Jessica Hahn Biography

Jessica Hahn (born July 7, 1959) is an American model and actress. She accused televangelist Jim Bakker of rape while she was employed as a church secretary. She frequently appeared on The Howard Stern Show throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s.

Jim Bakker scandal

Hahn first came to public attention following Jim Bakker's announcement on March 19, 1987, that he was stepping down as head of PTL Satellite Network and Heritage USA, pending the imminent disclosure of a sexual encounter between the two of them. According to Hahn, on the afternoon of December 6, 1980, when she was a 21-year-old church secretary, she was drugged and raped by Bakker and another preacher, John Wesley Fletcher, for "about 15 minutes". Hahn was given a $279,000 pay-off for her silence, which was paid with PTL's funds to Hahn through Bakker associate Roe Messner. Bakker, who made all of the financial decisions for the PTL organization, allegedly kept two sets of books to conceal the accounting irregularities. Reporters from The Charlotte Observer, led by Charles Shepard, investigated and published a series of articles regarding the PTL organization's finances. This precipitated Bakker's resignation and the publication of Hahn's claims. In his 1997 book, I Was Wrong, Bakker disputed Hahn's account, claiming that he was "set up" and that the sex was consensual.

Acting and modeling career

After the public revelation of the Bakker scandal, Hahn posed nude for Playboy (November 1987, December 1987 and September 1988) and videos and appeared in several television shows, including Married... with Children. She was also known for her frequent appearances on The Howard Stern Show throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s.

Personal life

Hahn was born in Massapequa, New York. She had a relationship with comedian Sam Kinison and appeared in his music video for "Wild Thing" in 1988. In 1991, she began a relationship with the co-creator of Married...with Children, Ron Leavitt, which continued until Leavitt's death in 2008.

In December 2017 Hahn disclosed that she is married, no longer active in show business, and living on a ranch north of Los Angeles.

Filmography

• Hollywood: The Movie (1996) (V) as Esther
• Unhappily Ever After as Miss Taylor (3 episodes, 1995)
• Amanda and the Alien (1995) (TV) as TV Host
• Blossom as Girl #1 (1 episode, 1992)
• Dream On as Reporter 1 (1 episode, 1992)
• Bikini Summer II (1992) as Marilyn
• Married... with Children as Ricki (1 episode, 1991)
• "Brittania Video" directed by Bryan Michael Stoller 1990

Further reading