'Celebrity Wife Swap': Gary Busey, Ted Haggard Trade Wife, Fiancee
The actor and disgraced evangelical pastor participate in 'Celebrity Wife Swap.'
Jan. 4, 2012 — -- Tonight's episode of "Celebrity Wife Swap" on ABC featured a unique exchange: Gary Busey's fiancée and Ted Haggard's wife traded places for one week. Surprisingly, there were no fireworks.
The hour gave viewers insight into the lives of the two households, and into the struggles of Busey -- who suffered a brain injury after a motorcycle accident and is now known for his wacky way of expressing himself, and Haggard, an evangelical Christian who was disgraced when a gay sex and drug scandal came to light.
Haggard had been a pastor of mega New Life Church and president of the National Association of Evangelicals. In 2006, his life unraveled after allegations that he had paid a male prostitute for sex for three years and purchased crystal methamphetamine from him.
Steffanie Sampson went to the Haggard family's Colorado Springs, Colo., home, while Gayle Haggard went to Busey's home in Los Angeles. Sampson met the Haggards' children, and Haggard, 54, met Sampson and Busey's young son, Luke.
The traded women familiarize themselves with their new households, reading the "manual" that was left for them by the other women.
As part of her duties, Sampson, who is Jewish, had to take over leading a women's Bible study for the absent Gayle Haggard. When she disclosed that she and Busey were married "in spirit" and not legally, she got some blank stares. Unfamiliar with the Bible reading, she stumbled a little and drew loud laughter when she mispronounced the word "disciple."
She also read from Gayle Haggard's book, which was published after her husband's scandal and details why she stayed with him. Sampson took exception to the perceived implication in the book that the gay prostitute who talked about his experiences with Haggard was doing the work of the devil.
She also talked to Haggard and his children about what affect their father's scandal had on them. Haggard's son, Elliott, said he was angry at how people treated his father.
Haggard, 55, said the scandal was embarrassing and heart-wrenching, adding, "I wanted to die."
Sampson, 37, seemed genuinely concerned for the Haggards' well-being.
"They're all so lovely and I just want them to be happy and find some peace," she said, choking up. "I hope I can help. It would be great if I could."
She noticed that Haggard seems to throw himself into helping the people in his new church, and as part of her rules for the household, got the family to meet and talk. During the meeting, Haggard's daughter, Christy, asked to spend more time with her father. The resulting discussion grew tense when Elliott implied that Christy may have been unfair to their father by suggesting that he hadn't been available for the family.
Haggard and his daughter went out together for a father-daughter tea and resolved the issue. Christy told her father that she'd like him to reach out to her more, and he promised to do so.
"I love you so much. You're precious to me, you're valuable to me. You're my only daughter," he says.
Sampson also took the family on a hike in the picturesque hills of the area, and asks them to continue doing so as a family.
While in the Busey household, Gayle Haggard said that she believes that the actor is a good father to his young son, but thinks the actor, 67, seems a bit too focused on himself. She resolves to direct his attention outward.
In particular, when she tries to engage him in conversation, he talks a lot but doesn't have any questions for her beyond what sport she may have played in her youth. The answer: Barrel racing.
She also is confused by Busey's tendency to speak in playfully high voices -- he sometimes ended sentences with the word "yay" -- and seems thrown for a moment when she asks him if he goes to church and he replies: "I am church."
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