Messner had surgery for colon cancer in 1996. By 2004 the disease had spread to her lungs, and in May of this year, doctors stopped her treatment. Messner appeared on CNN's Larry King Live show Thursday, the day before she died. She told King she couldn't swallow food and that she weighed only 65 pounds.

Born Tammy Faye LaValley in International Falls, Minn., to Pentecostal preacher parents, she married Jim Bakker in 1961. Together they co-hosted The 700 Club and later began The PTL Club. PTL expanded and became a network with 13 million cable subscribers. Their now-defunct Heritage USA theme park in Fort Mill, S.C., also became a popular attraction.

After being convicted of fraud in 1989, Jim Bakker served five years in prison, and during that time, he and Tammy Faye were divorced. In 1993, she married Roe Messner, a contractor whose company built Heritage USA.

"Our family is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Tammy Faye," Bakker said in a statement. "She lived her life like the song she sang, 'If Life Hands You a Lemon, Make Lemonade.' My heart aches for my two children, Jamie Charles and Tammy Sue, who loved their mother dearly. They both told me their mom was so full of life that it is hard to believe she is gone."

Messner recorded more than 25 albums and wrote several books, including I Will Survive...And You Will, Too! (Tarcher, 2003) and Tammy: Telling It My Way (Villard, 1996).

Messner is survived by husband Roe, son Jamie Charles and daughter Tammy Sue.

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