Tammy Faye Bakker

I liked her better than that whore Jan Crouch.

Soon to be played in a biopic by DL fav Jessica Chastain:

I remember when that documentary came out.

I saw her walking the streets of Park City with RuPaul at Sundance.

Meh, if she can convince the naïve Christians to part with their money then kudos to her

People forget that even when she was still the darling or the Religious community, she was one of the first to embrace AIDS sufferers. She had them on her and husband's talkshow and treated them respectfully, even before many secular shows would do the same.

I bought her autobiography for a quarter at a thrift store.

She was sweet but messy.

She seemed like genuine sweetheart and very non-judgmental for a very religious person.

She befriended Ron Jeremy on The Surreal Life stayed in touch with him after the show. Ron knew Jessica Hahn and helped her connect with Tammy and bury the hatchet before Tammy died.

R8 Because she was a sincere religious person, which is very rare, especially among well known religious leaders. I think it also helped that she had experienced many judging her over the years, especially for her "style," so she knew NOT to be judgmental towards others.

She raised a son who apparently turned out pretty decent. He seems to take after Tammy more than his con artist father.

I remember being a young gayling and watching her final hours on Larry King. I don't know how I was familiar with her back then as I was probably 12. Maybe Larry King had played some of her prior interviews in the days leading up to her final appearance and death hours later.

Is she still drawing breath?

Shit, she died in 2007, so I was 18. It makes more sense now.

- r11

Is she looking down or up?

Her son is a super progressive minister R10, and I believe he doesn't have anything to do with his father IIRC. He definitely took more after his mother.

The Elton John musical about her opens next year in London.

"Demonic raisins, I REBUKE THEE!"

Good Lord, I just googled ‘Jan Crouch’. The My Little Pony hair! The Ziggy Stardust make up!

I always liked her. As you tried to make fun of her, it was difficult because her basic goodness was so genuine.

TV movie about her starred Bernadette Peters as Tammy and Kevin Spacey at Jim.

^I tried watching that the other day as part of my TFB Youtube marathon but had to turn it off after 30 minutes or so.

She was as much the con artist as Jim. As usual the public just assumed she was the dutiful little wife with no control over her husband. She recognized that she had a much easier PR issue than Jim, and divorcing him made her that much more palatable to the public.

Not only was her first husband a con artist who went to prison, she then went on to another dishonest man who also went to prison. She sure did like the crooks.

we Both lived in orlando at the same time. Mid 90s. I met her twice. Once when I was w my former bf at a chain restaurant. She had been drinking a bit. Stumbled past us on the way to the ladies room. Said hello and gave us a boozy, my life is overwhelming right now smile. The other meeting was at a Walgreens near the church she had at the time. Both times she struck me as nice, warm and basically kind.

I saw her once in a Chinese restaurant in Charlotte,North Carolina. I was having dinner with a college friend. We had just been seated when I heard a giggle at another table I immediately recognized. Tammy Faye was sitting at a table with a rather mixed group of youngish men (meaning some of the guys read as gay). She was cutting up and telling tales out of school about Jim. At a separate table was a dour group of what could only have been PTL suits and handlers. She seemed to be fun and did not interact at all with the other group.

I also saw the son at a well known breakfast place outside of Atlanta. He was with a large group of people. He was very polite and very personable with the waitresses. I seem to remember he was all in black with both piercings and some visible ink.

R23 again. I just remembered Tammy Faye popped up in the Durham NC occasionally as a special guest at Drag Bingo! I never went but friends did and really liked her.

[quote]I seem to remember he was all in black with both piercings and some visible ink.

Their son really does seem like one of the good guys.

Remember their surly daughter, also named Tammy?

Loved Jan Hooks on SNL doing Tammy Faye. Tammy was the one with the chrisma and charm on PTL, her ex Jim was/is dull as dishwater. He is still trying to fleece the flock and selling dehydrated food for the coming armageddon. The graduates of ORU seem to be money grubbing sob's.

There was something so permanently lost and vulnerable about her, even with her "fleecing the flock" background it was almost impossible not to see her genuine light. In all she was a truly fascinating character.

PTL was must watch tv ! My friends and I would get stoned and make bets on how many times she'd cry . Did anyone else watch her and Jims wedding anniversary special ? Talk about excess ! It was fabulous ! Tammy came from a generation where a woman had to be married,hence her marrying the contractor crook after divorcing the religious crook . I dont think she chose crooks,they seemed to find her. Im sure she knew a lot more about the shenanigans at PTL but women of that era specialized in see nothing/know nothing so she probably convinced herself all was kosher. Remember when it all fell apart she lost everything,including her jewelry and personal effects.

There's a queen in Florida named Sondra Todd who did a scarily accurate Tammy Faye impersonation back in the '80s when she lived in Alabama. She would always lip-sync to TF's signature song.

Damn, the son has aged considerably in the last few years.

R30 you know Sondra Todd ?!?! I knew her way back in the early 90s ! She lived in Jacksonville Fl then ! Hilarious bitch she was !

