Branson, Mo. — Jim Bakker, who along with his first wife Tammy Faye built an evangelical empire around the hugely successful “The PTL Club” TV show, only to lose it all over a sex scandal and financial crimes, has died. He was 86.
Bakker died Monday, his second wife, Lori Bakker, said in a statement. His cause of death was not immediately clear.
The pair lived near the Missouri entertainment town of Branson and filmed their TV show, “The Jim Bakker Show,” there since it launched in 2003. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020.
“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,” Lori Bakker said in a statement. “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.”
But it was another evangelical program that made Jim and his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, cultural icons – so much so that they were often skewered in the 1980s and 1990s by late-night comedians and parodied on “Saturday Night Live.” A theatrical movie on their lives, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” was released in September 2021.
At its peak in the mid-1980s, the Bakkers’ ministry included not only the TV show, which drew up to 13 million nightly viewers, but also the Christian-based Heritage USA theme park and hotel in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where he met Tammy Faye. They married in 1961 and dropped out of college to start their own traveling ministry — he preached, she sang and played the accordion as they crossed the country visiting churches and tent revivals.
They caught the attention of televangelist Pat Robertson, and in 1965 launched a children’s show on Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network. By 1966, he was hosting “The 700 Club,” a Christian talk show.
Bakker left CBN in 1972 and two years later formed the PTL Satellite Network. “The PTL Club” — PTL stands for “Praise the Lord” — became its signature show.
In its heyday in the 1980s, “The PTL Club” was drawing millions of viewers – and bringing in millions of dollars annually from followers.
Sort of a Christian version of “The Tonight Show,” it featured chats with guests and Christian entertainers. Bakker offered upbeat sermons and Tammy Faye – charismatic and always wearing her trademark heavy mascara – sang. Most episodes were taped at their sprawling complex just south of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The couple was so famous that they were often parodied by TV comedians for their lavish lifestyle and Tammy Faye’s abundant makeup.
Jim Bakker gets caught up in scandals
In March 1987, their empire began to crack when Bakker admitted to a sexual encounter with church clerk Jessica Hahn. Bakker was forced to resign from his own empire, turning over operations to pastor and broadcaster Jerry Falwell.
Tammy Faye stuck by Bakker, often with tears running down her mascara, even as many saw his downfall as a fitting symbol of the greed and hypocrisy of the 1980s.
Things only got worse.
In 1988, Bakker was indicted for mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy after an investigation of PTL’s finances. He was convicted and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, though the sentence was later reduced to eight years.
At a news conference after Bakker was found guilty, Tammy Faye stood in front of the microphones and sang the hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand.”
Their marriage crumbled and Tammy Faye divorced Bakker in 1992, just short of their 31st anniversary, while he was still in prison. She later married Roe Messner, a building contractor whose projects included the Heritage USA theme park. Messner was convicted of bankruptcy fraud in 1995 and spent about two years in prison.
Tammy Faye died of colon cancer in 2007.
Bakker was released on parole in 1994. He married his second wife, Lori, in 1998. The couple launched “The Jim Bakker Show” on the PTL Satellite Network five years later.
In June 2021, Bakker and his Morningside Church Productions Inc. settled a lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming the health supplement Silver Solution could cure COVID-19. The settlement called for $156,000 in refunds to people who paid money or gave contributions to obtain the product in the early days of the pandemic.
The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during 11 episodes in February and March of 2020.
Bakker and Tammy Faye had two children. He and his second wife adopted five children in 2002.

JD Vance discusses his approach to the midterms as he weighs a 2028 presidential run. Records detail a Cornell fraternity brother’s account of the night a woman alleges she was raped. And what long-term unemployment says about the economy.
Here’s what to know today.
Vance talks 2028, Ted Cruz and a tough midterm climate
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged that Republicans face an “uphill climb” in the midterms — telling NBC News the results could influence whether he runs for president in 2028.
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“Regardless of what happens over the next 35 days, there will be new information, new things you have to make a decision over,” he said.
He said he’s cautiously optimistic that the GOP’s numbers are improving even as concerns about the Iran war and gas prices take a toll. He reiterated that Republicans can’t pretend things are perfect, but they can argue that the next wave of Democrats would be worse.
He also addressed a prospective rival — Ted Cruz.
“It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” Vance said. “At this moment, I’m not. I’m trying to help elect Republicans.”
Here’s what Vance said about data centers during the exclusive interview.
