Lisa Whelchel divorced

[Witsec5]

So the queen of the Christian homeschooling child beating fundies is now divorced. I wonder why after 24 years. Maybe the hubby got sick of her wicked witch attitude.

Weird thing is that I was invited to her wedding as a +1. I didn't go because I thought the guy who asked me was weird-ass 30-year-old virgin who pinged my gaydar. Now I realize he was a fundie.

Anyway, Lisa Whelchel played Blair on the Facts of Life.

[Loveday]

She's also on the latest season of Survivor. Previews of next week's episode show her breaking down a bit; I don't think she's going to last very long.

[Witsec5]

It gets worse, I read a little more. Her dad chose the spouse. She never accepted the proposal and it was an apparently loveless marriage. She was gleeful when he fell off the roof and took pictures of him before calling for help. Shades of Michelle Duggar anyone?

[Talitha Cumi]

Ahahahahhahha! Ms. "I was an 80s TV star so I am an authority on child discipline" is single again. How's that hot sauce taste, Lisa?

[Loveday]

It gets worse, I read a little more. Her dad chose the spouse. She never accepted the proposal and it was an apparently loveless marriage. She was gleeful when he fell off the roof and took pictures of him before calling for help. Shades of Michelle Duggar anyone?

:shock: That's appalling. I never really knew anything about her other than the Facts of Life thing and that she wrote books for moms for the Christian market. This makes the smile she's always got plastered on her face extremely creepy.

Which also reminds me of Michelle Duggar, come to think of it.

[snarkbillie]

She's the one who thinks you should force your kids to eat hot peppers if they lie or whatever, said it was "spanking their tongue". She was creepy.

[katecake]

It gets worse, I read a little more. Her dad chose the spouse. She never accepted the proposal and it was an apparently loveless marriage. She was gleeful when he fell off the roof and took pictures of him before calling for help. Shades of Michelle Duggar anyone?

Oh wow do you have a link? :shock:

[CanadianHippie]

She's the one who thinks you should force your kids to eat hot peppers if they lie or whatever, said it was "spanking their tongue". She was creepy.

I believe she is also the one who suggests a creative alternate choice for a child who doesn't want to hold hands in the parking lot is to offer to hold them by the hair.

Since I was first introduced to her book I have always felt she was a very, very angry person who feels the only way to deal with it is to take it out on her kids.

[ShesCrafty]

It gets worse, I read a little more. Her dad chose the spouse. She never accepted the proposal and it was an apparently loveless marriage. She was gleeful when he fell off the roof and took pictures of him before calling for help. Shades of Michelle Duggar anyone?

That's horrible and makes me feel a little sorry for her. But then I remember she advocates child abuse and is smug while doing it and my pity fades. The divorce might explain why she's on Survivor, which I thought was weird when I saw the previews. She probably needs money and a new headship.

[CrazySister]

I believe she is also the one who suggests a creative alternate choice for a child who doesn't want to hold hands in the parking lot is to offer to hold them by the hair.Since I was first introduced to her book I have always felt she was a very, very angry person who feels the only way to deal with it is to take it out on her kids.

WTF?!

[CanadianHippie]

WTF?!

The fucked up thing is that is one of the more tame suggestions in the book...

[Witsec7]

No covenant marriage for Liza? Did someone commit adultery?

[Black Aliss]

She's the one who thinks you should force your kids to eat hot peppers if they lie or whatever, said it was "spanking their tongue". She was creepy.

Yup. Tabasco sauce on their tongues, dragging them by the hair if they dawdled. She calls it "Creative Correction". You may know it by its other name--child abuse. She was my gateway fundie blogger, but I haven't looked at her site in years, if she even still has it.

[GeoBQn]

Facts of Life is my guilty pleasure viewing. What the hell happened to her? By the last season, she refused to appear in an episode about Natalie losing her virginity.

What church does she belong to? Who was her pastor that would make this happen?

[CanadianHippie]

Yup. Tabasco sauce on their tongues, dragging them by the hair if they dawdled. She calls it "Creative Correction". You may know it by its other name--child abuse. She was my gateway fundie blogger, but I haven't looked at her site in years, if she even still has it.

Making your child wear weights on their wrists or ankles all day for being a bad example... Actually she has a lot of "for the rest of the day" ideas. It reads like a "how to" on torture in some places. I remember from the website her mentioning her daughter had dreams of being president one day and that she "thankfully out grew that" or some such bullshit.

[3 is enough]

I knew she was "Christian" and that she became a SAHM, but I didn't know all of the other dirt.

Wow. It's sad that she had such a miserable marriage, but that doesn't excuse the horrific things she did to her kids.

