Isn’t she an interesting person? I remember coming across the PTL shows some Sunday mornings many, many years ago whilst in university. I thought, for some reason, that she was a reformed prostitute that they had on the show as an example of how someone can turn their life around.
Maybe she is truly an example of someone who can turn their life around. I bear her no ill will, and still marvel at her makeup. Apparently once a magazine gave her a make-under, but it didn’t take.
I wouldn’t wish a slow death by cancer on anyone, least of all on Tammy Faye Bakker. I hope she finds some peace and comfort in her life, no matter how long or short.
Ron Jeremy wrote a piece for Beliefnet.com about Tammy Faye. Here’s an exerpt:
Of all the friends I made on The Surreal Life, I probably had the best connection with Tammy Faye. Which was ironic, because we were the two people nobody expected to get along. She was an evangelist preacher and orthodox Christian, and I was a porn star. Not exactly a match made in heaven. But Tammy and I bonded. She recognized that I wasn’t such a bad guy after all, and though she never approved of my line of work, she respected me and always treated me fairly. She even told Larry King and other interviews how much she liked me (and my pet turtle).
And in an interview, he said:
She’s a doll. We get along really, really well, and I still talk to her. She’s fighting some serious cancer. Now she’s no longer doing chemo or radiation, and she’s allowing Jesus to take over. She’s lost a lot of weight, but she’s been able to go shopping and have a good time. She’s enjoying a basic quality of life, but she’s in still serious trouble.
She really cares about people, and she really cares about making the church accept gays because her audience is largely gay. She really cares about people.
I believe this was during the Surreal Life stint, but she had a book signing 2 blocks from my house in Long Beach at a gay coffee shop called The Library. Of course, I didn’t find this out until after it happened, because I would have really liked to be there. I admire Tammy so much for her acceptance of the gay community, it is so incredibly rare in her stripe of christianity. She struck me as an incredibly loving person.
I watched the Larry King interview and was saddened by her appearance. No one, not even a crooked televangelist, deserves to die so slowly and painfully.
I’m an atheist, but if there is a higher being somewhere, I hope it shows mercy and relieves her of her suffering sooner rather than later.