Ex-porn star Joshua Broome is now a husband, father, and pastor, sharing his journey out of the adult film industry.
Broome opened up this week on his “Counterfeit Culture Podcast” about his relationship with his wife, Hope, who appeared alongside him to talk about their love story.
He discussed how the two met and how Hope, a lifelong Christian, showed him grace and understanding as she learned details about his complicated past.
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“[Hope] met me where I was. She extended grace and God started radically moving in my life,” Josh said. “It’s because I gave my life to Jesus so early on in our relationship, and we started growing together.”
One of the most compelling parts of the discussion was when Josh asked Hope how she could move forward so boldly after he revealed his past as a porn star.
“People ask me this so often, and for the longest time, I wasn’t sure what the answer was,” Hope said.
She said a college student said something last year that helped her recognize that God’s goodness was behind her ability to look past Josh’s past.
“[The] student was like, ‘Well, obviously it was the Holy Spirit,'” she recounted, noting that this simple recognition sparked a realization. “And I was like, ‘You are so right.'”
Hope admitted her calm reaction to something so shocking was a bit out of character, but it helped her see an essential reality about God’s love and forgiveness.
“My response was, ‘If God can forgive you, why can’t I?” she said.
Hope said it wasn’t difficult to fall in love with Josh. She never knew him during his time in porn, and most of the build-up at the start of their relationship was predicated upon the everyday issues normal couples face.
“I never knew you as that person,” she told Josh. “We just went through the same things I felt like everybody does.”
There were, of course, some unique challenges along the way. One of the more challenging parts of the journey was the reality that the hundreds and hundreds of videos Josh appeared in are still available on the Internet – and he has no control over it.
Some online bullies and trolls have intentionally sent these to Hope and have tried to harass her with them. But she has learned how to navigate that unfortunate reality.
“It will randomly happen, and I try my best to not dwell on it,” she said. “When it would first happen, it would sit there and linger in my mind.”
Now she deletes, blocks, and ignores.
“I have so many other things that my brain space needs to be holding,” she said. “That is not one of them.”
As for Josh — a Christian pastor who contends with the ongoing existence of this content online — he said he prays it is one day gone. Either way, though, he handles it with grace and reliance on the Lord.
“I pray to God that everything is eradicated off the Internet and that just doesn’t exist anymore,” he said. “That is my prayer, but if that doesn’t happen, I have no choice but to deal with it.”
Read more about Broome’s journey and listen to his podcast.
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