Amanda Seyfried Had to Have Bodyguards After Rightfully Calling Out Charlie Kirk

The 2025 death of controversial Internet pundit Charlie Kirk continues to impact our culture. Amid the conspiracy theories, memes, AI-generated songs, and behavior of his widow, Erika Kirk, the way that people reacted to his death continues to be debated about. Mean Girls, Mamma Mia, and The Testament of Ann Lee actress Amanda Seyfried has been uniquely thrown into that orbit, after she called Kirk “hateful” in an Instagram comment shortly after his passing.

In a recent interview with British GQ, Seyfried reflected on the backlash that ensued from that simple comment, and revealed that it got to the point where she had to start being protected by bodyguards.

“A, I’m allowed to f****** voice my feelings, and B, do it in a way that’s not unkind necessarily,” Seyfried explained. “But there’s just an outsized fear and hatred and impulse to bash and to tear down. And I experienced a very small fraction of that. I want my kids to be able to feel safe to voice their opinions as long as they’re not harmful. So I’m like, ‘What do I do? What do I say?’ And then all of a sudden I find myself with a f****** bodyguard at the airport and I’m like, ‘This is crazy.’”

What Did Amanda Seyfried Say About Charlie Kirk?

After calling Kirk “hateful” on Instagram already garnered its own wave of backlash, Seyfried later elaborated on Instagram that: “I don’t want to add fuel to a fire. I just want to be able to give clarity to something so irresponsibly (but understandably) taken out of context. Spirited discourse – isn’t that what we should be having?”

“We’re forgetting the nuance of humanity,” Seyfried elaborated. “I can get angry about misogyny and racist rhetoric and ALSO very much agree that Charlie Kirk’s murder was absolutely disturbing and deplorable in every way imaginable. No one should have to experience this level of violence. This country is grieving too many senseless and violent deaths and shootings. Can we agree on that at least?”

Then, in an interview with Who What Wear in December of 2025, Seyfried refused to back down from her comments, arguing that Kirk’s actions and views prior to his death were more than deserving of the “hateful” label.

“I’m not f****** apologizing for that,” Seyfried explained at the time. “I mean, for f***’s sake, I commented on one thing. I said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes. What I said was pretty damn factual, and I’m free to have an opinion, of course. Thank God for Instagram. I was able to give some clarity, and it was about getting my voice back because I felt like it had been stolen and recontextualized—which is what people do, of course.”

Seyfried is far from the only celebrity to make headlines for their reaction to Kirk’s death: actors like Kristen Chenoweth, Chris Pratt, and Selma Blair drew ire for their comments on social media, with Blair calling him an “incredible man.”

(featured image: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

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