Now that Wife Swap is on Hulu, people finally get to witness the crazy characters that graced the show that premiered nearly two decades ago. Kris Gillespie proved to be perhaps the craziest of them all. She ran her household with near-military strictness: Every artifact had to lay perfectly in its place, and every child had to adhere to their duties religiously.
Brian Gillespie earned the money while Kris remained home to reign over her perfect house. However, she had to leave for ten days to live with lesbian Nicki Boone and her daughter, Elizabeth. Nicki’s partner, Kristine Luffey, went the other way to live with Brian and his three kids: Michael, Jackson, and Catherine.
Kris Gillespie’s family still lives in Texas and supports the Republican party
Like most Wife Swap families, Kris Gillespie’s family abandoned fame after the cameras left their household. Kris doesn’t post on social media, though her Twitter account is still active.
The bio reads: Love Texas, sweet white wine, and traditional family values. Based on that bio, we suspect that Kris has never left Texas.
It appears that Kris’ political inclinations haven’t changed either. She openly described her love for Texan native President George Bush. We also believe that Kris is a regular donator to the Republican party, which is pushing to keep Texas red.
Kris and Brian Gillespie’s children are fully grown adults in their late 20s and early 30s. It’s unclear whether they still live in their family’s household, where they had to abide by Kris’ strict rules. Kris bio on Our Campaigns describes the Gillespie home as follows:
“Kris and Brian proudly run what they call ‘a PG home,’ screening and withholding any music, movies, video games or books they deem inappropriate for their children. The children must also constantly strive to meet what their mother proudly calls her ‘excellence’ standard.”
It’s unclear whether Kris still has inclinations for political office. She once ran for a Texas State House seat but lost in the primaries.
Kris still holds on to her belief that lesbians and gays are ‘depraved.’
The swap between Kris and Luffey started cordially. Kris established a bond with Elizabeth, and Luffey set about affording the Gillespie kids more freedom.
However, Kris and Brain’s anti-gay beliefs would soon start to make the swap intolerable. Kris was openly mean to Nikki, who hit back with some bitter truths.
“When it was just Kris and me it often became very tense,” Nikki told The Advocate. “She’d bring up an issue and I’d go to the internet to get some real facts to show her about her misconceptions.”
Kristine Luffey convinced the slightly liberal Brian to accompany her to a gay dance club. Brian seemed to be more tolerant than his wife. He said:
“The gay lifestyle is not consistent with our Christian beliefs. But having said that, people should not be treated in anything but an honoring way regardless of their beliefs. I know that in our church, that if our pastor found anybody treating anyone with anything less than dignity and respect, that he would extremely be disappointed in them.”
However, Brian’s actions didn’t match his words. He made Luffey listen to a ‘gay-bashing sermon’ and signed an anti-gay petition in front of Luffey. Per Nicki, most of Luffey and Brian’s passionate arguments didn’t make the final edit.
The most shocking segment of the Gillespie episode came near the end when Kris referred to Kristin and Nicki as ‘immoral’ and ‘depraved.’ She further slammed the show for placing her daughter in the vicinity of a lesbian who could morph into a ‘sexual predator’ at any moment.
Nicki told The Advocate that Kris insinuated that Luffey intended not to convert Catherine to lesbianism but to molest her. Luffey descended into tears as the fiery Nicki fired back. “[Gillespie] was just incredibly mean-spirited,” Nikki said.
Has Kris Gillespie changed or become more tolerant? The following tweet by @andrewhitenight suggests that Kris holds firmly to her homophobic views:
“Discovered that Kris Gillespie episode of Wife Swap and hoped that maybe she grew from her homophobic views but tragically, it still appears that she’s trash in a shift dress.”