Jim Bakker welcomed two kids with his first wife, Tammy Faye, and adopted five kids with his second wife, Lori

NEED TO KNOW

Jim Bakker raised seven children before he died at age 86 on Oct. 5.

The televangelist’s death was announced by his wife, Lori, with whom he adopted five children. Bakker also shared two kids, Tammy Sue Bakker-Chapman and James Charles “Jay” Bakker, with his first wife, Tammy Faye.

Jim and Tammy Faye — who died in 2007 — were pastors who rose to fame in the 1970s thanks to their Christian television program The PTL Club (short for “Praise The Lord”). In 1988, their multi-million-dollar empire came crashing down when Jim was indicted on 24 federal counts of mail and wire fraud and conspiring to defraud the public. He was found guilty on all 24 counts and sentenced to 45 years in prison, ultimately serving five.

Tammy Faye divorced Jim while he was in prison, and he married Lori in 1998. Over two decades later, the former couple’s story returned to the spotlight with the 2021 premiere of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, followed by the musical Tammy Faye in 2022.

Here’s everything to know about late televangelist Jim Bakker’s seven kids.

Jim shared two kids with his first wife, Tammy Faye

Jim became a father for the first time with the birth of his and Tammy Faye’s daughter, Tammy Sue, who was born on March 2, 1970.

The couple’s son, Jay, was born five years later, on Dec. 18, 1975. They divorced in 1992 while Jim was serving time in prison for fraud.

Both kids followed in their parents’ footsteps as adults and work at churches. According to her LinkedIn, Tammy Sue is an executive vice president at Morningside Church and Retreat, which her dad founded with his second wife, Lori, after The Jim Bakker Show premiered in 2003.

Tammy Sue also made Jim and Tammy Faye grandparents. She shares two children with her husband, Doug Chapman.

He adopted five children with his second wife, Lori

Following his 1992 divorce from Tammy Faye, Jim tied the knot with his second wife, Lori, in 1998.

The couple later adopted five children together, and all five were raised away from the spotlight.

Tammy Sue worked on the 2021 biopic about her parents

Tammy Sue is also a singer in addition to her work at her dad’s church. In 2021, she contributed a cover of “Don’t Give Up (On the Brink of a Miracle)” to the end credits of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, despite being “not happy” about the film initially.

“It’s been very challenging over my life because people have done films, books, articles, television shows, plays, musicals and all kinds of things about my family,” she told Today in September 2021. “I’m a big girl and that’s par for the course, but that’s not really normal. It’s strange to live that life.”

Tammy Sue went on, “I got a text one day from Jessica Chastain, and she asked me if I would like to do a song for the film. I had not seen the film and so I really went out on a limb to do this.”

Chastain, who starred in the biopic as Tammy Sue’s mother, told Today that Tammy Faye’s legacy “definitely lives on through” Tammy Sue and her brother.

Jay became a pastor

Jay became a pastor like his father and founded Revolution Church in Phoenix in 1994, which later expanded to cities like Atlanta and New York City. He rejected Jim’s brand of Christianity, however, and is decidedly more liberal, especially when it comes to the inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community.

In 2006, his story was the subject of the docuseries One Punk Under God: The Prodigal Son of Jim and Tammy Faye.

“I don’t have a strategy like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna distance myself from them, so I can build a church and be my own man,’ ” Jay told Today of his relationship with his parents shorty after One Punk Under God premiered. “Me and my dad have a hard time getting along, and now, with my mom being as sick as she is, that’s hard — but I love them, and they did a lot of great things, as well as make mistakes.”

He also worked on a musical about his parents with Elton John

In 2022, one year after the premiere of The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Jim and Tammy Faye’s story was once again in the spotlight thanks to the musical Tammy Faye, which featured music by Elton John.

Jay was consulted on the production of the musical and later compared seeing it to “getting hit by a freight train.”

“It’s like having all your trauma in a musical,” he told PEOPLE in October 2024. “Almost like, ‘Here’s some mushrooms. Let’s relive the trauma.’ … It’s surreal. There’s times I almost wanted to raise my hand … and then I was like, ‘I can’t. This is not an interactive play.’ ”

Jay also said that the cast and crew of Tammy Faye did a “great job,” adding, “they really captured my mom’s spirit.”

He paid tribute to Jim on Instagram after his death

After Lori announced Jim’s death, Jay paid tribute to his late father on Instagram.

“Hello everyone, my father passed away today and it’s very difficult,” he wrote alongside a photo of the duo from his childhood. “We had a very complicated relationship and he was also my father and a grandfather and I need to mourn in my own time.”

Tammy Sue’s son, James, also wrote a tribute to his grandfather on his own Instagram, which Jay shared on his Instagram Stories.

“You told me in prison you use to hold up my picture so you couldn’t see the prison bars,” James recalled in his caption. “Our relationship was complicated at best and I don’t think I can ever truly summarize it but I did see you, I gave a portion of my life to you, for better or worst at times.”