Saturday, April 25, 1998

PTL cast: Where are they now?

By Ken Garfield / Knight Ridder Newspapers

--Tammy Faye Messner. Now 56, she divorced Jim Bakker in 1992 after 30 years and married family friend Roe Messner in 1993. Lives in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Has appeared on TV sitcoms "Roseanne" and "Drew Carey," and on "Politically Incorrect," sang "Welcome to My World" on Sally Jesse Raphael's TV talk show and talked shopping on VH-1's "The RuPaul Show," hosted by the drag queen personality. Says she's free of colon cancer, which required surgery. Due to sing Sept. 7 in Charlotte at a reunion of PTL partners.

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--Roe Messner. His Wichita, Kan., contracting company built much of PTL, and worked on Charlotte's Calvary Church. Lived with new wife Tammy Faye and played golf frequently until he began serving a 27-month prison term in May 1997 for federal bankruptcy fraud. Messner, 62, was convicted of concealing $400,000 in assets. Has undergone treatment for prostate cancer. Serving his time in a minimum-security federal prison work camp in Boron, Calif., where he teaches carpentry and leads Bible study. Due to be released May 1999.

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--Jessica Hahn. Her 1980 sexual encounter with Bakker in a Florida motel room and subsequent payoff to keep quiet triggered the end of the PTL empire in 1987. Now 38, she lives in Los Angeles and continues pursuing radio and TV jobs. After the scandal, she appeared nude in Playboy magazine and hosted a female mud wrestling/heavy metal pay-per-view TV show. Recently asked by the "Extra" TV show what advice she'd give to Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey, she told them to be credible and tell the truth.

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--New Heritage USA. The Fort Mill, S.C., complex that the Bakkers built near the Interstate 77 Carowinds exit went downhill after they left in 1987. Series of owners, including evangelists Jerry Falwell and Morris Cerullo, was in charge until Malayan United Industries of Malaysia bought and reopened it in 1992. Despite bringing in Radisson to run the operation and allowing liquor on the premises, the hotel and adjoining shops closed in late November 1997. Property is still home to several residential subdivisions and a public golf course.

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(c) 1998, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.).

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