Ashley Madison scandal: Who are Sam and Nia Rader? The ...

An influencer who shot to fame after a video of him lip-syncing to a Disney song with his wife went viral features in a Netflix documentary about the Ashley Madison scandal.

The personal information of millions of users from the 'married dating' site was leaked in 2015. The controversial app, founded in 2001, facilitates extramarital relations with the tagline: "Life is short. Have an affair."

Details of some 36 million users were released in a number of leaks. American YouTuber Sam Rader was among those stung by the data breach.

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Sam, now 38, allegedly made two payments of $189 to Ashley Madison in September 2013, the same month his second child was born and he celebrated his fourth anniversary with his wife. Another four $14 payments appear on the account - which allegedly matched Rader's name and address, in Terrell, Texas.

The news broke just days after he and wife Nia, 35, had announced they'd had a miscarriage. The Christian couple, who vlogged daily about their family life in Texas, had not long gone viral once again with a surprise pregnancy announcement.

Sam Rader said he was 'intrigued' by the Ashley Madison site -Credit:Netflix

Nia had apparently suspected she might be pregnant, so Sam used a pregnancy test on a urine sample from the toilet bowl and confirmed the news for her. The video was viewed more than 19 million times.

Sam and Nia addressed the Ashley Madison scandal on their YouTube channel. In a since-deleted video titled 'Forgiven,' Sam said: "As you may have seen, my name has been associated with an Ashley Madison account.

"I want to clarify this with you because I owe it to you. I did create the account, I created it two years ago. This is an issue that is in our past, this is before I got onto YouTube."

He continued: "This was brought to my wife's attention - she has forgiven me for this mistake that I made in opening the account. I've sought forgiveness to God and he has forgiven me."

He denied ever meeting with 'a single person face-to-face through that website' and maintained that 'never had an affair with anybody, ever, while I've been married with Nia.' He added: "The account was opened out of fleshly desires and sinful curiosity. Because this is in our past and has already been completely resolved within our family, we won't be saying any more on this matter."

Nia said: "I have forgiven Sam and I stand behind him. This is in our past and it's unfortunate that it's being dug up now but our marriage is worth fighting for and always will be."

However the bombshell forced Sam to face some hard truths he'd been repressing. In the Netflix doc, he reveals his deceit went 'a lot deeper' and admitted he had in fact been unfaithful throughout his entire marriage, even making moves on several of his wife's friends.

"I thought having that extra sex outside of marriage would be extra exciting," he reasoned. Nia described the revelations as 'hell', admitting: "I started reeling inside and like my world was crumbling. Every single aspect of my life up until that point felt like a lie."

But Sam did everything he could to save his marriage and says he doesn't regret the hack, adding: "It had to happen for us to work today." And it must have worked, as the couple welcomed a daughter a year on from the scandal.

In 2021 they welcomed their fourth child, another daughter. Sam and Nia are still together to this day, vlogging family life with their brood Symphony, 13, Abram, 10, and Juliet, 7, and Josie Grace, 3, to their 2.5 million YouTube subscribers.

The family had created a number of YouTube videos promoting their Netflix appearance. One, uploaded 10 days before the show's release, was titled 'Our Lives Will Never be the Same.... We're coming to Netflix.'

At the end of the video, Sam talks to eldest daughter Symphony about the project. Sitting on the steps of their porch, he asks the 13-year-old if she forgives him. She says yes. He then asks if he knows why she did it.

Nia said she was 'humiliated' by her husband's 'selfish' actions -Credit:Netflix

"Because people are people," she responds. "Are you just saying that I'm broken? I'm just a regular, old, broken person?" he asks, to which Symphony replies again: "Yeah."

He explained: "I did it because Jesus told us to go out and tell our story. He said, go and tell what I did for you. And god gave us that opportunity to tell Netflix -" but Symphony interrupted, as she thought she was being asked why he signed up to Ashley Madison, not why he did the Netflix documentary.

"But you are right about that answer," he said, referring to the Ashley Madison incident. "Because people are people and we are very broken."

Sam and Nia first went viral a decade ago when they uploaded the video 'Good Looking Parents Sing Disney's Frozen' to YouTube. While driving, Sam and Nia dueted Love Is An Open Door with their first-born daughter, Symphony, sitting in the back seat. The video has since amassed more than 23 million views.

The pair were high school sweethearts, having met at Wills Point High School in Wills Point, Texas. They both attended Trinity Valley Community College, where they both received associate degrees. Sam transferred to The University of Texas at Arlington where he received a BS degree in nursing.

They dated for around five years before tying the knot in their hometown on September 12 2009. Sam went on to work as an ER nurse and Nia as a manager at clothing chain Maurices.

Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandals is available to stream on Netflix from Wednesday May 15.