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On May 15, 2024, Netflix aired the three-part documentary series Ashley Madison: S*x, Lies & Scandal which uncovered the consequences of the hack of the user list of Ashley Madison, a dating site for people who were looking for extramarital affairs.
In 2015, the dating app was hacked by The Impact Team, a group of anonymous individuals who then released the names of millions of users on the dark web. The list included the names of a US president’s son and a Real Housewives husband.
The documentary series spotlights the stories of couples who were in the crossfire following the cyber attack on the Canadian dating site, used by over 37 million married people looking to cheat on their partners.
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“Life is Short. Have an Affair," the dating site's tagline reads.
Apart from employee interviews, the newly released series features couples whose marriages were ruined, if not heavily affected, by the scandal, including the YouTuber couple Sam and Nia Rader.
5 celebrities named in the Ashley Madison data breach list
When the user names of people using Ashley Madison were leaked, a few celebrities were found to be among the dating site’s customers.
1) Josh Duggar
Josh Duggar, 36, gained fame from his family’s TLC TV series 19 Kids and Counting, which aired in 2008. Married to Anna Duggar, the couple have seven children together and are known to be devout Christians.
He was the first outed celebrity following the dating website breach, which came only a few short months after he came under fire following a police report that he molested five girls. Four of them were his sisters, which reportedly happened when he was still a teenager. He later admitted to cheating on his wife and wrote an apology via their family’s website.
While he remained married, he’s also serving 151 months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of receipt and possession of child pornography in 2021 (sentenced in 2022).
Read more: Fact Check: Can you message on Ashley Madison without paying?
2) Sam Rader
Christian family influencer Sam Rader, who became famous for being half of the YouTube vlogging couple Sam and Nia, also had his account leaked during the hacking scandal in 2015. He issued a statement with his wife a few days later, claiming that he made his Ashley Madison account two years prior to him and his wife posting videos on YouTube.
Sam subsequently revealed that he never cheated on his wife via the website, but that he frequented massage parlors and strip clubs to have extramarital affairs. The two remained together and have four kids, and they are both featured in the Netflix docuseries.
3) Josh Taekman
Josh Taekman, husband of the Real Housewives of New York (RHONY) star Kristen Taekman, was another celebrity whose name was exposed following the infamous Ashley Madison hack. The 55-year-old EBOOST co-founder admittedly signed up for an account on the married dating site but denied actually participating in any infidelity.
“I signed up for the site foolishly and ignorantly with a group of friends and I deeply apologize for any embarrassment or pain I have brought to my wife and family,” Josh Taekman told PEOPLE in December 2020.
Josh and Kristen remain “happily married,” as the RHONY couple mentioned during an interview with PEOPLE magazine. They had only celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary in December 2023.
4) Hunter Biden
US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is another celebrity who was linked to an Ashley Madison account. However, he denied ever creating an account on the dating app.
“I am certain that the account in question is not mine. This account was clearly set up by someone else without my knowledge and I first learned about the account in question from the media," Biden said in a statement provided to CNN in 2015.
The younger Biden had previously denied using the email address that was used to set up the account, claiming that someone used his old email address to sign up for an account to discredit him.
Read more: Where is Noel Biderman now? Ashley Madison CEO's whereabouts explored
5) Jionni LaValle
Another celebrity name that came up in the Ashley Madison list is Jionni LaValle, the husband of MTV’s Jersey Shore star Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi. They share three kids, and after his name was leaked, Snooki stood up with her husband, fiercely denying the allegations in an Instagram post. In the caption, she called the allegation “absurd” and was quoted saying:
“Honestly, if he wanted to cheat — he would go out and do it. Not sign up on a website and pay for it.”
Netflix’s latest docuseries, which is spread over three episodes, combines versions of the infamous hack from former employees, clients, and cyber experts, including the dating site’s former CEO and his wife.
Ashley Madison: S*x, Lies & Scandal is streaming now on Netflix.
Read more: Is the Ashley Madison list still available? Explained
