Taya Renae Kyle (née Studebaker; born September 4, 1974) is an American author, political commentator, and military veteran's family activist. Known as the

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

US Navy SEAL The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main funct ...

Chris Kyle Christopher Scott Kyle (April 8, 1974 – February 2, 2013) was a United States Navy SEAL sniper. He served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat. He had 160 confi ...

, she was portrayed by actress

Sienna Miller Sienna Rose Diana Miller (born 28 December 1981) is an American-British actress. Born in New York City and raised in London, she began her career as a photography model, appearing in the pages of Italian '' Vogue'' and for the 2003 Pirelli Cale ...

in the film ''

American Sniper ''American Sniper'' is a 2014 American Biographical film, biographical War film, war drama film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood and written and executive-produced by Jason Hall (screenwriter), Jason Hall, based on the memoir American ...

'' based on his autobiography of the same name. She is also the co-author of ''American Wife: A Memoir of Love, Service, Faith, and Renewal'', a book about life with her husband.

Early life

Born Taya Renae Studebaker on September 4, 1974, in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, she is the daughter of Kim and Kent Studebaker. Her father previously served as the mayor of

Lake Oswego, Oregon Lake Oswego ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Population in 2020 was 40,731, an 11.2% increase since 2010, making it the ...

. Her older sister is Ashley (Studebaker) Brittell.

Chris Kyle

Studebaker met Chris Kyle in 2001. They married in 2002 and later had two children. As a Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle is known as the most lethal

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

in U.S. military history. His autobiography, ''

'', was published on January 3, 2012. On February 2, 2013, he was shot and killed at a shooting range in Texas, making Taya a widow at age 38.

Life after Chris Kyle's death

In 2014, Kyle founded the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation as a touchstone for veterans and their families. The foundation's mission is to "serve those who serve us by providing meaningful interactive experiences that enrich family relationships". In May 2013, former

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

governor

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, political commentator, actor, media personality, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he ...

brought a defamation suit against Taya Kyle for $1.3 million. The lawsuit was the continuation of an original lawsuit filed in 2012 against Kyle's husband, over a statement made in the book ''American Sniper''. In the book's chapter titled "Punching Out Scruff Face", Chris Kyle stated he had punched a celebrity he called "Scruff Face" for saying the SEALs "could afford to lose a couple" in war. Ventura won the lawsuit in an 8 to 2 jury decision. An appeals court threw out part of the lawsuit in June 2016, and the case was ultimately settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money.

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

directed the feature film ''

'' in 2014, based on the lives of Chris and Taya Kyle. Taya Kyle was involved in the making of the film, working with the film's screenwriter Jason Hall, and she was portrayed by

. The film, released by

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film studio and distribution arm of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group division of Warner Bros., both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex ...

nationwide in January 2015, was nominated for six

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

, including

Best Picture The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won the

Academy Award for Best Sound Editing The Academy Award for Best Sound is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest sound mixing, recording, sound design, and sound editing. The award used to go to the studio sound departments until a rule change in 1969 said it should be awarde ...

at the

87th Academy Awards The 87th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2014 and took place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30 ...

Publication of Taya Kyle's autobiography

On May 5, 2015, Taya Kyle's autobiography, ''American Wife: A Memoir of Love, Service, Faith, and Renewal'', was released by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

publishing. Co-written with military and war author Jim DeFelice, the book details her life as a military wife and how she dealt with the sudden and untimely death of her husband.

Other activities

In September 2015, she was a judge for the

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

pageant. In 2016, Kyle was featured in season 1, episode 5 of ''American Elements'' on CarbonTV. Kyle was a contributor for

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

. In 2020, she unsuccessfully ran for Midlothian ISD Trustees. In April 2024, Kyle debut children's picture book, ''Prayers for Bears: Bailey the Grateful Bear'' was published by Christian publishing house Fidelis Books.

Politics

Taya is a Republican and endorsed

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...

in the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

. After Perry withdrew, she endorsed

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

. She also served as treasurer for the successful 2016 campaign of Bill Waybourn for Sheriff of

Tarrant County, Texas Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas with a 2020 U.S. census population of 2,110,640, making it the third-most populous county in Texas and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. ...

. In January 2016, she opined at a

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Town Hall Event that the opposition to the NRA and adding more laws restricting gun ownership is not a solution to the gun violence in the United States.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Taya Renae 1974 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers American autobiographers 21st-century American women writers American women autobiographers Writers from Portland, Oregon People from Clackamas County, Oregon People from Erath County, Texas Oregon Republicans Texas Republicans Fox News people American veterans activists