By Sean McPolin
The son of an infamous
televangelist couple is set to reveal their family's darkest secrets in an upcoming documentary which is set to lay all bare.
Dubbed Better Angels: The Gospel According to Tammy Faye, the series will follow the life of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner. The pair's lives recently came back into the public spotlight thanks to the Oscar-winning film starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield.
Now, the duo's son Jay Bakker has revealed some of the shocking details which are about to be exposed. The 48-year-old admitted he hopes the documentary can shed light on his mother's legacy. He said his parent's stories are "far more complicated" than people realise.
The Bakkers first got their start on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network back in 1966. They soon branched out just under 10 years later before launching the PTL Satellite Network in 1974. They became more and more famous over the next decades and brought in around £120 million in proceeds from the channel, as well as bestselling books, music, and a Christian theme park called Heritage USA.
But, things came crashing down for the pair after a string of scandals, including misappropriating church funds to paying PTL secretary Jessica Hahn £250,000 in "hush money" following an alleged sexual encounter. Jim, now 84, was indicted on mail fraud and wire fraud in 1988. He was jailed and sentenced to 45 years in prison. However, he only spent five years behind bars before he was freed following a successful sentence-reduction hearing.
Despite this all, their son thinks they were very misunderstood. He told Mail Online: "I grew up with my parents being very open to everyone and loving everyone. My mother was able to bring people together who normally aren't together, especially in the States, where we're very split politically. She could be with drag queens one day and then be with Baptist church people the next day."
Tammy was known for her heavy makeup, enthusiasm and sense of style, even becoming a gay icon to some through the 80s and 90s thanks to her activism for the community, the outlet reports. At one stage she even interviewed AIDS activist Steve Pieters, who was HIV-positive at the time, on Christian television. Tammy urged her viewers to practise compassion towards homosexuals and people battling HIV.
Speaking about his experiences growing up, Jay, who is heavily tattooed, said both of his parents were supportive of him from a young age. He told the paper: "My parents took me to see the Christian band Stryper before they were really accepted. I must've been nine or 10 years old, and they were playing in a bar. I don't think you're supposed to take a nine year old to a bar, but somehow Jim and Tammy did it.
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As he got older, Jay launched his own LGBT-affirming church named Revolution, which Tammy was a proud supporter of. He explained: "We have people in the congregation that are conservatives and that are liberals and that are atheist, and we sometimes argue, but we've really worked on learning to disagree well. I always say [Revolution] is a good waiting room for either leaving Christianity or coming to Christianity. But my goal is to bring peace to folks, and in a way, follow in the footsteps of people like Dr. Martin Luther King and Gandhi."
Jay's father Jim, who is an avid Donald Trump supporter, even spoke at a gathering in Brooklyn one time, despite not completely agreeing with it, because they knew what it was like to be innovators and to think differently, Jay said. They knew their son was doing somthing they might not understand, but they knew what it was like to not be understood, he said.
Tammy and Jim got divorced in 1992 while the latter was still in prison. Jay thinks his mum was a "driving force" behind his father becoming more accepting. Tammy remarried builder Roe Messner in 1993 and was with him until her death from cancer in 2007 at age 65, while Jim married fellow televangelist Lori Bakker in 1998.
As Jim has grown increasingly more conservative in his later years, Jay says that his father fears his son may not make it into heaven due to his progressive theology. Jay said: "I'm like, well dad, if I get there and they don't want me in, I'll just tell them I believe too much about that stuff Jesus said about loving people, and that you and mom always told me to forgive people, so I'll just blame you guys. And he laughed at that. But I don't believe in hell, and that's a problem for him as well."
In a bizarre twist, Jay said it was after his TV preacher father was jailed that the pair would spend more time together. He said before that, his father was always busy and he would rarely get his attention. The pair's son believes they were "turned into scapegoats" by the public due to a rise in right-wing televangelists.
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He said: "My parents equally offended people like the mainline denominations, like Presbyterians and Lutherans. They thought my parents were too outlandish and too gaudy. And then the conservatives thought, 'Well, they're a little bit too liberal.' And it was just this perfect storm ... it was just like everybody took their anger towards the eighties culture of greed and said, 'well, it must be these people'. Had my parents not had their scandal, my dad would have never spent a day in prison because all those buildings would have been finished and all that stuff would have happened."
Jay believes classism played a role in how his parents were treated. He said it would be fancy for them to go to the Reb Lobster and that his mum's favourite restaurant was Applebee's. Jay says that there's a misconception around how his parents spent their money - despite dad Jim being jailed for defrauding his flock out of £150million. Jay also points out that his parents didn't run commercials on the PTL Network, so they had to pay for all the airtime out of their own pockets.'It's so much more complicated than people want it to be.
Reminiscing on his life and parents, Jay said: "I've even had my parents tell me at times, "We probably should have told the board we don't need to be paid that much. But you feel like you're being rewarded for doing something right, you know?"
The progressive pastor is now focused on continuing to work with his own church, Revolution, which unlike his parents' multimillion-dollar ministry, does not afford Jay a life of luxury. He most recently had to raise £250 to meet the church's budget last month.
The film features interviews with people who worked with the Bakkers and the PTL church, as well as the pair's "frenemies" who give an "honest account" of the pair's lives. The Bakkers' lavish life came crashing down in 1986 thanks to an exposé in The Charlotte Observer, which revealed how the couple were spending the donations to their ministry.
Tammy was never charged when her husband was jailed and stood by him during their trial, but divorced him later on. She returned to the public eye in the 90s and early 2000s with books, TV appearances and other documentaries. She died in 2007 aged 65 after a battle with cancer.
Jim is currently recovering from some recent health woes. In a statement earlier this year he said: "Over the past few weeks, I have been in and out of the hospital. My body has been very weak and there have been moments where I have lost my speech, thankfully, I have gained it back. I am doing physical therapy to get the strength back in my body. I will be taking time to rebuild my strength, and during this period, I’ll be leaning on my faith and hope in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I plan to return with a refreshed perspective and finish this race strong."