'The Ashley Madison Affair': Noel Biderman's Wife Has "Stood by Him" Following Data Breach

We all love a scandal, and there’s no greater scandal than an affairs-based dating website and a data breach that throws its CEO (and hundreds of wealthy men) under the bus. Yes, we’re talking about Ashley Madison, the website that grew popular with its mission to help married people have affairs. Having an affair isn’t technically illegal (at least in the United States), but ethically, it’s not the best idea.

The company's former CEO, Noel Biderman, was at the heart of Ashley Madison’s 2015 data breach scandal when emails suggested that he had several affairs, despite repeatedly telling outlets that he and his wife were never unfaithful. Hulu is now rehashing the drama in their July 7 documentary, The Ashley Madison Affair. But where is former CEO Noel Biderman now?

After the data breach in 2015, Biderman was under some serious heat from the public. Many women felt their marriages and lives were on the rocks because of Biderman’s company. Of course, they blamed their husbands, but they also blamed him. Throughout Ashley Madison’s growth, he repeated the sentiment that people cheat no matter what—he just monetized and streamlined it.

But Biderman and his wife, Amanda, often shared that they wanted to understand the psychology behind infidelity and help people explore it healthily. “There's likely less deception happening on Ashley Madison – where everyone is looking for the same thing – compared to other dating sites, which are often fraught with married people masquerading as single,” she told Stuff in 2014.

"I'm sure most people assume that because of what Noel does, we must be in an open relationship, but this is absolutely untrue,” she said. “We have such a great relationship and are open about our needs, that it really would come as a big surprise” if he was unfaithful.

The Hulu docuseries explores Amanda's involvement in Ashley Madison as a key component in the company's marketing scheme.

"It's a very attractive package when you want to get TV exposure, to have a husband and wife come on to talk about an infidelity dating website that they own, and then claim to be faithful to each other," I mean, what a brilliant package," Fred Hepburn, Executive Producer from Wall to Wall Media, exclusively told Distractify.

They wanted women to sign up, having a woman spokesperson next to the genius himself, talking about it clearly [...] it's gonna make it easier for women to perhaps think, 'Okay, you know, maybe this site isn't quite as bad as it might look on first site,' you know," Jeremy Dear, Executive Producer from Wall to Wall Media, added. "[Amanda] gave it I think, a veneer of semi-respectability that, if she wasn't there, it would have lacked."

So when the 2015 data breach suggested that Biderman was having his own affairs, they became victims of their actions.

At the time, a hacker threatened to release the data of Ashley Madison’s customers if Biderman did not take down the website. He decided not to cooperate, and the data was leaked, bit by bit (including information about reality star Josh Duggar). Eventually, Biderman’s own corporate data was leaked. His emails suggested that he had affairs with multiple women through the website, as the Hulu docuseries suggested.

Throughout 300 emails, Biderman communicated with a woman in Toronto, with whom he rendezvoused multiple times from July 2012 to May 2015. Not only that, but another email suggested that he had been paying for their “meetups” throughout the years, which weighed on her conscience. He met up with a separate woman in Toronto and also appeared to be in contact with a sex worker.

When all of this came out, he stepped down as CEO of Ashley Madison. They released a statement at the time that said it was “in the best interest of the company” (via BBC News) although the entire statement has since been scraped from the internet. Ashley Madison still exists today, but Biderman is no longer the CEO of Ashley Madison’s former parent company, Avid Life Media.

He has, however, worked with several other companies in advisory and C-Suite positions. In 2016, he got back on the map as CEO of Avenue Insights, an AI-driven data consulting and analytics firm. He’s also advised for The Flowr Corporation, Bitbuy, Kings Entertainment Group, and now WonderFi’s iGaming.

“Mr. Biderman is—and was—a committed husband and father,” his lawyer said in a statement at the conclusion of the Hulu documentary. “Mr. Biderman was also the victim of a crime, like the customers of Ashley Madison whose public information was hacked and publicized.” Despite this, his professional life wasn’t too harmed.

“While Mr. Biderman understands the differences between himself and those customers, he—like many of them—have, in the intervening years, attempted to move on and repair the damage to his life and relationships. He feels fortunate that his wife, Amanda, has stood by him throughout. And he is committed to continuing to move forward and grow.”

Despite the leaked information about Biderman, he rebuilt and solidified his relationship with Amanda, who remained supportive of his initial business endeavors. Amanda initially told Los Angeles’s Jewish Journal (via The Sydney Morning Herald) that she was raising her two children with “Jewish traditions more than religion.”

We don’t know how old the children are, but since Amanda and Biderman married in 2003, their kids likely grew up with this scandal looming over the household. As Biderman “moves forward and grows,” this means he might put his family first.

The Ashley Madison Affair is available to stream on Hulu on July 7.

Additional reporting by Gabrielle Bernadini.