Jessica Hahn
American model and actressWikipedia
186
MENTIONS
95
EPISODES
86
PODCASTS
Search complete. 186 mentions across 95 episodes found for "Jessica Hahn".
Oct 16, 2026
KriegerHOST
But soon something would happen that no one could overlook.
KriegerHOST
Enter Jessica Hahn.
KriegerHOST
In 1987, it was revealed that Jim Baker had given $279,000 in ministry money to ex-employee Jessica Hahn.
KriegerHOST
The reason? Well, he wanted her to remain quiet about a sexual encounter they had.
KriegerHOST
God, this is sounding all so Trumpy.
KriegerHOST
But the difference here is that Stormy Daniels willingly had sex with Trump.
KriegerHOST
According to Jessica Hahn, though, she was drugged and raped by Jim Baker and his PTL co-host John Wesley Fletcher.
KriegerHOST
When the scandal broke, Jim Baker resigned from the PTL.
Phil VischerHOST
Then things went a little bit south.
Phil VischerHOST
In March 1987, Baker resigned from PTL just ahead of revelations that he had a tryst in 1980 with a 21-year-old church secretary named Jessica Hahn and then paid her more than $250,000 in hush money.
Phil VischerHOST
This was his response at the time.
Phil VischerHOST
He called himself a victim.
Frank FeldmanHOST
He basically...
Frank FeldmanHOST
So there was another scandal involving him sexually assaulting Jessica Hahn, who was his secretary and whatever.
Frank FeldmanHOST
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Frank FeldmanHOST
And somehow this hadn't gotten out yet.
Frank FeldmanHOST
It hadn't been made public yet.
Frank FeldmanHOST
And I think what happened behind the scenes is that Jerry Falwell basically said, you have to get...
Frank FeldmanHOST
And he was also in debt and whatever because he had to give Jessica Hahn like... over $200,000 of hush money and blah, blah, blah.
Frank FeldmanHOST
And anyway, Falwell put the screws to him and basically took over his network and took over.
Tim HensonHOST
There was some financial scandals going on there.
Tim HensonHOST
But what really did Jim Bakker in the first time was, uh, an extramarital affair with his secretary, church secretary, Jessica Hahn.
Tim HensonHOST
He also paid her some hush money.
Tim HensonHOST
Now, he was sent to prison.
Mark FineHOST
Well, Jim Baker.
Mark FineHOST
He was involved with a sex scandal with a Jessica Hahn.
Mark FineHOST
That's right.
Mark FineHOST
Yes.
Leah PayneGUEST
There was a lot of competition, there was a lot of jockeying for power and position, and also within the Bakker family, there was a lot of strife.
Leah PayneGUEST
Most notably, in 1987, Time Magazine broke a story of what was happening in the inner circles of PTL, and the story that came out was this: that a woman who was working as the secretary at the church, her name was Jessica Hahn, had been involved in an extramarital relationship with Jim Bakker, and that she had been paid a certain amount of money for her silence.
Leah PayneGUEST
In later years, Jessica Hahn would argue that her experience was one of sexual assault.
Leah PayneGUEST
There was a $279,000 payoff for her silence, and eventually news broke, and it was a huge scandal at the time.
Leah PayneGUEST
Bakker ended up stepping down, and eventually, um, the fundraising activities that Praise the Lord, the PTL Club, had engaged in, I think it was like 1984 through 1987, led to criminal charges against Bakker.
Amanda HendersonHOST
[laughs] There's a theme.
Amanda HendersonHOST
What happened to his ministry that he had built?
Leah PayneGUEST
Baker resigned as the head of PTL, Praise the Lord, following the scandal about, uh, the sexual misconduct scandal with Jessica Hahn, and he h- handed over power to Jerry Falwell.
TopherHOST
Yeah, yeah.
MarkHOST
Uh, he was also the subject of a range of sexual accusations, including alleged rape of Jessica Hahn.
TopherHOST
Mm-hmm.
MarkHOST
I think we all remember that, who got with Sam Kinison and had a pretty good career after that.
JosephHOST
I remember him from being on TV and being married to Tammy Faye Baker.
JosephHOST
I also remember the scandal with him and Jessica Hahn and her accusations of sexual assault and the church paying off a settlement, blah, blah, blah.
JosephHOST
I also remember there being accusations of him being homosexual or bisexual.
NickHOST
Yep.
Lance WallnauHOST
But he was convicted and sentenced for mail fraud and for not delivering.
Lance WallnauHOST
Of course, his ministry collapsed after the Jessica Hahn thing.
Lance WallnauHOST
So then now the money debacle with the building project is, you can see how that thing compounded.
Lance WallnauHOST
I'm giving you the drunk history version of this because I was in those days, I was a Bible student.
James LileksHOST
Swagger, yeah.
James LileksHOST
And then I think, was it Jessica Hahn with Baker? I think so, yes.
James LileksHOST
I think he had some sort of affair with the church secretary, the rest of it, who ended up in Playboy.
James LileksHOST
I mean, it was as 80s and American as you got it.
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