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Records give insight into how one Cornell student responded to rape accusation
A Cornell fraternity brother named in a lawsuit said he didn’t see the woman in distress, despite her allegation that she was assaulted, according to court records.
Scott Kretzschmar, now 22, said that after he saw a Snapchat post advertising “free p—y upstairs,” he entered the room already filled with several fraternity brothers, but never saw the woman naked, did not touch her or use ketamine.
A photo of Jane Doe was shared among active Chi Phi members in a Snapchat group, documents revealed.
Text messages obtained by NBC News between Jane Doe and another fraternity member she later accused of assault also provide context on the aftermath of the incident. “My reputation is destroyed and I’m utterly ashamed,” she wrote.
Here’s what else was mentioned.
More on Cornell:
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul replaced the DA handling the case, appointing AG Letitia James as backlash mounts. It’s not the first time prosecutor Matthew Van Houten has come under scrutiny.
A Cornell survey showed an increase in reports of female undergraduates experiencing nonconsensual sexual contact.
It’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs
At 4.1%, the official unemployment rate is lower than its historical average of more than 5%, signaling a seemingly steady labor market. Long-term unemployment tells a different story.
The share of workers who have been out of a job for 27 weeks or longer now stands at 27%, the highest since 2015 outside of the Covid pandemic. The median spell of unemployment lasts about 11 weeks, and the average is more than six months, suggesting rising levels of long periods of joblessness.
Overall, fewer people are being hired, and those who have jobs aren’t leaving them.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to announce September’s jobs report today. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones estimate the U.S. added 84,000 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate holding.
Read what’s behind the trends.
Shingles cases dropping among people who got chickenpox vaccine, data shows
The chickenpox vaccine appears to protect against shingles, according to a large new analysis.
Anyone who got infected with chickenpox as a child is at risk of later developing shingles. But new data suggests that people aged 34 and younger may be less likely to develop shingles than previous generations, because they are more likely to have been vaccinated against chickenpox.
It’s a promising development, though because shingles is typically rare in people younger than 50, the data can’t prove whether the protection will last as they age, said one researcher.
Read the full story here.
Staff Pick: Harmful kratom-like substances hidden in cat’s claw products across the country
My interest in kratom began in the summer of 2025. I had just come across a TikTok video of a man warning about its addictive potential and wanted to learn more. I had never heard of kratom, a supplement that causes opioid-like effects, but soon went down a rabbit hole of stories from people who said the substance nearly cost them their lives. Since then, kratom has continued to appear in news headlines. Most recently, two University of Mississippi students were found dead, and authorities said the supplement was found at the scene.
While many states are taking the steps to ban kratom, manufacturers are trying to get around that by selling it under different labels, such as cat’s claw — a substance used for inflammation. This is a growing problem, as Poison Control Centers are receiving an uptick in calls about exposure to “cat’s claw.” Health officials are sounding the alarm to prevent risk of overdose and death. People deserve to know what they are buying, and this situation is a case of false advertising. As one doctor said, these products are kratom in disguise.
— Claretta Bellamy, researcher
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‘Couldn’t let all of them die’: Pilot attacked on Flydubai plane speaks for first time.
An American passenger described drafting goodbye texts to her family as the Flydubai plane she was on plummeted.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been placed in solitary confinement following an NBC News report on his VIP lifestyle inside prison, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
A purported media representative for Hamas has been accused of funneling roughly $1.7 million to the terrorist organization from donors who believed they were giving aid to Gaza.
Mike Tomlin is a Super Bowl-winning coach. Now he’s revealing a masterpiece he spent more than a decade building — in “Minecraft.”
NBC Selected: Online Shopping, Simplified
Gen Z doesn’t carry wallets — so we spoke to our editors to find out what they’re carrying instead. Plus, new early October Prime Day deals just dropped, and we hand-picked the ones actually worth shopping, including up to50% off top-rated vacuums.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs was allegedly placed back in solitary confinement after a report revealed his “pampered” prison lifestyle at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey.
The Bad Boys Records founder — who is serving a 50-month sentence — was sent to the special housing unit after an NBC report claimed he was being cooked special meals, receiving massages and paying fellow inmates to do his chores, TMZ reported Wednesday.
Insiders told the outlet that it’s standard for inmates to be sent to a SHU during investigations.
Four men who were allegedly in the same unit as Combs, 56, told NBC the “Act Bad” rapper was living a “pampered” life behind bars in a report published on Tuesday.
“This is not some normal s–t you see in jail. This is some rich s–t,” one man said. “It looks crazy, but again, it’s Diddy.”
