Tammy Faye Messner (formerly known as Tammy Faye Bakker) has died at age 65

**Terminator** · 07-22-07, 12:43 AM

RALEIGH, N.C. - Tammy Faye Messner, who as Tammy Faye Bakker helped her husband, Jim, build a multimillion-dollar evangelism empire and then watched it collapse in disgrace, has died. She was 65.

Messner had battled colon cancer since 1996 that more recently spread to her lungs. She died peacefully Friday at her home near Kansas City, Mo., said Joe Spotts, her manager and booking agent.

A family service was held Saturday in a private cemetery, where her ashes were interred, he said.

She had frequently spoken about her medical problems, saying she hoped to be an inspiration to others. "Don't let fear rule your life," she said. "Live one day at a time, and never be afraid." But she told well-wishers in a note on her Web site in May that the doctors had stopped trying to treat the cancer.

In an interview with CNN's Larry King two months later, an emaciated Messner — still using her trademark makeup — said, "I believe when I leave this earth, because I love the Lord, I'm going straight to heaven." Asked if she had any regrets, Messner said: "I don't think about it, Larry, because it's a waste of good brain space."

For many, the TV image of then-Mrs. Bakker forgiving husband Jim's infidelities, tears streaking her cheeks with mascara, became a symbol for the wages of greed and hypocrisy in 1980s America.

She divorced her husband of 30 years, with whom she had two children, in 1992 while he was in prison for defrauding millions from followers of their PTL television ministries. The letters stood for "Praise the Lord" or "People that Love."

Jim Bakker said in a statement that his ex-wife "lived her life like the song she sang, 'If Life Hands You a Lemon, Make Lemonade.'"
"She is now in Heaven with her mother and grandmother and Jesus Christ, the one who she loves and has served from childbirth," he said. "That is the comfort I can give to all who loved her."

**TXCharlie** · 07-22-07, 05:28 AM

I saw her on Larry King while I was in the hospital - I thought she was gonna die any minute right on camera.

Remember the Tammy Fae T-Shirt? This is one version of it, but a better version that I saw once was just a big blob of colors

**Buttercup** · 07-22-07, 09:05 AM

I saw that show and had the same thought.

**Sapper_132** · 07-22-07, 11:03 AM

Hey hey the witch is dead, the witch is dead....opps I mean R.I.P. yeah ok...

LOL

**Claude Baulz** · 07-22-07, 11:08 AM

Ladies, look for cosmetics prices to fall dramatically as one of the biggest consumers of these products is gone, which will result in an oversupply in the marketplace.

(Glad I took economics in college)