Erika Kirk Looks So Different In This Old Music Video From Her Pageant Days

Erika Kirk gained notoriety after the shooting death of her husband, Charlie Kirk, while he was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University, on September 10, 2025. While her husband's death suddenly thrust her into the spotlight, and she shared stages with President Donald Trump, Kirk is no stranger to the public eye. In fact, she's a former Miss Arizona who represented her home state in the Miss USA pageant, proving Erika Kirk and Trump share some history, as he once co-owned the organization. She became Miss Arizona USA in November 2011, meaning she held the title for most of 2012.

2012 was a big year for Kirk, as she also starred in the music video for "She's My Kind of Crazy" by the country band Emerson Drive. She played the love interest of a southern gentleman in the video, and she looked quite different back then. Her hair was curled in true pageant queen style, and she wore a lot of makeup in the video, but it looked more natural than it did at her some of her public appearances in 2025. Plus, Kirk's face has thinned since she filmed the video, which is a natural sign of aging, and her wardrobe for the fictional trip to Las Vegas was very 2012 with jeggings, a sparkly top, and tall wedges. 

Erika Kirk's character in the Emerson Drive video for "She's My Kind of Crazy" went ziplining before she married her boyfriend at a drive-through chapel. It's a quick scene, but it forced Kirk to face a big fear. She admitted to a co-star in a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube, "I've never done this before and I'm definitely afraid of heights. I'll survive, I promise you ... I don't know what facial expressions I'll have." 

Kirk said she was told the zipline only went 20 mph, but someone might've been fibbing a bit, because a representative for the company, FlightLinez Las Vegas, said that people fly across the apparatus at 30 mph as tourists blur below them. Either way, she conquered a fear and it's one of Kirk's many interesting career experiences she had before meeting her husband. Although Kirk had a one-episode stint on the Bravo hit "Summer House," she hasn't done much acting since the video. It seems she was more focused on her business ventures, as she founded her faith-based clothing line, Proclaim Steetwear, in December 2018 and launched her podcast "Midweek Rise Up" in 2019 when she was still known as Erika Frantzve.