Jim Bakker, the controversial televangelist and ex-husband of Tammy Faye Bakker, died on Monday evening. He was 86.
Bakker’s wife, Lori, confirmed his passing in a statement shared to the Instagram account belonging to his show, “The Jim Bakker Show.” His cause of death was not immediately revealed.
“It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, went home to be with the Lord this evening,” Lori wrote alongside a photo of the TV minister. “For 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry.”
She added: “Jim loved people deeply. He loved this ministry, and he loved the friends and partners who stood with him throughout the years. Even in his final days, his heart was still for the work of God and for the Gospel to continue reaching the world.”
As Lori went on, she noted that their family was grieving and asked for privacy.
“Jim finished his race with faith,” she concluded. “His voice, his vision and his legacy will never be forgotten.”
In 1974, Bakker, along with his first wife, the aforementioned Tammy Faye, founded the Christian television program, “The PTL Club.” The enterprise later grew into a religious broadcast empire, which included their theme park, Heritage USA. However, the couple’s success came to a halt when it was discovered that Jim had been using church funds for his personal benefit.
In 1988, Bakker was indicted on 24 federal counts, including mail and wire fraud and conspiring to defraud the public. He was also accused of drugging and raping church secretary Jessica Hahn alongside “PTL Club” co-host John Wesley Fletcher. Bakker maintained that the encounter with Hahn was a consensual one while being accused of using $279,000 church funds to pay her off.
The next year, he was found guilty on all counts after a five-week trial.
While he was originally sentenced to 45 years in prison, his sentence was reduced and he was released in 1994 after only serving five years. During Bakker’s incarceration, Tammy Faye divorced him, going on to marry Roe Messner in 1992. Bakker remarried in 1998, wedding Lori Beth Graham, with whom he adopted five children.
Jim and Tammy Faye shared son Jay and daughter Tammy Sue. The couple was portrayed by Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain, respectively, in 2021’s “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”