One man, who claimed to have cooked for Combs, detailed the music mogul’s alleged meals, including pizza, curry chicken and empanadas.
“After a while, I got tired of cooking,” the man told the outlet.
NBC also obtained an alleged photo of Combs using a contraband cellphone, with one insider alleging that he scrolls through Instagram and receives “sexually explicit photos” from an “old girlfriend.”
The businessman also allegedly has a premium liquor stash, allegedly sneaked in by the guards, and access to antidepressant drugs.
Combs’ rep, however, addressed the allegations against the rapper, telling Page Six, “The continued scrutiny of every mundane detail of Sean Combs’s life in prison has reached the point where the media characterizes ordinary prison life as news.
“The only real news is that Sean continues to serve his sentence within the rules and he patiently awaits the court’s decision on his appeal.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told us they don’t comment on conditions of their inmates due to “privacy, safety and security reasons.”
“Like all correctional agencies, contraband, particularly cell phones, narcotics, and weapons, remains a constant challenge, and we continue to tackle the problem of contraband being introduced into our facilities,” the rep said.
The three-time Grammy winner was allegedly placed back in solitary confinement after he was excused from the isolated unit in August after a fight with another prisoner the month prior.
Combs received his 50-month sentence in October 2025 after he was found guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution.

As voter support for California’s proposed “billionaire tax” plummets below 50%, top luxury real estate titan Aaron Kirman is sounding the alarm, warning that the mere threat of Proposition 40 is freezing high-end transactions and driving California’s top job creators to the exit doors.
“We think this proposal is disastrous for California. It’s disastrous for the real estate market, and buyers and sellers have had enough of California taxation,” Kirman — the CEO and founder of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California who has more than $26 billion in sales under his belt — told Fox News Digital.
“Being California is one of the highest-tax states, I think buyers and sellers, whether they’re billionaires or not, have just had enough,” he continued. “And the general public needs to understand that it’s a top-down market, and if buyers and sellers just decide to not transact in California, it affects the entire global community here.”
A recent UC Berkeley Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research-POLITICO poll found that 45% of likely voters support Proposition 40, while 43% oppose it and 12% are undecided. That’s down from 50% support in the Citrin Center-POLITICO poll conducted earlier this year.
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The proposal — backed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West — would impose a one-time 5% tax on certain assets exceeding $1 billion held by people who were California residents on Jan. 1, 2026, generally excluding real estate, pensions and retirement accounts. The tax would be due in 2027, and taxpayers could spread payments over five years at an additional cost, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Still, Kirman argued that the possibility of the tax and broader economic pressures, including inflation and elevated mortgage rates, have created headwinds for California’s real estate market. He said those factors, compounded by state and local tax initiatives, have created a “wait-and-see” freeze among buyers and sellers.
“Interest rates aren’t helping. Inflation has been challenging. And then moving parts in California have not been easy. So when you put it all together, the general sentiment for the luxury market is frothy. Buyers are weary to get into it. And we see a lot of buyers just sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what’s going to happen,” he said.
“Billionaires and multimillionaires are studying the whole picture,” Kirman said. “Today, people are re-evaluating that and saying, ‘Look, if I am gonna continue to get taxed in this manner, I would prefer to be in a state that appreciates my business and the employees that I generate’… And they really are looking at other places. And I do think that there would be a mass exodus if this tax goes through… We’ve already seen a lot of exodus in general from multimillionaires and billionaires opting for states that have less taxation. And the last thing we wanna do is continue that trend.”
The recent poll showed voters were less likely to support Proposition 40 if they did not believe it would remain a “one-time” tax. But despite the dropping support for the tax itself, the poll still found a prevailing wariness toward billionaires, with 44% of voters saying they do more harm than good.
“Behind the billionaire is a corporation, and behind that corporation are employees that work for the corporation. And all of this is good for a state. And I think people are finally beginning to realize that California needs industry to sustain. And the more people we lose, the worse the state’s going to be,” Kirman said.
“It’s not always as simple as ‘tax the rich’ and give to the people [in] need,” he added. “A state needs infrastructure, a state needs the businesses that are supporting the people, the economy. And from there, it is a top-down business, right? Not only is it the employees, it’s restaurants, it’s nightlife, it’s shopping. I mean, it’s all of these things that combine to make for what is really important, which is a state that is pro-business, supports growth, taxes correctly, and doesn’t always take it from the top.”
