Erika Kirk has time and again stated that Charlie Kirk was the love of her life. But the new CEO of Turning Point USA has a past she might not want people to know about. The internet has done what it does best again: dug up photos from Erika’s past showing her cozying up to another man.
The pictures are now going viral on social media and have stirred up rumors that the former model was already engaged to another man before finding love with Charlie Kirk. The man has been identified as professional basketball player Joseph Tyler Massey.
One of the images depicts the supposed couple holding hands, while another shows Erika smiling ear to ear as Joseph kisses her cheek. A third picture portrays Erika embracing her rumored ex-boyfriend from behind. The two seem elated in each other’s company and look so much in love.
More evidence: 🚩
Erika Frantzve Kirk — in a couples photoshoot with Tyler Massey in March 2015 — within the 5 years she claims she “never dated.”
What else is she lying about? pic.twitter.com/UaiXz2UPlf
— Carolyn Grace⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@RousingRevel) December 16, 2025
The photos began circulating on X on December 15, with reports coming out that they had been taken in 2015. While a section of social media users thought the images could be a part of Erika’s modeling assignments, an interview of hers eventually came to light, which confirmed that she was indeed in a relationship with Joseph before meeting Charlie.
In 2014, Erika spoke to Arizona Foothills Magazine and openly expressed her love for Joseph. She said, “5:30 p.m. Happy hour with my favorite human and best friend, JT Massey, also conveniently enough my incredible boyfriend, talking about everything, from his day at the baseball field to the latest with his music group, Saving Southern.”
Social media is now abuzz that Erika was engaged to Joseph in 2015. To add fuel to the fire, a woman claiming to be a relative of the photographer who clicked the said pictures has come forward to claim that the couple was indeed getting married around a decade ago.
However, things did not go as planned, as both went their separate ways. While Erika went on to marry Charlie and have a family, Joseph also found love with another woman and now shares two kids with her. The timeline of their relationship is particularly interesting, as Erika previously claimed that she had not dated anyone for five years while living in New York City before her relationship with Charlie.
More Photos Resurface of Erika Kirk and Ex-Husband Tyler Massey https://t.co/OoGSrXQnte pic.twitter.com/ePVcjwOC68
— MAGAgeddon (@MAGAgeddon) December 14, 2025
The claims now seem false, considering that the former Miss Arizona began dating the Turning Point USA founder in 2019, and her cozy pictures with Joseph were taken four years prior, in 2015.
Meanwhile, Erika is drawing criticism from X users who are calling her a liar for hiding her previous romances. One user wrote, “She appeared in a dating show on TV at that time. The lies are intentional, part of the strategy — part humiliation ritual for her, but if we accept the lies with no consequences to her, we become complicit.”
Another commented, “Nobody would even care if she just didn’t bring it up herself; the issue is that it comes across as deceitful when she made a point of it.”
Nevertheless, Erika made sure that her past was left in the past as she got married to Charlie in 2021. After her husband’s assassination in September this year, she has maintained that she never wishes to remarry.
