Erika Kirk addresses JD Vance hug

Erika Kirk has revealed what JD Vance whispered in her ear during an intimate hug they shared onstage last month after it sparked intense online speculation. The vice president spoke at a Turning Point event honoring Charlie Kirk at the University of Mississippi on October 29. Kirk was assassinated on September 10 while speaking to college students in Utah before he was shot in the throat. Kirk’s widow Erika introduced Vance at the event, where she noted that the VP had ‘a little of Charlie in him’, highlighting their similarities in compassion and leadership .

During the same event, Vance also stirred controversy by stressing that he is a devout Catholic, while his wife Usha is Hindu, and expressing hope that she would one day convert – remarks critics claimed implied her beliefs were inadequate. As Vance took the stage, he and Erika warmly embraced each other with an intimate hug that sent shockwaves throughout social media. Erika placed her hand on the back of the vice president’s head and he rested his hands on her waist.

The clinch quickly became fodder for critics who claimed the intimacy between the widow and the vice president was inappropriate, despite many arguing it was clearly a moment of shared grief between two people who adored Charlie. Erika addressed the hug for the first time in an interview with Megyn Kelly during an on-stage event in Arizona on Friday. ‘So for those of you who know me, I’m very-,’ Erika said as Kelly finished her statement: ‘You’re an intense hugger!’

‘My love language is touch, if you will … So I will give you a play by play. They just played the emotional video. I’m walking over, he’s walking over. I’m starting to cry. He says, “I’m so proud of you.” And I say, “God bless you,” and I touch the back of his head. ‘Anyone whom I have hugged that I have touched the back of your head when I hug you, I always say, God bless you.’ Kelly responded with a quick joke, ‘They were acting like you touched the back of his [expletive]!’

‘I feel like I wouldn’t get as much hate if I did that!’ Erika said with a laugh. Following Kirk’s assassination, Erika has taken her husband’s role as CEO of Turning Point USA, the largest college campus conservative organization in America. Less than 24 hours after Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University in September , the vice president and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, flew to the state in order to escort Kirk’s body back to Arizona on Air Force 2.

Footage from the event shows Vance escorting Kirk’s casket on board the plane, while Usha comforts an emotional Erika. Kirk’s memorial later that month in Arizona was attended by President Donald Trump and the top member of his White House cabinet. ‘Charlie was so proud of Erika and the two kids. He was so happy to be a father,’ Vance told a crowd of 60,000 supporters at Kirk’s memorial. ‘And he felt such gratitude for having found a woman of God with whom he could build a family.’

More recently, Usha was spotted without her wedding ring during an official White House engagement alongside First Lady Melania Trump. The Second Lady was ringless during her visit to Camp Lejeune military base in Richlands, North Carolina last week on Wednesday. Photos from the event show Usha getting off a plane with her left hand in full view and the wedding band nowhere to be seen.

The absence of the ring occurs weeks after the vice president revealed a stark religious divide in his marriage with Usha: He is a devout Catholic while she is Hindu. When contacted by the Daily Mail a spokesperson for the Second Lady said Usha ‘is a mother of three young children who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes’.