A veteran TV network president has died after privately fighting a ‘series of undisclosed health issues.’
Joni Lamb, president and founder of evangelical broadcaster Daystar Television Network, passed away Thursday at the age of 65 after her health drastically deteriorated following a back injury.
The network said Lamb had been dealing with ‘serious health matters’ for some time which she had not disclosed to the public and was facing ‘head on and in private.’
It is unclear how long Lamb had been unwell but Daystar said her condition rapidly worsened days before her death when she suffered the back injury.
Lamb’s health issues were ‘compounded’ by the injury, Daystar said, which led to a ‘more serious medical situation than anyone had anticipated.’
Daystar is one of the world’s largest evangelical Christian television networks. It described Lamb as a revolutionary figure in the religious media industry who ‘has gone home to be with the Lord.’
‘Joni’s love for the Lord and for the people we serve shaped this ministry from the beginning,’ the network said.
‘We grieve her loss, and we are grateful for the legacy of faith she leaves behind.’
Joni Lamb, president and founder of evangelical broadcaster Daystar Television Network, has passed away after privately fighting a ‘series of undisclosed health issues’
Lamb, seen with her second husband Doug Weiss and HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., founded the broadcaster in 1993 and it became one of the world’s largest evangelical Christian television network
Lamb founded Daystar Television Network alongside her first husband Marcus in 1993, growing it into one of the most successful evangelical broadcasters in the world.
A fixture of the broadcast’s on-air shows and its behind the scenes operations, Lamb ‘built a ministry that brought the Gospel into millions of homes,’ the company said.
Lamb based the company out of Bedford, Texas where she lived in a $3.1 million home and became one of the best known religious figures in the nation.
Reaching over 100 million American households at its peak, Daystar brought in $14 million annually from airtime revenues and a further $14 million from donations, according to the Dallas Morning News.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Lamb and her husband courted controversy by broadcasting programs featuring anti-vaccine figures.
She became close with current Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and came under scrutiny for sharing his views about vaccines with her large audience.
Her husband died at the age of 64 from Covid-related complications in November 2021.
Lamb and her first husband Marcus Lamb were vocal Covid-19 skeptics who courted controversy by sharing anti-vaccine programs. Marcus passed away aged 64 from Covid-related complications in November 2021
In 2024, the network was upended by allegations brought by Joni Lamb’s son Jonathan (seen together), accusing his mother of covering up sexual abuse on his daughter by a family member
Marcus was a member of President Trump’s faith advisory board in his first term.
The couple’s son Jonathan described his death from Covid as a ‘spiritual attack from the enemy.’
‘As much as my parents have gone on here to kind of inform everyone about everything going on to the pandemic and some of the ways to treat Covid, there’s no doubt that the enemy is not happy about that,’ he told Relevant Magazine.
‘And he’s doing everything he can to take down my dad.’
Following the death of her husband, Lamb remarried in 2023 to Doug Weiss, a show host on her network and psychologist.
In 2024, the network was upended by allegations brought forward by Jonathan who claimed he was fired after he reported his young daughter was allegedly being sexually abused by a male relative.
The allegations led to a falling out within the family, as Jonathan accused his mother of covering up the abuse, while Lamb said her son was lying about the accusations.
She said in a scathing statement at the time that Jonathan manufactured the allegations because he was disappointed at not being made president of Daystar following his father’s death.
A police investigation ended without charges being filed, and the relative denied any wrongdoing.
