The Eyes of Tammy Faye, a Michael Showalter film released in 2021, chronicles the tale of Tammy Faye Bakker, an American televangelist known for her larger-than-life personality, and her heart for humanity. The film is based on a documentary of the same name that was released in 2001, with Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato directing the original. This year, Jessica Chastain won an Oscar for her portrayal of Tammy Faye in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which many agree is some of her best acting work. She wore complex prosthetic pieces and spent hours in the hair and makeup chair to capture the essence of the ’80s icon of televangelism in her performance. While the film brought Tammy Faye’s name out into the open again since her heyday and fall from grace in the ’80s, there seem to be mixed feelings from many directions on whether the film captured her life and times accurately.

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A review by the Guardian calls the film “a disappointingly straight biopic of a queer icon,” speaking to Tammy Faye’s continued influence on LGBTQIA+ culture since her beginnings as a cultural figure. She is often remembered for her willingness to interview AIDS patients, her sweeping musical soundtracks, and her sparkling pixilated image on her TV programs. The real Tammy Faye was indeed a complex woman with an animated and bright attitude, who ultimately shone her light towards those who needed her positivity the most. Let’s take a look at the true story of her life, which left a legacy on communities in need, and exemplified unconditional love through her advocacy, her work, and her being.

Tammy Faye’s Rise to Stardom

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Born Tamara Faye LaValley, Tammy Faye had always been a light that refused to hide under a bushel. She grew up in International Falls, Minnesota as the only child from her mother’s previous marriage, as well as the oldest of eight children. Her parents were Pentecostal pastors, so she grew up in a tight-knit Christian community. According to an interview with the Washington Post, “Her mother was a religious woman, but since she was once divorced, she was an outcast in their small Pentecostal community. Most notably, she was not allowed to play the piano or sing in church – because of her sins.”

Despite this, Tammy Faye took it upon herself to shake up the church from an early age. As a child, Tammy Faye was steeped in the soul of the Midwestern American church and possibly the Holy Spirit itself, as she recounts being able to speak in tongues when she was young. She took this inner fire with her as she grew up, deciding to pursue an education at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis.

Televangelism with Jim Bakker

At North Central Bible College, Tammy Faye crossed paths with the ultimately unsavory Jim Bakker (played by Andrew Garfield in The Eyes of Tammy Faye) for the first time. According to the New York Times, “he proposed to her on their first date, and they were married in 1961.” The two of them were an inseparable team, ready to jump headfirst into a full-time traveling ministry together once they realized married couples weren’t welcome in Bible college at the time. They moved to the East Coast after the births of their two children to amplify their work and make their way into the realm of television.

Traveling from South Carolina to North Carolina to Virginia, the Bakkers made a splash on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) with their on-air children’s ministry programs. Finally, their show The PTL Club (short for Praise The Lord) was born, which ran for 14 seasons, cementing their influence in the sphere of televangelism and devotion to preaching the prosperity gospel. At the height of their fame, Tammy Faye and Jim were household names in Evangelical and secular circles alike. The family-friendly image that the Bakkers upheld in their glittering programs was complemented by Tammy Faye’s characteristic soulful singing and stunning makeup.

Tammy Faye’s Advocacy

To this day, Tammy Faye is fondly remembered by LGBTQIA+ circles and has been adopted as somewhat of a patron saint. This is due to her unforgettable advocacy for the community and for speaking about controversial issues they faced on air. At a time when these topics were generally considered taboo and mostly untouched by the Christian community, Tammy Faye wasn’t afraid to speak up for the vulnerable and amplify their voices as best she could.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye captures a real interview that Tammy Faye conducted with Steve Pieters (played by Randy Havens), a gay pastor who was facing AIDS and HIV in 1985. Pieters was undergoing chemotherapy, so the interview was done virtually, with Pieters’ video feed set up on a TV sitting across from Tammy Faye. According to NBC News, Tammy Faye famously said, “And how sad, that we as Christians, who are to be the salt of the earth, and we who are supposed to be able to love everyone, are afraid so badly of an AIDS patient that we will not go up and put our arm around them, and show them that we care?”

The Bakkers’ Fall From Grace

The story of Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker wouldn’t be complete without their unfortunate descent and the downfall of the televangelism empire they created together. PTL had transformed their ministry into a million-dollar industry, spawning their own South Carolina theme park, Heritage USA – often referred to as Disney’s Christian counterpart. Business continued to boom for the Bakkers until they started crumbling separately.

In 1987, Tammy Faye developed a problem with prescription pills and was in the early stages of addiction. At the same time, Jim was facing sexual assault charges brought against him by Jessica Hahn – it was discovered that Jim had paid her off and encouraged her silence with PTL money. This triggered the collapse of everything for the Bakkers, who yielded control of their operations to Jerry Falwell. According to ABC News, Jim was sent to prison for fraud and conspiracy after his other shady dealings were exposed, and Tammy divorced him and remarried Heritage USA contractor Roe Messner. Tammy Faye Messner was a new woman, determined to reclaim her reputation and let her light shine again.

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As the past disappeared in her rearview mirror, Tammy Faye reemerged into the national conversation again. Despite her colon cancer diagnosis in 1996, she began making appearances in print and on television again and was determined to spread love and light for as long as she could. She was featured on The Drew Carey Show and on The Surreal Life. She remained a staunch ally of the LGBTQIA+ community and collaborated with RuPaul on the 2000 The Eyes of Tammy Faye documentary, which helped her public image resurge as a more positive one. She could often be found at pride parades across the United States and still remained strong in her Christian faith and doctrine of unconditional love until the end.

Unfortunately, her battle with cancer drew to a close in 2007 after it spread to her lungs. She stopped her treatments and passed away two months later. The legacy that Tammy Faye Messner still leaves, marked by poignant pieces of media like The Eyes of Tammy Faye, remember her as a living example of God’s love. “She favored grandiose wigs, leopard-spotted pantsuits and spike heels (she stood 4-foot-10 without them). Her long false eyelashes poked forward in an exaggerated homage to Lucille Ball, her early idol,” according to her Washington Post obituary.