Controversial star of Netflix’s explosive Ashley Madison docuseries admits he would have taken his infidelity secrets ‘to the grave’ if it hadn’t been for the shocking leak

The controversial star of Netflix’s explosive Ashley Madison docuseries has admitted he would have taken his infidelity secrets to the grave.

Sam Rader and his wife Nia both opened up about his shocking cheating in the recently released documentary about the controversial cheating website Ashley Madison.

In 2015, it was revealed that Sam had signed up for the website when someone hacked the platform and shared every member’s name online in a shocking leak.

In the explosive docuseries Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies, And Scandal, Sam exposed his infidelity as he and his wife opened up about the difficult time in their lives.

Sam has now appeared on Melbourne radio show Fifi, Fev & Nick to discuss the docuseries, which has risen to number one in Netflix’s UK viewing charts.

The Fox radio host Brendan Fevola asked Sam if he would have been honest about signing up for the site and his infidelity had it not been for the leak.

The Christian YouTube star admitted that even though he deleted his account on Ashley Madison two years before the leak, he took those secrets “to the grave.”

‘I took those secrets to my grave. That was going (to) the grave with me,” he admitted when asked if he would have ever told his wife Nia.

“But I repented of that lifestyle. It had been two years since I deleted Ashley Madison – which wasn’t clear in the documentary.

‘That was frustrating, they took that out of context. I deleted Ashley Madison before [our career in] YouTube came along. But I repented that lifestyle and took those secrets to the grave.

“And the Lord said, ‘If you don’t tell her, I’m going to tell everyone.’ So He exposed me, and I give Him all the credit for that. He only revealed the least of what I had done.”

Sam further reflected on the moment he found out his name had been released in the leak in 2015, admitting he felt like he was “passing out.”

‘I thought it was all over. When my name was discovered, and I got that first tweet. We were at the airport and I almost fainted,” he said candidly.

‘I felt nauseous, had severe tunnel vision… I just panicked. My eyeballs were like earthquakes in my skull. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life.”

Sam and Nia, who both grew up in Wills Point, Texas, started dating when they were in high school after bonding over their Christian faith.

They were together for five years before tying the knot in 2009 and welcoming their daughter Symphony in July 2010.

In the docuseries, Sam said the “responsibility” that came with welcoming his first child with Nia when they were in their 20s left him “craving passionate romance” as he discussed what led to his infidelity.

‘I love being a father, I love my children, I adore them. But it was just this sudden flood of responsibilities. So much responsibility that I wasn’t ready for,” he explained.

‘Paying bills, keeping track of our finances, not getting into debt, making sure our mortgage is paid on time, making sure the electricity doesn’t go out…

‘I imagined my life would be exciting, but it wasn’t exciting anymore. Life became monotonous.

‘I longed for passionate romantic love. I didn’t want to leave my family, but I wanted something exciting in my life. I wanted more of the good things life had to offer.”

Sam, who worked nights as an ER nurse, said one evening he came across an ad for Ashley Madison with the tagline, “Life is short. Have an affair,” caught his attention.

“When I signed up for Ashley Madison, I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life,” he admitted.

“Ashley Madison was just a way for me to find women who would be attracted to me so I could soak up their validation.”

The couple welcomed their son, Abram, in 2013, and later launched their YouTube channel, Sam and Nia, where they now have 2.5 million subscribers.

In the Netflix series, Sam explained that once their account took off, it gave him the “validation” he was previously looking for with Ashley Madison.

Nia also appears in the documentary, describing how she learned to forgive Sam, despite him “humiliating” her and making her feel like she “wasn’t enough for him.”

She said: ‘I thought, ‘I’ve been a good wife and mother. There was just no reason. He has everything he needs. I’m there for him in every way, what on earth is he missing that he needed? do you prefer this website?”

Sam first claimed that he had never been intimate with other women or met anyone in person before confessing all of his infidelity to Nia.

He told her how he had gone to “massage parlors and strip clubs” because there was “easy access to pleasure” and had even visited “some of their friends.”

“He had chased someone special to me, which led to her removing herself from my life,” Nia explained.

‘Because of Sam I lost this very good friend. There was a lot involved. I started to shake inside, it felt like my world was crumbling.

‘Every aspect of my life up to this point has felt like a lie. Everything we had dreamed of… all very special [memories]our wedding day, the day we met, suddenly it was just over.

‘It was years of betrayal, years of him acting out in our marriage. It was hell. Something I had to grapple with was that I wasn’t enough for him. I worked so hard to be what I thought he wanted.”

Sam said that while he “regrets a lot of things,” he is grateful for the “hack” because it forced him to be honest and ultimately strengthened their relationship.

They have since welcomed two more daughters together, Juliet in 2016 and Josie in 2021.

The controversial dating site Ashley Madison was launched in 2001 and was aimed at married men and women who wanted to have affairs to connect with each other.

Listen to Fifi, Fev and Nick on Melbourne’s 101.9 The Fox from 6am to 9am weekdays, also on LiSTNR.