Listen: 'White Lotus' Creator Mike White's Startling Family Revelation – His Dad was a Major Evangelical

If you thought the incest storyline on this season of "White Lotus" was a surprise, get ready for another family-focused shocker: Creator Mike White is the son of a major figure in American evangelism – a writer who penned the books like the autobiography of famed religious right leaders like Jerry Falwell.

Mel White "was a 'pillar' of the evangelical community," Upworthy recounted, drawing on comments the "White Lotus" writer-director made on Andrew Sullivan's podcast "The Dishcast."

The elder White, Upworthy added, "was a prominent ghostwriter for America's televangelist movement." He authored a number of books credited to household names belonging not just to Falwell, but also to Pat Robertson and Billy Graham.

Indeed, "He wanted to be the next Billy Graham," Upworthy recounted.

As a ghostwriter for major figures in that world, Mel was well-paid – enough, Mike White said, to put him and his sister "through private school and college."

But behind the scenes things were hardly heavenly.

"On a personal level, Mel White was put through hell and was living in a world of chaos," Upworthy narrated.

That turmoil had a profound effect on the White family.

"I found out around middle school, when I was maybe 10 or 11 years old," Mike White said on the podcast. "It was not on his agenda to be gay; it was a very long, drawn-out process. It was probably the worst time in my life."

White went on the add: "My parents separated, but because all of his income came from these books – and he couldn't have been an out, gay man and remained associated with these people – he stayed closeted until my sister and I got through college."

Then came a profound transformation in Mel White's life and career.

"Once Mike White and his sister finished college," Upworthy recounted, Mel White "left the Christian church, dumped televangelism, and became a proud spokesperson for LGBTQ+ rights."

The turnaround made headlines, with the Washington Post noting in 1993 that Mel White was now "standing with the gay rights activists and shouting back at the biggest names in American televangelism" and calling them out as "'homophobic hatemongers.'"

Mel White put his talent with the written word into service of his own story, and "wrote about his journey and the televangelist movement in books like 'Stranger at the Gate' and 'Religion Gone Bad: Hidden Dangers from the Christian Right,'" Upworthy documented.

It's not as though Mel White forsook his spiritual calling in order to come out. He assumed leadership of "Dallas' Cathedral of Hope, the largest gay church in the world and the flagship institution of the 30,000-member national gay denomination known as the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC)," Upworthy recalled.

Mike White said that his father "would go around the country, to religious colleges with gay students" and "have them try to bear witness to the harm that was being caused by religion-based oppression or hate."

Upworthy noted that Mel White's "work led to the creation of Soulforce," which Mel White co-founded with "his husband, Gary Nixon."

"In 1997, White received the American Civil Rights Union's National Civil Liberties Award for his principles of relentless nonviolent resistance, which he applied to the 'struggle for justice for sexual minorities,'" Upworthy went on to add.

Hard as things might have been in Mike White's youth, father and son showed the world their close bond when they competed together on "The Amazing Race" in 2011.

More than a decade later, when "White Lotus" took the world by storm, Mike White displayed his pride in his dad as he accepted a best director Emmy in 2022 – one of the many statuettes the show has garnered.

"Thank you so much for letting me honor him tonight," Mike White said as part of a shoutout to his courageous father.

To listen to Mike White on "The Dishcast," follow this link.