‘God Warrior’ Marguerite Perrin Looks Back on Her Trading Spouses Meltdown—and Why She Jumped in the Pool to Kick Out the Crew

‘God Warrior’ Marguerite Perrin Looks Back on Her Trading Spouses Meltdown—and Why She Jumped in the Pool to Kick Out the Crew

“I was rebuking everybody!” Perrin tells EW, while also speaking out against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in conservative circles.

In 2025, it may feel strange to say, but there was a time when religious fervor on reality TV could actually be… entertaining? Enter Marguerite Perrin, the Louisiana-based Christian mom whose explosive 2005 Trading Spouses meltdown transformed her into a viral icon and unexpected camp legend.

Now 64, Perrin is reflecting on the chaos—and consequences—of her legendary TV moment in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. Two decades after she was dubbed the “God Warrior” for her fiery confrontation with the supernatural-inclined family she swapped homes with, she’s finally offering her unfiltered take on what really went down.

“I Was Done”: What Viewers Didn’t See

Though audiences remember her shouting about “dark-sided” forces and “tainted” energy, Perrin says there was much more going on behind the scenes. When she arrived home that night, she had just gotten off a delayed flight and didn’t walk through her door until nearly 2 a.m.

“They had to wake my family up to come to the door,” Perrin recalls, laughing at the memory. But exhaustion quickly turned into fury as she confronted what she saw as a spiritual invasion of her home—complete with astrology books, gargoyles (“gorgyles,” in Perrin-speak), and “slykicks” (psychics).

Her rage boiled over in a now-infamous scene where she screamed at the production crew to leave, tore up a $50,000 check, and declared herself a “God Warrior.” But according to Perrin, the crew didn’t exit fast enough.

“You know how I got them out of my house?” she tells EW. “I said, ‘You see these expensive ear sets you’ve got on me? I’m jumping in my swimming pool.’ And I did. I jumped in the pool. I was rebuking everybody!”

A Storm, a Change of Heart, and a Viral Legacy

Though she originally rejected the $50,000 prize money, Perrin later accepted it in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, noting that many people in her area had “lost everything.”

While the meltdown made her a viral sensation in the early internet era (long before TikTok and Twitter), Perrin didn’t always enjoy the spotlight. She says she was often misunderstood and unfairly painted as a narrow-minded religious zealot.

“I hate that I came off so judgmental and closed-minded,” she says. “That’s not me. I’ve always been a flower child. I love people. I’ve taken homeless people into my house.”

Now, Perrin is working on a new reality series centered on her life in Franklinton, Louisiana, where she runs a dance studio with her daughter Brooke and granddaughter Abigail. Her eldest daughter Ashley, who also appeared on Trading Spouses, tragically died in a 2007 car crash.

An Unexpected Embrace from the LGBTQ+ Community

Despite being a registered Republican, Perrin says she feels more aligned these days with the LGBTQ+ community than with conservative politics—particularly in light of rising anti-LGBTQ legislation.

“I think it’s horrible,” she says of the religious right’s treatment of LGBTQ people. “I don’t believe the bulls—. That’s not me.”

In fact, she credits queer fans for helping her find purpose and healing during some of the hardest times in her life. After her on-screen meltdown, she says it was the gay community that rallied around her, turning her into a meme-worthy figure of camp, chaos, and heart.

“After I had my outburst on TV, the gay community completely got it and saw me,” she says. “They saved me.”

Today: Dancing Through Grief, Finding Joy

Following the death of her husband Barry in 2024, Perrin has found joy in unexpected places—dancing in West Hollywood with the likes of Frankie Grande, going viral on TikTok with routines to Lady Gaga, and just trying to “spread love.”

She hopes people see her not as a relic of reality TV rage, but as a woman who’s grown and evolved. Whether you’re laughing with her or at her, she says, it doesn’t matter—just as long as the love comes through.

“If I can get out of reality TV hell and walk into a new chapter,” Perrin says, “anyone can. Just do it the easy way—open your heart to people.”

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