Netflix has just released a three-part docuseries exploring the rise and fall of the ill-fated online dating site Ashley Madison, but what happened to the people involved?
Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal premiered on the streaming service last week (May 15), with one episode charting its rise to prominence in the ’00s, another covering its dramatic fall from grace after a major data breach leaked the personal details of millions of users, and a third looking at the dramatic fallout.
The site fashioned itself as a safe place for users to seek an extramarital affair, using the tagline: “Life is short. Have an affair”. It made use of extensive security measures to assure its clients’ secrets would be safe.
However, a huge hack in 2015 by an anonymous group named ‘The Impact Team’ released the names, addresses and photos of millions of Ashley Madison users, in a huge blow to the site’s reputation.
Where is Ashley Madison CEO Noel Biderman now?
As discussed in the show, Biderman was the CEO of the dating service, and the hack revealed him also to be a user of the site.
A successful sports agent, he joined Ashley Madison in 2007 and sought to raise its profile, regularly appearing on news and daytime television to promote the site.
The Canadian businessman resigned from his role after the hack on August 28, 2015. The company issued a statement saying that his departure was “in the best interest of the company” (via BBC).
Biderman continues to work at a high corporate level, currently sitting as CEO of Avenue Insights, a Toronto-based software company that assists organisations with data collection (via Forbes).
His own website describes him as an author, speaker, lecturer and father, and he appears to have worked for a number of other organisations since 2015, including Bitbuy and The Flowr Corporation.
It appears that Biderman and his wife Amanda have remained together after the personal revelations about Biderman’s infidelity, with his legal representation describing his as a “committed husband and father”.
What happened to Sam and Nia Rader?
The docuseries features a couple named Sam and Nia Rader, a husband-and-wife vlogger pair who built a YouTube audience after their lip-sync videos went viral.
As the show reveals, Sam’s name was one that was leaked in 2015. He admits to having sought the service when their marriage was going through a lull, but says he had deleted his account before the hack and had never met up with anyone.
At first, Nia stook by him and they posted a video to their account. “I have sought forgiveness from God and He has forgiven me, so I have been completely cleansed of this sin,” Sam said.
However, it later emerged that Sam had been unfaithful, including with some of Nia’s close friends, but they sought marriage counselling and their relationship survives. They continue to post online to their 2.5million subscribers and they have four children together.
Is Ashley Madison still going?
Despite the huge blow of the 2015 hack, Ashley Madison remains an active service today. The new CEO Rob Segal promised to boost security measures and protections, and the company settled out of court for victims with a total sum of $11.2million (£8.9million) in 2017.
The site claims to now have more users than ever, at around 70 million.
