Recognize this Icon of Tele-Evangelism's hay day? Sure you do. It's Tammy Faye LeValley-Bakker-Messner. One time Queen of the now defunct Heritage U.S.A. There was a day when I thought that she was just an evil lady, but I have grown to see her as much more: more innocent ergo pathetic....and, in a strange way, sweet. That's what pity can do to one's perspective.
And for those living on Mars, she's dying. She has battled cancer for years and now it looks like the winner will be the Big "C".
In her post Heritage U.S.A. days she became a darling of the gay male community--rarely do we discover living kitch! And Tammy is blessedly that in spades!
If I could speak to her directly, I would "wish you well dear-heart. I hope that your passing is gentle and peaceful. What greater gift can life provide any of us?" Substitute "God" for "life" if you prefer. An article follows:
"Tammy Faye Cancer Treatments Halted"
NEW YORK - Tammy Faye Bakker, the disgraced televangelist whose reputations was rehabilitated through a documentary and reality show, has penned a goodbye letter to her fans in which she says doctors have stopped treating her cancer.
"The doctors have stopped trying to treat the cancer and so now it's up to God and my faith. And that's enough! But please continue to pray for the pain and sick stomach," Tammy Faye wrote in a letter to her "faithful friends" on her Web site.
"My precious daughter, Tammy Sue, and her wonderful friends are staying with me," Tammy Faye wrote. "They don't want me falling down the stairs. I am down weight wise to 65 pounds, and look like a scarecrow. I need God's miracle to swallow."
In 1996 Tammy Faye was diagnosed with colon cancer. In 2004 she learned the cancer had returned, this time in her lungs.
Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim, were household names in the United States, with a television evangelical empire that brought in close to an estimated $130 million annually at its height in the 1980s and reached 13 million homes daily.
Tammy Faye's face was one of the most recognized on American television, the mascara running riot as she tearfully beseeched viewers to open their hearts to Jesus -- and their wallets to the Bakkers' causes.
It all came crashing down amid sex and financial scandals that landed Jim in prison for five years. Tammy Faye divorced Jim and married his best friend.
In 2000, a critically acclaimed documentary about her life, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," was released and did much to rehabilitate her image. Then in 2004 Tammy Faye appeared on the cult reality show "The Surreal Life," where she lived in a house alongside such other "celebrities" as porn star Ron Jeremy and rapper Vanilla Ice, winning over the audience and fellow cast mates with her warmth and humor.
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