We mostly love her (and forgive her messiness) here.

What I truly cannot believe is that Jim Bakker managed to come out of jail and ended up back on the scam stroll. AND he had so much plastic surgery that, like Kenny Rogers, it looks like he has a new host body.

Is that why Jim looks so different these days!? He truly is unrecognizable. It never crossed my mind that it was surgery.

R2 lol at the prosthetics and wig on Andrew Garfield as Jim.

R2 lol at the prosthetics and wig on Andrew Garfield as Jim.

She had a baby speaking voice but a really strong singing voice. Explain that.

Contrary to some people's belief, requesting contributions for the ministry or even for her family's personal well-being is not fleecing. On the other hand, Jim went to jail for knowingly defrauding members (investors) in connection with his hotel at Heritage USA by promising something he knew he couldn't deliver.

They are developing a Broadway musical about her. Kristin Chenowith is playing Tammy.

I liked her on The Surreal Life or whatever that show was called. She seemed like a real peacemaker. No one in the house disliked her.

Jim is back on TV with his same old tricks, this time selling survivalists' food (which critics are calling slop buckets) for the upcoming Armageddon. He preaches Trump has been sent by God to save our country. He's also found a rich wife to help finance his scam.

Tammy Faye had her good points later in life, but I remember she stood shoulder to shoulder with Jim on TV begging for viewers to send in money to finance their Christian amusement park and other crooked adventures.

She was a fucking grifter and a con artist.

I hate all the cute habilitation of her image.

[quote] She had a baby speaking voice but a really strong singing voice. Explain that.

She faked her singing voice. Lots of singers have artificial singing voices because their natural voices are crap. Cher's singing voice is one of the most fake I've heard.

It's sad that she had to earn money by going on The Surreal Life. I wonder if she got to see Erik Estrada in the nude?

Jim makes his money off half wits, the uneducated & gullible, and the senile

[quote]I liked her on The Surreal Life or whatever that show was called. She seemed like a real peacemaker. No one in the house disliked her.

That was my favorite season.

I'm from South Carolina, and I know people who knew them during the PTL days. I was a small child when it all happened but it has always fascinated me. Anyway, I have discussed the whole thing with various people. Most of them are of the belief that Tammy actually didn't know about the scam aspect until it was too late for her to do anything about it. They all agree that what made it worse on her, was that everyone agreed it was her talent that built everything. Jim Bakker really isn't much on his own, hence the reason he has a new blond wife/co-host. She really believed that the money she used for lavish spending, wasn't coming from viewer donations, but from the businesses, such as the satellite network, hotel, water park, and her record sales. Not, from scamming and fleecing the flock. Regardless of what she or Jim might have done, Jerry Fawell screwed them over big time. Also, her best friend on PTL was DL fav Vestal Goodman, who during the scandal would place Tammy Faye on the floor of her car to sneak her past the press.

Tammy Faye testified in her husband’s trial. She went from bring a high flying televangelist to bring dead broke.

Jim was scum. He spent millions on decorating and clothes while he paid employees minimum wage. First the affair with his secretary broke. Then she learns he’s banging dudes, too.

I have NEVER had consensual sex with men! Those sodomites tricked me into performing oral sex on them!

We felt so sorry for them. I offered to swap partners with Tammy Faye but she didn't want to give up Jim.

Jim still is scum.

I went to school with a guy who was a dead ringer for Jim. Same smarmy smile. Just thinking about that kid gives me the creeps.

At least, Jim has admitted that the Prosperity Gospel is wrong and has renounced it. Sadly, he then embraced an Armageddon theology.

[43] How is Cher's singing voice "fake"? Her speaking voice has always been rather low also.

Tammy and Jim's son Jamie turned out rather cute IMO—a lot more handsome than his dad. Smarter, too.

Jesus moll.

[quote]She faked her singing voice. Lots of singers have artificial singing voices because their natural voices are crap. Cher's singing voice is one of the most fake I've heard.

They don't sing in modal voice, but you can't seriously fake your singing voice for 50 years. Cher sings like Elvis and she once would tell you so. She doesn't sing in her natural voice after she discovered this slightly fuller way of sounding. She's not inventive or even a good singer - the vibrato is too pronounced and she sings from the back of her throat and has no head voice at all. Cher has a "sound" is the best you can say for her. It's pretty hard to believe that people would like her recordings if they didn't know they were by CHER. She's unique that way. Funny thing is her creepy voice held up pretty well. She got a bit better at singing along the way too.

Tammy Faye's speaking voice was the fake. She had a naturally deeper and rounder voice. The rest is a singsong affect that she spent her life chirping for Jesus. Her singing voice is very weird. The transition from speaking to singing is very weird - but you can't sing that way - so fulsome and strong without some natural talent. Tammy Faye sings modally, but it in an affected way. It's still more her natural voice than when she speaks.

