--- title: American Sniper Widow Taya Kyle Pens Anniversary Letter to Chris Kyle description: "YOU, Chris Kyle, are IT for me" canonical: https://time.com/3749615/american-sniper-taya-chris-kyle-letter/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-18T19:16:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:15:43.069Z article:section: U.S. og:title: 'American Sniper' Widow Pens Anniversary Letter to Chris Kyle og:description: "YOU, Chris Kyle, are IT for me" og:url: https://time.com/3749615/american-sniper-taya-chris-kyle-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16ede8174a52a646/6987842d3c16399e83452515/160646683.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Retired Navy SEAL killed in Texas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'American Sniper' Widow Pens Anniversary Letter to Chris Kyle twitter:description: "YOU, Chris Kyle, are IT for me" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16ede8174a52a646/6987842d3c16399e83452515/160646683.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _American Sniper_ Widow Writes Anniversary Love Letter to Chris Kyle  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Mar 18, 2015 7:16 PM CUT  Chris Kyle, a retired Navy SEAL and bestselling author of the book "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," is seen with his wife, Taya, April 6, 2012. Chris Kyle, a retired Navy SEAL and bestselling author of the book "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," is seen with his wife, Taya, April 6, 2012.Fort Worth Star-Telegram—MCT via Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Mar 18, 2015 7:16 PM CUT Taya Kyle, the widow of _American Sniper_ subject Chris Kyle, wrote a letter to her husband Wednesday in honor of their 13th wedding anniversary and shared it on Facebook. “Today, I have a choice,” Taya Kyle wrote. “I can bury myself under the covers and acknowledge the pain of missing you and mourn the future anniversaries without you. Or I can celebrate never having a day without you in my heart because you loved me enough to leave me a lifetime of memories and beauty. I am somewhere in between today.” “And if I didn’t tell you enough in life, then let me tell you today … YOU, Chris Kyle, are IT for me,” she continued. “I loved you yesterday, I love you now and I will love you all the days of my life.” The Navy credits SEAL Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper in the film, with the most kills in military history. He died in 2013 at the age of 38 when he was shot by former Marine Eddie Ray Routh. Routh was [convicted](http://time.com/3721574/eddie-ray-routh-chris-kyle-guilty-chad-littlefield/ "undefined") of Kyle’s murder on Feb. 24 and sentenced to life in prison. Screenwriter Jason Hall was already working on a film based on Kyle’s life when Kyle was killed. Taya told Hall to finish the script so that her children could have memorial to their father. She was played by actress Sienna Miller in the movie. It was because of Kyle’s family that Hall and director Clint Eastwood decided not to show Kyle’s murder onscreen, the screenwriter has said. “I made a promise to Taya that I was going to tell her husband’s story right,” Hall [told TIME](http://time.com/3669653/american-sniper-screenwriter-controversy/ "undefined") in January. “I don’t want to be the guy who made some f—ing movie where I show his dad getting his f—ing head blown off.” The movie has gone on to gross over $517 million worldwide—[more than all the other Oscar best picture contenders combined](http://time.com/3712801/american-sniper-oscars-box-office/ "undefined"). Read Taya’s full letter below: _Read Next:_ [American Sniper Screenwriter Jason Hall: ‘I Bled for This Thing’](http://time.com/3669653/american-sniper-screenwriter-controversy/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3749615/american-sniper-taya-chris-kyle-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3749615/american-sniper-taya-chris-kyle-letter/"},"headline":"American Sniper Widow Writes Anniversary Love Letter to Chris Kyle","datePublished":"2015-03-18T19:16:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:15:43.069Z","description":"\"YOU, Chris Kyle, are IT for me\"","url":"https://time.com/3749615/american-sniper-taya-chris-kyle-letter/","keywords":["Military"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16ede8174a52a646/6987842d3c16399e83452515/160646683.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16ede8174a52a646/6987842d3c16399e83452515/160646683.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Retired Navy SEAL killed in Texas","caption":"Retired Navy SEAL killed in Texas","creditText":"Fort Worth Star-Telegram—MCT via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3749615/american-sniper-taya-chris-kyle-letter/","name":"American Sniper Widow Writes Anniversary Love Letter to Chris Kyle"}}]}] ```