MAGA influencer and gun rights activist Kyle Rittenhouse re-emerged from a self-imposed social media exile to announce his marriage to his gun-toting bride.
“I’m back on social media, I’m back in the fight, and i’m here to stay,” wrote Rittenhouse, 22, on X Wednesday. “For a quick update, 6 months ago I made the best decision of my life and married my best friend. @BellRittenhouse, I couldn’t be happier. I love you beautiful.”
Kyle’s wife is Bella Nelson Rittenhouse, a 22-year-old native of Defuniak Springs, Florida. In wedding photos posted to social media, Bella is shown in her wedding dress holding an AR-style rifle with customized pink rear and front sights.
The pair appears to have gotten married in June. Bella Rittenhouse’s Instagram account has one post, dated June 8th, 2025, which shows the couple’s wedding photos. After their wedding day, Kyle and Bella attended the memorial service for Charlie Kirk in September.
Kyle first drew national attention in 2020 after he killed two people and wounded a third at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, traveled to Wisconsin from Illinois while armed with an AR-15 to “defend local businesses” at a Black Lives Matter protest following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. There, he shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber after they tried to wrest his rifle away from him. Rittenhouse shot and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz after Grosskreutz pointed a pistol at him.
Rittenhouse was charged with homicide in Wisconsin, and his trial became a national story. He was ultimately acquitted in November of 2021, as the court ruled he had acted in self-defense.
Since his acquittal, Kyle moved to his bride’s home state and became a right-wing media darling. He landed an interview with Tucker Carlson, met with Donald Trump, and spoke at Turning Point USA events, advocating for the Second Amendment alongside Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec.
He was offered internships on Capitol Hill from MAGA-friendly reps, but ended up working at a gun shop in Florida. Rittenhouse vanished from social media through much of 2025.
In the responses to his social media return, Rittenhouse vowed to work to defeat Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, in the party’s upcoming primary in March 2026. Gonzalez was the lone Texas Republican to vote in favor of a modest gun reform bill in 2022.
He also revealed he is “still being sued for $20 million” by the families of both the men Rittenhouse killed, as well as Grosskreutz.
