Tag: Marcus and Joni Lamb

A former executive of the Christian TV network Daystar claims in a lawsuit that she was pressured to participate in a cover-up of an extra-marital affair by the Rev. Marcus Lamb that left her suicidal and involuntarily committed to a mental institution.

The woman’s attorney called Lamb’s allegation that he was being blackmailed “preposterous.”

The lawsuit, filed in Dallas County District Court on Wednesday, is the latest twist in a saga that began Tuesday, when Lamb and his wife made the affair public in a live broadcast of their television show “Celebration.” They also claimed that three people threatened to tell reporters about the affair unless Daystar paid them $7.5 million.

Daystar in turn filed a countersuit against Jeanette Hawkins, the former employee who sued the network in Dallas County District Court on Wednesday. The Daystar suit also names two other former employees who are being represented by the same attorney as Hawkins. The latest suit alleges a conspiracy to commit extortion.

In case anyone is wondering: Here’s what the Bible says about lawsuits

Christian TV took a soap opera turn Tuesday when the married co-founders of Daystar, a network based in the Dallas area, used a live broadcast to share the husband’s infidelity and to allege extortion by outsiders, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Evangelists Marcus and Joni Lamb made a pre-emptive strike, going on their regular morning program, Celebration, to acknowledge his past marital misconduct and say that three people had demanded $7.5 million to keep the scandal out of the media.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re not going to take God’s money and pay to keep from being humiliated,” Marcus Lamb said during the broadcast from Daystar’s Bedford headquarters.

The Lambs said Tuesday that their marriage is now sound but that “several years ago” Joni Lamb discovered that Marcus Lamb was having an improper relationship.