American Christian singer, evangelist, author, talk show host, and television personality who married Jim Bakker in 1960; they had two kids together. She was the oldest of eight kids and was a little doll, though somewhat dowdy. A small-town girl, she was raised in a deeply religious Pentecostal family that brought her up with strict, back-country piety. She met Jim in 1960 while attending North Central Bible College in Minnesota; he proposed on their third date. They had dime-store wedding rings and began their traveling ministry in poverty and the Bible-belt.
They eventually built up a TV evangelical ministry of $129 million a year, a phenomenal rise to wealth and power. Her autobiography was published during this rise to power and was entitled, “I’ve Got To Be Me.”
They both fell from grace early in 1987, he for sexual dalliance, she for addiction to prescription drugs. Jim was convicted of fraud due to his siphoning of some $3.7 million from his ministry, which allowed them to live like potentates. They both gave tearful TV interviews, Tammy with mascara running down her cheeks from her notorious use of cosmetics, which were apparently trowelled on. Tammy divorced Jim in 2/1992 while he was in prison.
On 10/03/1993 at 5:00 PM in Rancho Mirage, CA, she married millionaire builder Roe Messner. The wedding was catered by the local deli even though they sold media rights to the ceremony for nearly $200,000. Messner had made his fortune building churches and had four kids from a prior marriage. In 3/1996, Messner went to prison for making false statements and hiding $400,000 in assets during his 1990 bankruptcy.
Tammy was unexpectedly diagnosed with rectal cancer for which she had rectal surgery on 3/06/1996, Rancho Mirage, CA, followed by radiation. A year later she was back to shopping with her usual zest, telling her doctors that the power of prayer helped her to a successful recovery. The ex-wife of former TV evangelist Jim Bakker, Tammy Faye Messner announced in March 2004 that she has inoperable lung cancer. She had chemotherapy and alternative health treatments, and, in spring 2005 completed 14 radiation treatments. But in July 2005, she found that her cancer had returned and that she must undergo another round of treatments.
Tammy Faye Bakker died on the morning of July 20, 2007 at her home near Kansas City, MO after a long battle with colon cancer that had metastasized to her lungs.
Link to Wikipedia biography