() Former ESPN anchor Sage Steele says Charlie Kirk inspired her to live courageously and stay true to herself.

Steele, who had relationships with Kirk and his wife, Erika Frantzve Kirk, said the Turning Point USA founder is “one of the most influential Americans ever.”

Kirk, 31, was killed Wednesday while speaking at Utah Valley University in what Utah Governor Spencer Cox called a “political assassination.”

“Every part of him was rooted in his faith, and that is what inspired me. I’m blown away by that, and I’m also comforted by that, Elizabeth, because I know that that is what is going to make it eventually, that Erika is going to be okay because of her faith in God and where she knows her husband is right now,” Steele said on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.”

“He inspired me to not live in fear of having an opinion or being true to myself, which others are allowed to right? Unless you have that conservative viewpoint,” she added.

Kirk cultivated an enormous online following, which led to global recognition, for traveling around the United States to debate and discuss political and societal issues with young Americans on college campuses.

“Evil people in this country, they want to scare us into submission, to be silent, and because he was winning, because he won, because of the impact he had, they wanted him dead, and they succeeded, but his method is going to live forever,” Steele said of Kirk’s legacy.