Courtesy of Nia Rader/Instagram
Sam Rader Says Wife Nia Rader ‘Wanted a Divorce’ After Ashley Madison Hack Fallout
YouTube stars Nia Rader and Sam Rader opened up about their lives today eight years after Sam’s involvement in extramarital affairs was revealed in the Ashley Madison data hack.
“I was probably wanting to divorce, at first,” Nia, 35, told Access Hollywood in an interview published on Thursday, May 23. “That took some time, and just really kinda like, studying the bible honestly, what is the right and the wrong thing to do.”
Nia and Sam, 38, were a Texas couple whose wholesome religious content went viral on social media and garnered over 24 million views. However, their lives were dramatically changed when it was revealed Sam had a profile on Ashley Madison, a dating site geared toward married individuals looking to have an affair.
Sam told the outlet his wife was “seriously hurt” and “wanted a divorce” after his account on the website was discovered.
“We just didn’t go from betrayal, he dumped all this and now I forgive you, it was a very long process,” Nia explained the next steps the couple took in their marriage.
The duo said one of the most difficult parts about the scandal was telling their oldest daughter, Symphony Pearl. “She knows I signed up on a website, betrayed her mom,” Sam explained, noting it was an ongoing conversation. “It made her sad.”
“She had little tears in her eyes and said, ‘I’m really sad you had to go through that,’ and he asked her for her forgiveness,” the mom of four concluded. “Because she was alive through you know some of that, and she said that she forgave him.”
Sam and Nia’s story was one of the stories featured in the new Netflix documentary, Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal, released on the streaming platform earlier this month. The controversial website had more than 50 million subscribers at its peak and its high-profile database of members was revealed after a group of hackers called The Impact Team gained access in August 2015.
After Sam’s account was exposed, he issued a public apology via the family’s YouTube channel that same month.
“As you may have seen, my name has been associated with an Ashley Madison account,” he said at the time. “I’m here to clarify some of this with you guys, ‘cause I owe it to you: I did make the account. I made the account two years ago. This is an issue that is in our past. This was before I got onto YouTube.”
At the time, he denied ever cheating on his wife, but added, “The account was opened out of pure fleshly desires and out of simple curiosity.”
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