American Sniper Chris Kyle's Kids Are Now Old Enough to Take Over for the Family Brand
“I am a Christian and I am very passionate about my faith, theology, and apologetics," wrote Colton in his announcement.
Apr. 18 2024, Updated 4:37 p.m. ET
Chris Kyle, better known as the American sniper from the book and film American Sniper, had two children with his wife Taya before being killed on a gun range by a fellow soldier. Now 19 and 18, Colton and McKenna are stepping into the public light.
United States Navy SEAL Chris is a hero to many. He served four tours in the Iraq War and had 160 confirmed kills. He was awarded a Silver Star and three Bronze Star Medals and wrote the bestselling book American Sniper, which was developed into an Academy Award-nominated Best Picture. His children were six and eight when he was murdered.
Colton Kyle is doing his best to honor his dad.
On Feb. 7, 2024, Colton announced on Instagram he's taking over the American Sniper brand. He wrote, “I am a Christian and I am very passionate about my faith, theology, and apologetics. I love to learn which means I have many interests but my main passions are bodybuilding, Muay Thai, snowboarding, hunting, shooting, philosophy, and gaming, not necessarily in that order. My faith, American Sniper, and those interests and hobbies will pretty much encapsulate everything I will post on this page."
Proud mom Taya also let the world of Instagram know about Colton taking over for the brand. On Jan. 16, 2024, she wrote, “If you have liked my content, I think you will love his. God has done amazing work in my kids and as we know, His work is never done!”
In a People profile published on April 17, 2024, Colton spoke about strangers speaking about his late father. “The number of people who come up to me who have never met him and talk about the way his story impacted them amazes me.”
Colton also says he doesn’t wish things were different. “Through adversity, through fire, gold is refined. I am a better man today than I would have been if I had not lost my father, especially at the time that I did. I have grown so much spiritually and emotionally.”
Colton has no plans to follow in his father’s footsteps.
While Colton is taking over the family business, he currently has no plans to enlist. He was asking in a comment on his first American Sniper post about it. "Hey bro I wanted to ask if you think you would ever follow in your father['s] footsteps and enlist sorry if this question is [too] hard for you to answer,” the commenter wrote.
Colton responded, “Not a hard question, I appreciate it. I don’t have any plans to go into the military.”
McKenna is also honoring her father, but not following his lead.
The People piece reports McKenna will be graduating high school in May and considering getting a degree in psychology so she can work at The Taya and Chris Kyle Foundation, working to strengthen military marriages. She’s currently the social media representative of Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn.
She said, “I show the behind-the-scenes of what law enforcement actually does, showing things like the forensic and canine units. That’s really exciting to me. And it's also something that my dad was interested in so I think that it's kind of carrying on his legacy.”