going to the MLB. We could be on the Superb Race collectively.’”
Us Weekly has reached out to representatives for Erika Kirk and Lori Frantze for remark.
Erika took over the function as Turning Level CEO after her husband, Charlie, was fatally shot within the neck whereas talking at an out of doors occasion on the Utah Valley College campus on September 10, 2025. He was 31. (A 22-year-old male was arrested in reference to the capturing on September 11, 2025, however has but to enter a plea.)
Owens, a former Turning Level USA communications director, has grown more and more vital of Erika since Charlie’s dying.
In January, Owens leaked audio of Erika, which was reportedly recorded two weeks after Charlie was fatally shot, and advised the widow was probably shifting on too quick from the loss.
“That’s shifting fairly shortly to the acceptance part now,” Owens instructed her viewers on the time. “We all know everyone grieves in another way. In my creativeness, I simply thought she could be extra upset.”
For her half, Erika shared a tribute to Charlie by way of her Instagram to commemorate turning 37 on February 20.
“I at all times cherished celebrating you, and possibly as a result of it was a mirrored image of how fantastically you at all times celebrated me. I romanticized rising outdated with you, the love of my life,” Erika, who has a son and daughter with Charlie, shared. “I used to surprise what our faces would appear like with wisdom-wrinkles. You’d at all times inform me the way you hoped I’d maintain my lengthy hair even after we have been each grey and in addition that l’d at all times put on white (as a result of it was the colour you liked me carrying essentially the most).”
Erika added, “We’d snort about the way you’d in all probability nonetheless be out on faculty campuses in your 80s, doing ‘Show Me Mistaken’ campus occasions since you cherished these college students. After which we’d each begin to tear up when speaking about our infants rising older and having a household of their very own. A full life.”