Surprising that a father who would pick her spouse would let her act on a sitcom. But with fundies, when money is involved, hypocrisy ensues, as we have seen with the Duggars, Bateses, and so on.

[clibbyjo]

She is coming to Harrison Ohio(some church I looked it up) the weekend of the 28th, anyone want to go and tell us what she says? :)

I hated the fact she gave homeschooling a bad name for us secular,not child abusing types.

[lilwriter85]

That's horrible and makes me feel a little sorry for her. But then I remember she advocates child abuse and is smug while doing it and my pity fades. The divorce might explain why she's on Survivor, which I thought was weird when I saw the previews. She probably needs money and a new headship.

Probably. Lisa hasn't worked in the entertainment industry that much in the past 20 years. She did the Facts of Life reunion movie. Some of her former co-stars have been working here and there in the industry. Residuals for TV show syndication reduce over time. I doubt that she made huge money off those awful books.

[Cannelle]

I thought divorce was forbidden in her circles! Maybe someone should hotsauce her for being disobedient.

I feel bad that her life was such a mess and that her marriage was obviously not a happy one. I have no sympathy for her on any other front, because she's a child abusing monster in my book. Seems like power over her kids was the only power she was allowed to have, and she took that banner and ran with it.

[Mommy22alyns]

Oh, interesting. :twisted:

[lilwriter85]

Facts of Life is my guilty pleasure viewing. What the hell happened to her? By the last season, she refused to appear in an episode about Natalie losing her virginity.

What church does she belong to? Who was her pastor that would make this happen?

Based on what is known about Lisa, my guess is that her family was always on the fundie lite spectrum. They might have been ok with her getting into acting. FOL was started off as being family friendly, but once the characters entered their 20s the show started to focus on more adult subjects. Daddy Whelchel probably wasn't pleased about the show and Lisa was influenced. I have watched a couple retrospect documentaries on FOL and I liked that Mindy Cohn defended the show and the episode by stating that she wanted to show the audience that losing your virginity doesn't make you a slut.

[bananacat]

I'm glad she's getting out of a horrible marriage. Divorce is sometimes a good thing and it wouldn't benefit anyone for her to stay in such a bad relationship. I thought she was an adult convert, but it looks like her parents were/are fundies too. I hope that this experience will make her question what she was spoonfed and maybe she'll realize that she shouldn't treat her kids that way. I hope that things will get better for her kids from now on. This is a perfect example of how staying in a bad marriage is toxic for everyone involved.

[katecake]

I remember that episode well...she had dated Snake for...two years? That's a long time. It was kind of weird because she dumped him for not calling her the next day but waiting a whole day...and then asking her to marry him!

But considering how fast people wind up in bed on tv now that episode seems positively QUAINT. I've never understood actors (like Kirk Cameron's) obsession with making their shows some kind of sanitized version of life. Did they not know that they were playing a CHARACTER?

[JesusPony]

I knew about the hot sauce and general fundiness, but I didn't know she was that crazy! I wonder if she's learned anything after facing the fact(s of life) that her Jesus-approved marriage didn't work out? Maybe a little less sanctimonious? Maybe?

Probably too late for the kids... Maybe one of them will write a tell-all: How I Survived Hot Sauce Hell.

[BoomerLynn]

Making your child wear weights on their wrists or ankles all day for being a bad example... Actually she has a lot of "for the rest of the day" ideas. It reads like a "how to" on torture in some places. I remember from the website her mentioning her daughter had dreams of being president one day and that she "thankfully out grew that" or some such bullshit.

:shock:

ETA:

Someone posted a review on Amazon listing some "Creative Discipline" examples from her book:

Here are a few examples:

Lisa recommends:

--blindfolding children for an hour if they roll their eyes

--handcuffing quarreling siblings together

--putting quarreling siblings outside, whether it's 30 degrees or 100 degrees

--making a child wear boxing gloves all day long for hitting; they are not to be removed for eating; as if this isn't enough torture, she recommends videotaping the child trying to eat popcorn with the boxing gloves. This might be appropriate in the context of a family game night, but not in the context of humiliation and punishment.

--burning a few of the child's toys if a child is caught playing with matches (what about putting the matches out of reach or doing some standard fire-safety education?)

--pinching a child's tongue with a clothespin for disrespect

--pouring hot sauce on a child's tongue

--saying "no to reasonable requests such as 'may I go to the bathroom'" in the name of keeping children on their toes in terms of obedience

--restraining a one year old in a car seat if the child won't stay in time out (time out is not appropriate for one year olds to begin with, and, with any child, if time out is not "working," change your strategy-- don't restrain them!)

--making children stand in the center of the room for a long period of time if they are resisting bedtime ("make it tough" she says)

--making a child close the door quietly, like 100 times, for slamming a door