Cher sings like CHER. But her voice is lowered and her larynx is held low when she sings. That vibrato is Joan Baez crazy out of control. My singing teacher used to make us do a vocal exercise to prove that Joan Baez, Cher and Elvis all had the SAME voice AND way of singing. It's a fun vocal exercise, that I can't quite do the soprano head notes for anymore. But it's true. Cher has said that everything she knows about singing comes from imitating Elvis and you can hear it. Elvis had quite an exceptional tenor voice. Elvis ended the 25 year reign of baritone male singers. Cher never uses her head voice. She must think it's very bad and too gay. So she's stuck in that semi-fake froggy contralto. She's a throat singer. She simply can't project into the facial mask or make much variation to her sound without continuous chest belts and throat warbling. Her head voice is small and OK, but it's disconnected from her chest voice of course. She is far from a great vocalist. Truth is Tammy was a better technical singer than Cher. Cher's vocals are often appealing. But not for more than two songs. Here she uses her head voice and isn't afraid to show her vocal weaknesses. For her, it's good. Can't blame her for going the other way though. Her sound is very specific. No one else could make it with her voice. Cher would make a great gospel jesus fake ass charlatan, but isn't she already?

Fuck that whore, this thread is MINE!

Tammy singing her theme song.

So weird to think that she died because she was too embarrassed to go and see an ass doctor.

Oh please! R5. Phil Donahue has been credited with the first talk show to have AIDS patients on (& yes it's a secular show).

Oprah Winfrey (also secular) did shows on it early on & mentioned a relative with the disease.

I bet Tammy Faye doesn't even come close to being in the top 5 shows overall.

Hubby Jim was closeted & didn't embrace anyone who could intentionally (or accidentally) out him.

Take a dose of reality when you start your DL drinking games.

"Hi Tammy! I'm John, I have full blown AIDS & I saw your husband at the gay bar where I caught it. You might want to get tested."

Tammy Faye interviewed Steven Pieters, a gay minister with AIDS, in 1985. The Oprah Winfrey Show did not begin, nationally until 1986. While Donahue did cover the issue, most episodes tend to be from later in the decade. 1985 was especially early for a national show, and notable for the compassion expressed. We are talking two years prior to ACT UP's founding and the writing of The Band Played On. For an Evangelical televangelist to take on the issue, with kindness and empathy, at the height of the epidemic is something to be praised. She expressed the following thought, "How sad that we as Christians, who are to be the salt of the earth, we who are supposed to be able to love everyone, are afraid so badly of an AIDS patient that we will not go up and put our arm around them and tell them that we care." This is not typical, she wasn't a Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson saying that people were dying as God's wrath for their behavior. Also, the interview was not a one off. Until she was forced out at PTL she continued to mention AIDS patients and urged her followers to follow the example of Christ, by showing compassion and praying for the victims.

Tammy was a good woman. Funny and sweet as hell too.

R6 I never noticed it before but she looks like Belinda Carlisle (when she was in the Go-Go's around '84) older sister in that photo.

Another vote for Tammy. Possibly a bit of a scam artist but there are worse.

Back during all the brouhaha I remember reading about one episode where Tammy caught Jim in a steam room at PTL with a group of other men. They had locked the door and Tammy was seen and heard banging on the door screaming at the top of her lungs "JIM BAKKER YOU GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO". It was later revealed that Jim was cowering in fear in the steam room until Tammy gave up and went away so he could make his escape.

She and Jim were running a racket, but who cares if the morally corrupt fundies sent their money to them. They would've contributed to hatemongers Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell if they hadn't.

Some people really want her to be guilty like her husband, even though she wasn't. Tammy would have forgiven them.

R64 To me she was a lesser evil and certaintly better than someone like Jan Crouch.

I met her in 2003, out shopping. I told her how much I loved her since the 80s and that I had a quote of hers taped to my computer at work. She hugged me three times and was as gracious as she could be. She was really tiny, even in heels, and had full Tammy Faye makeup on. There was something 'special' about her, I don't believe she knew about the scam Jim was running, she wasn't shrewd.

I met her in 2003, out shopping. I told her how much I loved her since the 80s and that I had a quote of hers taped to my computer at work. She hugged me three times and was as gracious as she could be. She was really tiny, even in heels, and had full Tammy Faye makeup on. There was something 'special' about her, I don't believe she knew about the scam Jim was running, she wasn't shrewd.

Steve Pieters is actually still alive.

R71 Yes, I meant to mention that in R61.

I've watched her '85 video at R61 & except for a cringe moment or two, she was very nice & warm to Steve.

I'm sure some good came from that episode.

Tammy Faye singing with Toni Tennille on the Jim J and Tammy Faye Show. Tammy seems to be channeling Yoko Ono.

I loved her talk show with Jm J Bullock. What has he been up to? Last I saw of him he’d gained quite a bit of weight.

R75 It's because he's pregnant with triplets Rose.

[quote]She and Jim were running a racket, but who cares if the morally corrupt fundies sent their money to them. They would've contributed to hatemongers Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell if they hadn't.

A former co-worker told me about how her grandparents gave money to the Bakkers, Jerry Falwell, and several other well known evangelists for many years.

R78 I guess they all weren't corrupt, some were just morons.