"Surreal Life" changes Tammy Faye image
Lili2
February 17, 2004
When the tele-evangelist formerly known as Tammy Faye Bakker retreated to
Gatlinburg in 1987, she was running from her past.
She didn't run far enough.
It was the height of a national scandal in which she and her then-husband, Jim,
were accused of bilking viewers of their religious TV show out of millions. In
Gatlinburg, the Bakkers hoped to avoid the spotlight.
Instead, they got more. T-shirts vendors plastered Tammy Faye's face on
tourists' chests. Local media stalked their home. Late-night comedy monologues
teased her. She was the target of satirists.
Now, starring in the WB's reality series "The Surreal Life," she says her
public image has turned around.
"I am getting thousands of e-mails from people who say they didn't like me, but
now they do," she says during a telephone interview from her home in Charlotte,
N.C.
"Because of a show like 'Surreal Life,' they have come to care about me."
She even looks back at her months living in Gatlinburg in a bittersweet manner.
"I don't want to dig all that back up," she says, "but I remember Gatlinburg
with great fondness. I liked the people there, and it was always busy. I
remember the main street, mostly, the rows of candy shops.
"When we got into that little house and got all cuddled in, it was a sense of
peace that went along with it, getting away from the world, having your own
little nest."
In addition to being accused of fleecing their flock, Jim Bakker's affair with
a church secretary came to light.
As their financial empire crumbled during a so-called "holy war" with the Rev.
Jerry Falwell and a legal battle with the Justice Department, the Bakkers lost
their Gatlinburg mountain home.
Eventually Jim Bakker served time in prison. Tammy Faye divorced him and later
married a family friend, Roe Messner.
These days, Tammy Faye Messner has regrouped. She says she's happy, still
active in ministries and ready for new challenges.
"Surreal Life," which documents six celebrities sharing a house for 10 days, is
one of them.
The series, which airs 9 p.m. Sundays on the WB, also includes adult film star
Ron Jeremy, "ChiPs" actor Erik Estrada, rapper Vanilla Ice, actress Tracy
Bingham and reality-show hopper Trishelle Cannatella. (The show's finale airs
Feb. 22.)
Messner says "Life" has allowed the public to see her in a whole other way, as
a woman of faith who has overcome trials.
"They didn't know me as a person before," Messner says. "They just knew me as a
cartoon character that the news media has made up. It's been overwhelming."
During the mid- and late-1980s, Messner dominated the news. Her face was
stained with dark mascara as she cried numerous times for cameras. She begged
the public to understand her side of the situation.
When the media frenzy died down, Messner retreated. She continued her career as
a singer and church speaker. Other scandals took the headlines, and Messner was
soon a footnote in pop culture history.
Most of her "Surreal" housemates knew of her but had their own forgone
conclusions. That also changed as a result of the show.
"She was an accepting evangelist," Jeremy says in a separate interview. "That
was a very big shock to me. I even said early on in the show that she seems so
nice and so accepting that the jury (then) is still out as to whether it's
going to last.
"But I was amazed. She has a very nice live-and-let-live attitude."
"Life" taught her a lot, she says.
"I knew I could live with other people," she says, "but I didn't know I could
live with them without doors on the rooms and televisions and phones."
The producers were hoping the choice of celebrities would cause sparks: the
conservative Messner sharing space with a porn star and a rapper could
certainly generate interesting television.
However, Messner says they bonded and have become friends. She calls them, and
they trade e-mails. Two of her housemates, she says, have rediscovered their
spirituality.
On "Life," Messner doesn't compromise her convictions. She refuses the bounty
of alcohol in the house, covers her ears when coarse conversations are
conducted and averts her eyes when nudity is presented.
Messner says viewers are responding favorably to her because of it.
"I'm usually up for any challenge, but I was worried about this one," she says.
"I was so scared (in the beginning) that I was shaking inside. Once we all got
together and met each other, we ended up (as) six friends."
Messner, who was among 140 celebrities that producers eyed for the show, didn't
want to do "Life" at first. Her husband convinced her to do it because he
thought she'd be a strong moral influence on reality television.
She still had reservations. "They can edit me to look any way," she says. "They
can edit me to look like I was in places that I wasn't. I was concerned that
would happen."
This isn't the first time she had these concerns. In the 2000 documentary
titled "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," a camera crew chronicled her life for months.
She had no creative control over the project and feared what it might say.
She was pleased with the results, though.
At 63 and a grandmother to two teenagers, Messner says it's easier to take
risks. Poor health in recent years -- breathing problems and a bout with cancer
-- has spurred her to take more chances.
"There's nothing for me to lose anymore," she says.
"They can't hurt me. They've lied every lie they can lie. My whole life is an
open book. Why not take chances? I don't care what (people) say anymore.
"I live my life for God. I go wherever I need to go to minister the Gospel."