Mum who rejected her gay son on TV has secret past

YVONNE horrified viewers when she turned her back on her gay son on Bride and Prejudice. Now he’s shared a secret that makes her decision even more puzzling.

IT was the TV moment that shocked a nation.

A recent episode of Seven’s reality series Bride and Prejudice showed Chris, the adult child of a devout Jehovah’s Witness mother and a very traditionally minded father, visiting his parents’ home to again ask for their acceptance.

He would soon marry his partner Grant, and desperately wanted his parents Yvonne and Geoff to attend.

They didn’t fight, yell or cry. It was barely a confrontation. Instead, his mother told him calmly and simply that she would not, could not attend. Given the ultimatum by her son — accept all of me as I am, or none of me — she chose the latter, without hesitation.

Yvonne and Geoff told their son they would not attend his wedding. Picture: Channel 7

It was startling viewing. And in an interview with Kyle and Jackie O this morning, Chris revealed some information about his mother’s past that makes her inability to accept her gay son all the more perplexing.

“Religion gives my mum structure in her life — she found it when she was a bit of a wild child,” he said of his “full-blown Jehovah’s Witness” mother.

“No-one knows this, but my mum actually used to work in gay bars, back in the day.”

Chris can't hide his hurt after his parents refuse to attend to wedding or meet his partner of three years.

Yep, you read that right. Kyle and Jackie O couldn’t quite believe what they were hearing — Kyle asking if perhaps Yvonne’s rejection of homosexuality stemmed from whatever same-sex action she witnessed in 1970s-era gay venues.

“It’s more so about the beliefs, I don’t know that it has anything to do with what she experienced [in gay bars],” Chris said.

The couple said that they’ve found theirs is “not a unique story” — attending Sydney’s Mardi Gras Fair Day on Sunday, they said they were approached by many people who’d seen them on Bride and Prejudice and had their own stories of parental rejection to tell.

Chris said he still held out hope his parents would change their minds and attend his wedding, which will take place in the US.

“Hopefully, [the show] was a bridge we could build with my parents, because it would be great to have them there,” he said.

Chris and partner Grant (left) will get married, whether his parents are there or not.