Femme fatale Jessica Hahn

Big-hair 1980s girl Jessica Hahn has faded into the private obscurity that most of us enjoy, but for a while her name was on every tongue. One-time church secretary Hahn was the comely lass who figured prominently in the undoing of TV evangelist Jim Bakker in the mid-1980s.

Bakker and wife Tammy Faye had begun their rise to prominence as ordinary evangelists. In the mid-1960s, they took it to a new level by working for Pat Robertson's 700 Club at that enterprising instrument of the Lord's Christian Broadcasting Network in Tidewater Virginia. The Bakkers next hosted their own program, the Jim and Tammy Show, after which they moved to California and started another new show called Praise the Lord. They then returned to the East Coast and abbreviated their program name to the PTL Club.

Critics, and there were many, opined that PTL must stand for "Pass the Loot" due to the shameless hustling done on-air by the smarmy couple. The devout, the simple-minded and the elderly hoping to make advance reservations in Heaven poured forth their bounty. With these "love gifts," the Bakkers did what any thoughtful minister would do: they opened their own theme park, Heritage USA, in Fort Mill, S.C. By selling "partnerships" (meaning hotel rooms), they bilked the faithful out of a very great deal of money, some of which they applied to their favorite worthy cause: themselves.

Alert reporters at the nearby Charlotte Observer began investigating the Bakkers, and Atlanta humor columnist Lewis Grizzard, mincing no words, called Jim Bakker a weasel.

One of the items uncovered by the press was a hush-money payment made over to Jessica Hahn, who admitted to having slept--on one occasion--with both Bakker and another evangelical preacher. She claimed that she had been drugged and raped by the two lusty clerics. Bakker eventually admitted to the sex but denied that it was rape.

Bakker had to resign from running Heritage and was replaced by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Instead of closing preacherly ranks with Bakker, however, Falwell denounced him every way from Sunday.

Eventually, Bakker was convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy and was sentenced to 45 years. Our court system being what it is where well-to-do white-collar miscreants are concerned, he actually ended up serving roughly five years. Tammy Faye divorced him. Now free and remarried, Jim Bakker is back at the business of salvation in a well-chosen spot--Branson, Mo.

Hahn went with what she had to work with, which of course means she posed nude for Playboy. She has made sporadic appearances in the media, notably on The Howard Stern radio show.