As the publicity for her anti-gay views died down, she returned to television in 1980 with a two-hour variety special, “The Anita Bryant Spectacular,” with a big smile but which Made a media critic a giant chip on his shoulder. . “Miss Bryant’s reason is never clearly stated,” wrote John J. O’Connor In his New York Times review of the show, “but it seems directed at anyone who might differ from his particular notions of godliness and cleanliness.”
Mr O’Connor added that Ms Bryant’s message appeared to be “consistently hostile and offensive” despite “cautious measures of sanity and kindness”. The special was sponsored by his religious organization, which supported “conversion therapy” for gay men.
Two months after the special, Ms. Bryant ended her marriage to her manager. Robert Einar GreenA New York-born former disc jockey whom he married in Oklahoma in 1960. Shocked by the divorce, some conservative Christian fans turned away.
Later, Ms. Bryant spoke openly about suicide in the late 1970s. “I hid,” she said inside. 1990 interview For the TV program “Inside Story”. “I can honestly say today that there is a peace and confidence and maturity, if you will, that can only come from wanting to descend into these pits of despair and hopelessness and take my life.”
Ms. Bryant became an author with books such as “Amazing Grace” and “Bless This Food: The Anita Bryant Family Cookbook,” but her most talked-about title was “The Anita Bryant Story: The Survival of Our Nation’s Families and the Threat of Our Nation’s Families” Militant Homosexuality” (1977).
She was always the target of teasing. In 1974, after her purse was stolen, a Times column dubbed her “the singer who sells orange juice on television.” So it was perhaps inevitable that she would be screened in television shows such as TV Shows. “Saturday Night Live.” In 1977, Jane Curtin, co-hosting the show’s news segment, screened the Pie incident and reported, “Fortunately, Ms. Bryant, who was not injured, enjoyed a good laugh and said that if the attack It’s fine if Aur dates her husband.”