Bachelor Nation alum Madison “Madi” Prewett shared her past struggles with pornography and masturbation during a candid 2025 podcast episode.
Madi, who finished as runner-up on Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor in 2020, married Grant Troutt, a pastor, in July 2022. The couple welcomed their first baby, daughter Hosanna Rose, in January 2025.
Prior to her Bachelor season and subsequent marriage, Madi made the decision to pursue a “life of purity” after struggling to “break free from porn and masturbation” as a teenager.
“Anytime you live in secret, it’s only going to create more sin and it’s only going to create more shame because that’s where the enemy thrives,” she told listeners of her “Stay True” podcast in June 2025.
Keep scrolling for some of Madi’s honest thoughts about sexuality and marriage:
‘A Life of Bondage’
On an episode of her “Stay True” podcast in June 2025, Madi divulged how she grappled with the morality of porn and masturbation during middle and high school.
“Thankfully, by the grace of God and by the power of godly community and people around me, I have been free from porn and masturbation for — I don’t even know — 10 years,” she said. “But that was something that enslaved me and marked me for so long. … No matter how much I loved Jesus, I could not shake that sin. I could not break free from porn and masturbation.”
Madi looked back on being influenced by music and TV shows about “having sex and hooking up” for the first time as a 13-year-old.
“I had already had moments of being curious about things and having certain feelings or wondering certain things or fantasizing about certain things. I had not told that to anyone,” she said. “I had not pursued to do anything about that, but I was curious, and I was about 13 years old. I went over to a friend’s house and her parents weren’t around and she turned on this show that was extremely inappropriate.”
Madi remembered “feeling things that I had never felt before,” especially the feeling of “desire.” From there, Madi said she started seeking out porn, yet she rationalized it to herself because she wasn’t actually “having sex with [her] boyfriend.”
“That was where I fell. I struggled and I believed that lie. That lie led to a life of bondage,” Madi stressed.
‘Gray Areas’
Madi told podcast listeners that her parents’ primary rule was “do not have sex,” though she knew very little else about sexuality at the time.
“The question marks [were] around everything else,” she explained. “What about all the other stuff? What about porn and what about just crossing a little bit of lines with your boyfriend? That’s where I didn’t have clarity. Those were the gray areas of this whole purity thing that I was not clear on, that I was not certain about. Because of that I found myself continuing to push boundaries and continuing to go further than I knew deep down in my heart that I wanted to go or that I knew I should go.”
‘Living in Isolation’
During her podcast about sexuality, Madi reflected on living in total isolation because she never told anyone about her interest in porn and masturbation.
“Anytime you live in secret, it’s only going to create more sin and it’s only going to create more shame because that’s where the enemy thrives,” she argued. “I was not able to break free until I brought other people into it, until I stopped letting the enemy run my life with living in secrecy and living in isolation.”
Madi confessed that her solitary lifestyle as a teenager was “so hard for [her] for so long” since she felt as if she’d been “robbed of confidence.”
“I would beat myself up and I would be bound by shame because I knew I loved Jesus and I wanted to live a life for Jesus, but I didn’t know how to get unstuck. I didn’t know how to break free from that sin,” she noted. “I questioned my worth and my identity. Every time I gave into sexual sin, I didn’t know my purpose.”
‘A Life of Purity’
Madi used her confessional podcast to disclose that her husband, Grant, came to their relationship with a completely different attitude towards sex. (Grant is the son of telecommunications executive Kenny Troutt, who has ranked on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people in the past.)
“Grant fell into the other category [than me] that kinda felt like, ‘Well, I already had sex, what’s the big deal? It’s already a part of my story. It’s already a part of my life,’” Madi explained to listeners. “So that continued to be something he struggled with. He continued to have sex with people.”
The Bachelor Nation alum insisted that it was only after Grant agreed to live “a life of purity” that their belief systems started to align.
‘A Radical Transformation’
Madi described how Grant underwent a “radical transformation” in his belief system once he let go of his past.
“He started bringing accountability in his life and he chose to pursue a lifestyle of purity,” she said on her podcast. “He wasn’t perfect. Did he have moments of falling short? He did.”
The reality star confirmed that Grant’s choice to “pursue purity” allowed the two of them to move forward with an engagement.
“We were able to then, at the altar, when we gave ourselves to each other and to God, body, soul and spirit, we had such a joy and such a peace because we knew that was something we had pursued individually and together,” she noted.
‘God Can Use The Bachelor’
Madi was studying to be a pastor when she auditioned for The Bachelor season 24. She made it onto the ABC show and ultimately finished as runner-up, when Peter proposed to Hannah Ann Sluss. (Peter and Hannah Ann split following the March 2020 finale because he admitted to still having feelings for Madi. Peter and Madi briefly reunited but eventually decided not to pursue a relationship together.)
Madi told The Christian Post in September 2021 that she joined The Bachelor in hopes of encouraging other Christians to expand their horizons.
“Not only did I feel like I learned so much and I grew so much, but really just for everyone that God spoke to and encouraged through that, it was one of the coolest things to be able to say, ‘God can use someone like me, God can use something like The Bachelor to bring glory to his name because that’s just how big he is,’” she said.
A ‘Modern Esther’
Madi referenced the biblical story of Esther to describe what it meant to share her faith on The Bachelor. (In the Bible, Esther was a Jewish woman who rose to become queen of Persia and used her power to save her people from persecution.)
“I want people to understand that just like Esther — she had to break free from her past, she had to overcome labels, she had to stand in courage even when she was probably so afraid,” she told The Christian Post. “She had to go against the grain even though it may have cost her everything. I want to see modern Esthers in today’s world rise up and say, ‘This is who I am, not who you tell me who I am. This is who I am because this is who god says I am. And I’m going to walk in confidence. I’m going to walk in conviction; I’m going to walk in courage.’”
‘The Male Brain’
Madi and Grant were married in October 2022. Madi then exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2023 that moving in with Grant created some unexpected challenges.
“I didn’t have brothers, so I’m just learning the male brain,” she joked. “I’m like, ‘Wait, this is how you think this is? This is what goes through your mind?’ Honestly, in general, just being around a male [is new] — I’m just so used to being around females all the time.”
She went on, “I lived with my best friend right before this for two years and then living with my sisters. That’s just been fun, getting to know how different a man’s and woman’s brain is and just our different expectations.”
‘How to Communicate’
While chatting with Us in 2023, Madi acknowledged having to overcome some communication problems in the early days of her marriage.
“I think within the first month, I wasn’t the best at learning how to communicate my expectations, and so I would just have these expectations and he’s like, ‘Well, you never told me!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, that’s a good point,’” she said. “We’re just learning how to communicate, you know, [our] wants, needs, expectations.”
The Greatest Gift
As the couple neared the four-month anniversary of their wedding in April 2023, Madi suggested that the newlyweds were “growing and learning so much” each day.
“He is truly my best friend in the whole world,” Madi shared with Us. “I mean, we’re four and a half months in, and so we’re obviously still learning so much. But we’re so grateful that we have such a good community around us. We have mentors and people we look up to that we’re constantly just asking questions, you know, and asking them to pray for us and encourage us. And so we’re really grateful to have good people around us too as we’re learning and growing in our own marriage.”
‘My Best Friend’
Madi offered an update on the most rewarding aspects of her marriage while catching up with Bachelor Nation in April 2024.
“[I love] everything about [marriage],” she beamed. “Grant is truly my best friend and I just love doing every day of life with him.”
Madi added, “Life can be so busy, but I try to be in the moment as much as possible and enjoy where I’m at.”
