Bravo’s Jennifer Welch has taken aim at Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk (née Frantzve), describing her as an “absolute grifter.”
The Sweet Home alum, 51, made the scathing comments about Erika, 37, during the Sunday, December 7, episode of her “I’ve Had It” podcast.
“She is an absolute grifter,” Welch said as she addressed controversial remarks the Turning Point CEO made about women and marriage earlier this month. Erika had claimed “career-driven women” were relying on the government instead of getting married and having children.
“You are an opportunistic grifter who weaponizes your gender to demean women. You are a walking, talking, breathing example as to why nobody, number one, wants to be a Christian, and number two, wants to be a female hypocrite such as yourself,” Welch said in response to the comments. “For you to prance into Manhattan and lecture women who are abundantly aware of the coattails of which we have ridden … to be able to be heard. You are so divorced from reality and you need to go back to the Turning Point bubble.”
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Welch added of Erika, “This woman should be kicked to the curb.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Erika’s representatives for comment.
Erika shared her headline-making thoughts on women and marriage during an onstage interview at The New York Times’ 2025 DealBook Summit on December 3.
Interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin spoke about Zohran Mamdani’s recent election as mayor of New York City and said Mamdani’s ability to “persuade the younger voter” was similar to Charlie’s — albeit at the other end of the political spectrum.
“You know it’s so interesting because I lived in Manhattan for a while and I loved this city,” Erika said at the event. “I’m going to come at this from a female voter because a high percentage of his voters were female. I think there’s a tendency, especially when you live in a city like Manhattan, where, again, you are so career-driven, and you almost looked to the government as a form of replacement for certain things relationship-wise even, so you see things a little bit differently.”
Erika then encouraged women not to prioritize the government over having children and finding a husband.
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“What I don’t want to happen is women young women in the city look to the government as a solution to put off having a family or a marriage because you’re relying on the government to support you instead of being united with the husband, where you can support yourself and your husband can support and you can guys all combine together,” she said.
Erika shared two children, a son and a daughter, with the right-wing political activist. They tied the knot on May 8, 2021, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Charlie was fatally shot at Utah Valley University on September 10. He was 31. Following a manhunt, suspected shooter Tyler James Robinson was apprehended by police the following day and has since been charged with aggravated murder and additional felonies. (Robinson, 22, has yet to enter a plea. Prosecutors have said they will pursue the death penalty if the case goes to trial.)
