Fulvia exercised political influence through family connections, wealth, public advocacy, and direct participation in Rome's civil conflicts. After her first husband Publius Clodius Pulcher was killed in 52 BC, she helped mobilize opinion against Titus Annius Milo and appeared in the proceedings over the killing. Her later marriages to Gaius Scribonius Curio and Mark Antony kept her within competing political networks.

As Antony's wife, Fulvia defended his interests while he was absent from Rome. She participated in the political struggles surrounding the Second Triumvirate and benefited from its proscriptions. Hostile accounts attached stories of cruelty to her, including the familiar tale involving Cicero's severed head. Such stories reflect political invective and cannot be accepted without qualification. She held no magistracy but had access to leaders, patrons, clients, and soldiers.

In 41–40 BC she worked with Antony's brother Lucius against Octavian during the disputes over veteran settlement and control of Italy. As the conflict became the Perusine War, she urged Antonian generals to help Lucius and raised troops in an attempt to relieve Perusia. Defeat forced her to leave Italy for Greece, where she met Antony and died in 40 BC. Her death removed an obstacle to a new agreement between Antony and Octavian, sealed by Antony's marriage to Octavia. Later narratives blamed her for the war, obscuring the struggle among commanders and constituencies.