Princewill Pius
In 1987, reports emerged surrounding a sexual encounter Jim Bakker admittedly had with church secretary Jessica Hahn, 21 at the time of the incident, seven years earlier. As journalists began digging, they uncovered evidence that Bakker, who was 20 years her senior, spent about $265,000 in hush money to buy Hahn’s silence, per The Washington Post. She was reportedly even forced to sign a confession admitting it was she — not Bakker — who was the sexual aggressor.
“That was essentially the straw that broke the camel’s back,” attorney John Stewart, who had represented Hahn in her federal court case, said. “She didn’t want to live a lie.” The media outlet detailed how Hahn eventually went public, telling her side of the story in a blockbuster interview with Playboy and then testifying before a federal grand jury. According to her account, she was lured to Bakker’s hotel room by evangelist John Wesley Fletcher, who reportedly told her, “You’re going to do something tremendous for God.”
“The way Jessica Hahn later described her sexual encounter with Jim Bakker,” author John Wigger told later ABC News, “sounds very much like rape.”
Written by: Nicki
