Transcript for Tammy Faye divorces Jim Bakker and hosts new talk show: Part 9
husband, my faith is still strong in the lord. I still feel there’s nothing too hard for god. And I’m standing on Christ the solid rock. So many really bad things happened in her life. Her husband cheated on her. Her husband went to federal prison. She had her drug addiction. And I was just thinking how much can one person take, you know? Prison is very hard on marriages. The rate of divorce is extraordinarily high. And that’s exactly what happened to Jim and Tammy. Another setback for the televangelist Jim Bakker. His wife, Tammy Faye, is filing for a divorce. People were very shocked that they got divorced. I think the big surprise is that Tammy Faye was the one that really — she couldn’t do it. Shortly thereafter, she married roe Messner, who had been in many ways, Jim Bakker’s partner in building heritage usa. Roe Messner is the premiere church builder of the world already! After Tammy got her divorce, I knew she was fair game. I didn’t think any man would be interested in me for the simple reason that it would mean an awful lot of publicity and most men would be very shy of that. Tammy had a knack for marrying men who would go to prison. Largely as a result of all of the financial fallout of ptl. Roe Messner was convicted of bankruptcy fraud, and sentenced to a few years in prison. I just can’t afford to go a minute without using my Maybelline super-thick industrial mascara. It goes on thick, stays on thick, and like a miracle, washes off quick. Everyone did an impersonation of Tammy Faye. She was such an easy target. You know, just this, a clownish, you know, crying, you know, jesus-praising, overly-make-uped person. Who was just kind of a buffoon. Tammy, you — People would sort of see her walking down the street and laugh at her. She was really a laughing stock. Tammy Faye didn’t slink away because she didn’t know anything else. She needed to make money. Well, when the pitch came for this show, Dan weaver is who I met with, who was our producer. I said, I have in mind a co-host for you. A rolodex is going in my head of who it could be. And I said, Tammy Faye. Tammy Faye? I can’t say what I said. She’s F asterisk, asterisk, asterisk crazy. That’s what I said. Um, yeah. ?????? ??? we’re a recipe you can bake up ??? ??? three times the make up ??? It was done on a shoestring. And Tammy was — just didn’t understand why we couldn’t have a fancier set. And she’s going, “I don’t understand! It looks like ‘Sanford and sons’!” There was a — a photo shoot where they wanted her to remove her makeup and she said, “A clown never takes its makeup off.” She knew that’s how people remembered her. I got a t-shirt that says, “I ran into Tammy Faye,” and it had her makeup print face on it. In fact, I want that shirt. Makeup is something I choose to do and that I can fix if I want to, and so it doesn’t hurt my feelings. I just laugh with them. I think every old barn could use a little paint. Tammy always felt insecure. I think she used her makeup um as a kind of mask to hide behind. I think people sensed that vulnerability. Jim Bakker finds the best appellate lawyer in the land, Alan Dershowitz. He argues that this sentence is too severe and actually wins too severe and actually wins a big reduction for Jim Bakker. And he was eventually released after serving five years of his original 45 year sentence. Wearing a sports coat, a smile and a suntan, Jim Bakker barely looked like a man coming from federal prison. I haven’t seen you in a long time! Former ptl chairman and exinmate has spent the last few years writing his story of the sex and fraud saga that destroyed his empire. You’ve said to friends that you wouldn’t trade your prison years for anything. Is that really true? That’s true. I don’t wanna go back, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Jim, how do I know you’re not conning me now? You don’t. Only time. You know, one of the great fears in prison is, as we hear, being sexually attacked and you had an experience. Tell us about it. An individual tried to rape me twice. Well, you write of having been molested while you were a young boy and that you never told a soul and lived with that shame, yes? Yes. I spent 40 years thinking perhaps it was my fault. And after talking it out with someone for the first time in my life, I realized it wasn’t my fault and it took going to prison to be free of something that I lived with every day of my life. You write that when you had to relive this experience, it made you wonder if, indeed, you were a homosexual. I literally asked the doctor. I said, I asked “Do you think I’m gay?” And he looked at me in the eye and he said, “No. Absolutely not.” No. Not true. Anyone in your life? No. I really, really am — am lonely. I miss Tammy Faye. Do you still love Tammy? Yes. When I heard that Jim said that, I thought, well, you know, I must have done something right in the marriage. That was a big compliment to me, that he paid me, when he said that. Thank you, Jim. Will you start a new ministry? I don’t have the need to be on television. I’m so excited about today’s broadcast.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
