Live updates: Charlie Kirk funeral service

In a recent New York Times interview, Erika Kirk, the wife of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, opened up about the days leading up to his death and the loss that followed. Kirk was fatally shot during an appearance at a Utah university, after a year of escalating death threats and security concerns, The Times reported.

Over dinner before the event, Erika Kirk said she pleaded with her husband to wear a bulletproof vest, but he declined. When a friend suggested bulletproof glass for speeches, Kirk insisted he felt secure with his security team, which he had been traveling with for months, and the added protections planned for the Utah event.

Erika Kirk had intended to accompany him, but had to stay behind due to her mother undergoing medical treatment and planned to reunite with him for the next tour stop in Colorado.

Now navigating life as a widow and mother to their two young children, Erika Kirk shared some of the smallest reminders are the hardest, like Charlie’s towels still left on their bathroom floor.

“To this day, I can’t go into my bedroom,” Kirk told The Times. “I’m rotating where I sleep.”

Despite the crushing loss, she told The Times that caring for their children has brought her a sense of grounding.

One of the most haunting moments came at the hospital, when she was offered the chance to view Kirk’s body, but was advised against it. Erika’s response, quoted by The Times, was firm: “With all due respect, I want to see what they did to my husband.”