Phuti Chelopo-Mgobozi, PhD

The only time Kathryn Kirk, Charlie’s mother, cries is when she starts talking about how upset her son would be over the way his wife has been treated on social media. Kathryn, who has avoided speaking to journalists until now, says that she’s been fielding calls since minutes after Charlie was shot. A TMZ reporter “called me even before I talked to my daughter. Before I was running the car,” she says. Though she says she’s desperate to remain a private citizen, Kathryn is also coming to terms with the fact that even her silence has been co-opted by conspiracy theorists who claim there is a rift between Charlie’s parents and Erika; that they blame her for their son’s death; that they’re fighting over Charlie’s will—and the legacy of Turning Point. Kathryn insists that none of this is true. “We were 100 percent behind her,” Kathryn tells me, adding that “Erika and I have, through the trauma, grown closer. “We knew Charlie in a way that no one else did. We can look at each other’s eyes and we know the depth of our despair.” vanityfair.visitlink.me/5GOf…