In January 2017, Suzy Lamb, then-Daystar TV co-host and daughter-in-law of Daystar founders Marcus and Joni Lamb, claims she was sexually assaulted at Daystar by an unlicensed chiropractor her in-laws had hired.

But when her husband, then-Director of Operations Jonathan Lamb, told his parents about it, they buried the assault, both Jonathan and Suzy told The Roys Report (TRR) in an exclusive interview.

According to the couple, Marcus and Joni maintained a culture of secrecy and protection at the large Christian broadcasting network with more than 100 stations worldwide and an annual revenue of around $100 million.

The couple say they submitted to this culture for more than a decade. But as TRR reported yesterday, Jonathan and Suzy have gone public with their experience at Daystar, specifically Marcus and Joni’s alleged cover-up of their daughter’s sexual assault by a male family member.

Suzy did not talk about her own sexual assault in our first interview. But over the weekend, she told TRR she wanted to stand with her daughter as a sexual assault victim and talk about her assault, too, which remains traumatizing.

According to Jonathan and Suzy, the chiropractor had lost his license because of an alleged assault on a minor. TRR is not revealing the chiropractor’s identity because he was never charged with a crime.

But Marcus and Joni believed the chiropractor had come to Christ and was a changed man. So, they invited him to Daystar to work on the family in the family green room, Jonathan and Suzy said. (The green room is a lounge for on-air performers, where they go when they’re not in studio.)

For a couple years, everything went fine, Suzy said, and the man worked on her in the green room without incident.

But then, he started becoming more belligerent. And one day, she said he seemed drunk as he was working on her.

Joni’s assistant was normally in the room with the chiropractor when he was seeing patients. But Suzy said that for about five minutes, the assistant left because she had to use the bathroom.

During the time she was gone, Suzy said the man violently sexually assaulted her. The assault was not rape, Suzy said, but left her reeling in pain.

As soon as the chiropractor left the building, Suzy called Jonathan and told him what had happened.

Jonathan said his “blood was boiling” and he immediately called Marcus and Joni, who were out of town, to report what happened. Jonathan said Marcus told Jonathan he’d “handle it” and instructed Jonathan not to talk about it.

In the meantime, Suzy said it was all she could do to hold herself together, knowing that the chiropractor knew where she lived and used to joke that he knew how to snap someone’s neck in seconds.

The next day, as Suzy prepared to fill in for Marcus and Joni on their show, her body revolted and she threw up in the bathroom. But Suzy said she also knew what was expected of her, so she soldiered on and hosted her show anyway.

Several days later, when Joni was back in town, Suzy said Joni told her that Marcus had paid off the chiropractor, and he wasn’t a threat anymore.

“We need to protect Daystar,” Suzy recalled Joni telling her. “And I want to protect you. So, don’t say a word about it to anyone.”

Suzy said she dutifully obeyed what her mother-in-law told her and eventually “got over it, and I forgot it happened.”

In 2021, the chiropractor passed away.

But in January of this year, Suzy said the trauma of the assault returned and she “started to wake up panicking and sweating.” What especially scared her, she said, was the way Joni had gotten her to bury the assault.

Suzy said she couldn’t help wondering if that was what Joni had done to her 5-year-old daughter when Joni had met with the girl to talk about her assault.

As we reported earlier, in November 2020, Suzy’s daughter disclosed to her that she had been inappropriately touched. The girl then used her hands to indicate she’d been finger raped vaginally and anally.

But when Suzy called Joni to tell her about the alleged abuse, Joni reportedly urged her not to go to police, but instead, to bring the girl to Joni. After the girl met one-on-one with Joni, she stopped talking about the alleged abuse and hasn’t spoken of it to this day, both Suzy and Jonathan told TRR.

In a statement, Daystar denied the allegations that Joni or Marcus covered up her granddaughter’s sexual assault. 

“Over three years ago, in a thoroughly investigated and since resolved matter, it was confirmed that any allegations referencing sexual misconduct involving any Lamb family members were not credible and unfounded,” Daystar said. “Marcus and Joni never covered up any type of sexual abuse perpetrated by anyone, nor would they ever tolerate any abuse against their granddaughter or any child.”

Daystar also responded to the allegations concerning Suzy Lamb’s 2017 alleged sexual assault:

Joni Lamb is aware of an incident in 2017 that Suzy Lamb raised involving a chiropractor.  Suzy had a long history of requesting the chiropractor at issue to work on her, both at Daystar and at her home.  When Suzy was treated at Daystar, a witness was always present, as required by Marcus.

