Anita Bryant. If you grew up in the seventies, that name probably brings back a very specific mental image: a polished, pageant-perfect woman smiling over a glass of Florida orange juice. Or, depending on which side of history you land on, you might remember her as the face of one of the most polarizing political crusades in American history. People have been asking is Anita Bryant still alive for years, mostly because she vanished from the mainstream spotlight so abruptly after her career imploded.
The short answer is no. Anita Bryant passed away on December 16, 2024. She was 84 years old.
It’s actually a bit strange how long it took for the news to really hit the national radar. While she died in mid-December at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, the news didn't start trending or getting major coverage until early January 2025. Her family eventually released a statement through The Oklahoman, confirming she had been battling cancer.
The Rise and the Very Hard Fall
Anita wasn't just some random activist. She was a legit star. We’re talking about a Miss Oklahoma winner who was the second runner-up for Miss America. She had top-40 hits like "Paper Roses" and "In My Little Corner of the World." For over a decade, she was the quintessential "girl next door" for conservative America.
Then came 1977.
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Miami-Dade County passed an ordinance that basically said you couldn't fire someone or kick them out of their house just for being gay. Bryant, a devout fundamentalist Christian, wasn't having it. She launched the "Save Our Children" campaign. She famously said, "Homosexuals cannot reproduce, so they must recruit."
It was a mess.
She won the battle but lost the war. While the ordinance was initially repealed, the backlash was nuclear. Activists organized a massive boycott of Florida orange juice. She was famously "pied" in the face during a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa—a clip that still makes the rounds on TikTok and YouTube today.
Life After the Spotlight
What happened next is kinda tragic, regardless of how you feel about her politics. Her career didn't just slow down; it evaporated. The Florida Citrus Commission dropped her. Her 20-year marriage to Bob Green ended in a messy divorce in 1980, which, ironically, caused her fellow fundamentalists to turn their backs on her. In that world, back then, divorce was almost as big a "sin" as the things she was campaigning against.
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She spent the next few decades trying to make a comeback.
- She tried performing in Branson, Missouri.
- She opened a theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
- She filed for bankruptcy. Twice.
Eventually, she moved back to her roots in Oklahoma. She started Anita Bryant Ministries International and lived a relatively quiet life compared to the chaos of the late seventies. She never really "recanted" her views, though. In a 2010 interview, she told The Oklahoman that she didn't regret what she did, even though it basically destroyed her life as a public figure.
Why People Still Search for Her
The reason is Anita Bryant still alive stays in the Google search bars is because she represents a massive turning point in culture. Before Anita, the gay rights movement was a relatively quiet, localized thing. Her campaign inadvertently unified the LGBTQ+ community in a way nothing else had. It turned a local Miami ordinance into a national conversation about civil rights.
Honestly, her story is a cautionary tale about how fast the "brand" of a celebrity can vanish when it becomes synonymous with controversy. One day you're singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, and the next, you're a punchline on late-night TV.
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Where She Is Now
As of today, she is buried in Oklahoma. Her second husband, Charlie Dry, a former NASA test crewman, passed away just months before she did in 2024. She is survived by her four children and several grandchildren.
If you're looking for actionable insights from the life of Anita Bryant, it’s probably this: reputation is fragile. In the age of the internet, the "Anita Bryant effect" happens in hours, not years. Whether you view her as a hero of faith or a villain of civil rights, there’s no denying she changed the American political landscape forever.
If you're researching her for a project or just out of curiosity, the best places to find raw footage of her era are the archives of the Miami Herald or the many documentaries on the Stonewall era, like The Times of Harvey Milk. You can see the shift in real-time—from the orange juice commercials to the protests that defined the end of her career.
For those looking into the history of celebrity branding, her story is essentially "Patient Zero" for how a spokesperson can become a liability overnight. If you're managing a brand today, her 1977-1980 timeline is required reading.