Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing Nia Rader has never been too shy to admit, it’s that she saw forever almost immediately after she first met Sam Rader while they were attending Wills Point High School. The fact he was a Christian, family-oriented, and appeared to have strong morals were obviously massive plus points too, so they happily tied the knot when she was 20 on September 12, 2009. Though, as explored in Netflix’s ‘Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal,’ little did she know her whole world would turn upside down in 2015 as it came to light that her husband wasn’t entirely faithful.
Nia Rader Was Truly Devoted to Her Marriage and Sam Rader
Although Nia and Sam settled down in Terrell, Texas, quite early on in their union before welcoming two beautiful kids into this world, they both also worked hard to make ends meet from every angle. In other words, while the former proudly served as a Manager of a local Maurices store and the latter was an ER nurse on the night shift, they both also consistently tried to be there for one another. However, things changed once they had their second child in 2013 as the matriarch quit her job to properly care for their family, just for her beau to then feel a need to seek external validation.
“I loved the early days of our marriage,” Nia conceded in the aforementioned original. “I got pregnant pretty quickly, so that – – things started to change and shift a little bit, but with that comes a lot of excitement. Still a lot of passion. I mean really, that season of life was like all my dreams coming to fruition… I would say avoiding infidelity in my marriage was like top of my list.” But alas, on the other hand, because her husband was beginning to feel the pressure of being a great dad/role model while also being a provider, he turned to outside sources for some distraction — albeit he maintains he never physically cheated.
Sam’s output at this point was Ashley Madison, which is essentially a dating/hook-up website for married individuals when they don’t want to throw in the towel on their long-term relationship — its tagline is literally, “Life is short. Have an affair.” His wife honestly never once suspected he was going down this path, yet she had noticed he often distanced himself from their brood for brief periods prior to returning as his charming, giddy self. She thus took every chance possible to “keep the love alive and keep my devotion to him really evident. Like, just the way I got his clothes ready for work, greeting him when he came home, waking up really really early to have food prepared for him when he’d get home from those night shifts. I did want to be the perfect wife.”
But alas, it wasn’t until the couple started their YouTube channel and went viral for a video singing along to “Love is an Open Door” from ‘Frozen’ in their car that Sam closed his Ashley Madison account. The validation he was seeking from other women then came in the form of views on their family vlogs, driving him to spend genuine, quality time with his loved ones since that was their content. His connection with Nia hence grew stronger than ever too, compelling him to decide he’d take his mistakes to the grave — he had no idea someone would hack into Ashley Madison in 2015 and leak all their data, including his information.
Therefore, of course, Sam had no choice but to come clean to Nia since he knew it’d hurt her even more if the first she ever heard of his blunders was through social media or other online platforms. He still vehemently maintained he’d never once gotten physical with other women, though, causing his wife to forgive him despite being furious for letting him put them in such a position and heartbroken over not feeling enough. The fact this transpired not long after she’d had a miscarriage didn’t help their situation either, and nor did the fact he later admitted there was more — he’d actually cheated on her at different points from the early days of their association via places like massages parlors, strip clubs, etc.
Nia Rader is a Happily Married Family Vlogger Even Today
Nia did ultimately ask Sam to leave their home for a while as she processed every single one of his betrayals, but his sincere efforts to showcase his remorse, as well as persistence in still pursuing her, broke her down a little. They, hence, decided to take up couple’s therapy, wherein neither of them held back on anything in the hopes of reaching a place where they could forgive before starting anew for the sake of their family. This admittedly further helped them understand one another’s point of view better, so although Sam still regrets his past actions, he’s not hiding away from them anymore as it has helped him fall deeper in love with his one true love: his wife.
Coming to where Nia stands today, she said in the docuseries, “What Sam did and what we walked through had left a mark. It has left a permanent mark, but I’m thankful for it. It’s kind of like a starting point for us on how we’re going to live the rest of our marriage.” In 2018, this Christian family vlogger plus personal blogger even penned on her website, “I didn’t let the betrayal take over my life. I didn’t divorce my husband or get revenge on him. I sought counseling and had every tough conversation you can imagine with him… and God has wholeheartedly… 1000% redeemed our marriage, our hearts, and our lives.”
Nia added, “It hasn’t been easy, and every month… every year… I’m changing, growing, learning, stretching.” We should also mention the couple has since welcomed two more children into their brood, meaning they’re now proud homeschooling parents of four: Symphony Pearl Rader (July 18, 2010), Abram Samuel Rader (September 18, 2013), Juliet Elizabeth Rader (June 1, 2016), and Josie Grace Rader (March 10, 2021).
Read More: Sam Rader: Where is the YouTuber Now?