In 2017, Suzy Lamb reported to Marcus and Joni that the chiropractor inappropriately touched her.  The word “rape” was never used, and nothing that would constitute rape was mentioned by Suzy.  The witness in the room at the time of the alleged incident denied that anything inappropriate occurred.  Nonetheless, Marcus immediately released the chiropractor.  No one “paid off” the chiropractor, as alleged in your email.  

There was never any discussion about whether or not to contact the police, and neither Marcus nor Joni would have ever discouraged Suzy from reporting this incident to the police.

‘Did not recognize that she had been sexually assaulted’

Ex-Dallas Cowboy Kenyon Coleman and his wife, Katie Coleman, own the Redefined Coffee House in Grapevine, Texas. And since 2019, when they met Suzy, the Christian couple and Suzy have grown close.

The Colemans told TRR they remember Suzy bringing up the story of her sexual assault a few years ago.

“There was shame around the story,” Kenyon said, adding that Suzy didn’t even have a category for what had happened to her.

“When Suzy brought this up to me, I was shocked that she did not recognize that she had been sexually assaulted,” he said. “And she was led to believe that because maybe she was flirty, which I know Suzy and I have never seen Suzy act out like that.

“And I was like, ‘Suzy, if someone at the coffee shop did that to one of my employees, I would immediately call the authorities. And I just remember, she started crying.”

Both of them said they urged Suzy for months to get into counseling because it was clear that she had trauma.

Kenyon noted that they have private rooms at the coffee house, and Suzy would go to a room “and weep and just talk about the things that were going on,” he said.

They said Suzy was very resistant to going to counseling and scared that Joni would find out and she’d get in trouble.

The couple said Joni had a lot of control over Suzy, even telling her who she could and couldn’t be friends with.

TRR spoke with Suzy about her relationship with Joni at the time. Suzy said Joni was secretly grooming her to take over as the “matriarch” of the Lamb TV dynasty.

The two would meet privately, Suzy said, so other members of the family wouldn’t get jealous. And when people would ask Joni about their meetings, she’d lie to conceal them, Suzy said, “saying she was getting her nails done but she was with me.”

A major part of the grooming was training Suzy to control the family dynamics to keep warring family members in line, Suzy said.

“For years, I would sit on the phone with Joni for hours in the evening or coffee shops and have these conversations of how to manage all these relationships, how to keep them all under control,” Suzy said. “And I essentially thought I was learning . . . a wealth of information.”

Katie said Joni would often call while Suzy was at the coffeehouse, and Suzy always felt like she had to take her call. Katie said the few times Suzy didn’t take the call, Joni would call back.

“It was easy for me to see how manipulated she was by Joni,” Katie said. “And then also how Joni would just gaslight her and then also really confuse her. And I really believe it was a lot of spiritual abuse.”

Kenyon added that Suzy has a very sensitive conscience and was always agonizing over whether she was doing the right thing. “I feel like Joni really took advantage of the fact that Suzy has the fear of the Lord,” Kenyon added.

In 2024, Suzy said she began seeing Cassie Reid, founder of Cassie Reid Counseling, which helped her accept the truth of what had happened to her. She said when Kenyon called what happened to her “sexual assault,” she didn’t accept it.

“But when I started talking to Cassie, she broke it down for me, to call it what it is,” Suzy said. “And that doesn’t make me inferior to that man who made himself superior. It didn’t change my identity at all. Not a victim, just Suzy.”

Mentoring ends

According to Suzy, Joni’s mentoring came to an abrupt end in August 2021, when Joni sided with the man Suzy and Jonathan suspected of molesting their daughter.

The couples’ relationship with Joni became even more strained, they say, after Marcus died in November 2021, and within months, Joni began texting Doug Weiss, a recently divorced sex therapist.

Jonathan and Suzy do not believe Weiss had biblical grounds for divorce. But they say, when they tried to hold to their convictions, it led to major conflict with Joni. And eventually, it prompted Joni to fire Suzy in July 2023, the couple say.

Full details of that story and the saga of the couples’ last three years at Daystar will be revealed in our next article.

Julie Roys is a veteran investigative reporter and founder of The Roys Report. She also previously hosted a national talk show on the Moody Radio Network, called Up for Debate, and has worked as a TV reporter for a CBS affiliate. Her articles have appeared in numerous periodicals.