Kirman also pointed to Los Angeles’s Measure ULA Transfer Tax — the municipal “mansion tax” adding 4% on transfers over $5.4 million and 5.5% on transfers over $10.9 million — as a cautionary tale of local policy backfiring on housing supply and market activity.
“It starts with Measure ULA, which has been a catastrophic tax for the luxury segment in California,” he said. “We’ve seen, after ULA — which was a tax that went to homelessness — billions of dollars not going in the right spot. And this continues to be a trend, and I think the California voters are tired of it. I think that the business owners are tired of it, whether it’s big business or small business. And I think we as a community need to come together to make it clear that we want big and small business to survive, and we wanna continue to grow as a community and not have to retreat because of bad policy.”
“In a city [where] we need housing, we need apartments, that tax has backfired. They collected billions of dollars. We’re down in transactional volume by 60%; we are down in building apartments 70%,” Kirman said.
“And the concern isn’t just for billionaires. A lot of people that are very successful multimillionaires say, ‘Look, if they’re going to impose a billionaire tax, is there going to be a millionaire tax next,’ right? And this is the kind of messaging that is not helping California succeed,” the CEO continued. “And I think because there’s been so many taxes that LA and California has imposed, most principals are saying enough is enough.”
California remains the world’s fourth-largest economy, though the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates show its population declined slightly from July 2024 to July 2025. Kirman emphasized that tax reform and policies aimed at economic growth are critical to maintaining the state’s competitiveness.
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“It really does hurt my heart a little bit because I do believe California is the best state in the country, or one of the best. We have amazing infrastructure. We have an amazing business. We are the fourth-largest economy in the world. And on top of it, we have a lifestyle that no other state can provide. And it’s sad to see corporations and multimillionaires and billionaires leave for other states, not because they want to, but because they’re looking for fiscally responsible states for themselves.”
“There’s two things we know certain in life: Death and taxes will always be in existence, and it will always be a conversation. But I do believe that California residents, as well as the government, need to start coming together and there needs to be some fiscally smart decision-making when it comes to tax. Because the last thing we wanna do is lose both our big and small businesses to other states.”

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Will Reeve, son of the late famed “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve, announced that he recently battled cancer.
The “Good Morning America” correspondent, 34, shared during Tuesday’s show that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier this year, assuring viewers that he is “OK.”
“The diagnosis was a shock and the treatments were a slog,” he said. “Today, though, I am relieved to announce that we arrived at our destination and this cancer is in the rearview mirror. But what a journey.”
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Reeve said he found a “hard, tender lump in [his] left testicle” just a few months after his wedding to luxury event planner Amanda Dubin.
An ultrasound revealed that he had “a mass that had to come out.” After undergoing surgery to remove the testicle (an orchiectomy), Reeve discovered the mass was embryonal carcinoma.
The aggressive subtype of testicular cancer can spread more quickly than some other forms, according to the American Cancer Society.
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Reeve later underwent a second surgery to remove lymph nodes from his abdomen after some cancer cells had spread there.
The surgery took place at Memorial Sloan Kettering, which is where his mother, Dana Reeve, died from lung cancer in 2006 at age 44. His father died in 2004 at the age of 52.
Reeve shared that he also underwent two rounds of chemotherapy to lower the risk that the cancer would return. He said he experienced several side effects from the medication, including ringing in the ears, bone pain, night sweats, blood clots and constant headaches.
He did not lose his hair because he used a method called “cold capping,” which is used during certain chemotherapy treatments to help reduce hair loss by cooling the scalp and constricting blood vessels.
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After finishing his second round of chemotherapy on July 31, Reeve said he received “clean scans” on Sept. 8.
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In an interview with People, Reeve said he is “going to be fine,” although it has been “one heck of a chapter.”
“I’m fortunate that I caught this early,” he said. “Yes, I had to jump through some flaming hoops to get to the other side, but it could have been much worse had I ignored it or delayed going to the doctor.”
Reeve also praised his wife for serving as his “caregiver,” similar to how his mother helped care for his father after a 1995 horseback-riding accident left him paralyzed.
“I learn[ed] more about what it was like to be my dad in the final nine years of his life, where he had my mom and our family taking care of him,” Reeve said.
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He added that the experience taught him how to “repurpose [adversity] into something hopeful.”
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Testicular cancer is among the most treatable cancers, particularly when detected early, according to the American Cancer Society. Experts recommend seeing a doctor promptly for any lump, swelling, pain or change in a testicle.
Fox News Digital reached out to Reeve’s representatives requesting comment.