Who was Israel Houghton married to? Netizens call out Adrienne Bailon over her response to finding out about her husband cheating

Israel Houghton and Adrienne Bailon appeared on the August 7, 2025, episode of Angie Martinez's IRL Podcast. The gospel singer and the internet personality discussed their marriage.

For the unversed, the gospel singer married Meleasa Houghton in 1994. They divorced in 2016 after it was revealed that Israel Houghton had cheated on her with his mistress, DeVawn Moreno, and had two children with her. Nine months after his divorce, Houghton married Adrienne Bailon.

One clip of the IRL Podcast went viral, in which Israel Houghton shared that when he told Adrienne, who was his friend then, about his adultery, she consoled him by praying for him.

"What I shared with her was embarrassing and painful and all that. And I expected her to go, 'See, all guys are the same.' And she leaned across the table, and she grabbed my hand, and she just started praying for me. This is when we're still friends. And I sobbed at that little table. She just basically said, 'God, please help this man know that he's not what he has done,'" the singer stated.

Adrienne Bailon responded, saying that she felt like their love story had something to do with God's plan, as her first instinct was never to defend a cheater. However, that day, she prayed for him. The podcast's host, Angie Martinez, replied, saying that Bailon's "biggest fear" is cheating.

Adrienne Bailon agreed and stated that cheating is still a "big deal" for her, and it would end their marriage. She said that despite her beliefs and her "logical mind," she fell in love with a man who cheated, and it made her feel that God was behind it.

The clip was reuploaded on the r/popculturechat subreddit by the user u/HorrorBike143, and it garnered over 2,300 upvotes and more than 1,000 replies. The Reddit users called out Israel Houghton's wife for defending his cheating.

Netizens criticized the internet personality, bringing up her past relationship with Rob Kardashian. The two broke up after dating for two years, after Kardashian admitted that he had cheated on Bailon.

Some netizens claimed that the couple were bringing up their religion and God to supposedly justify cheating. One user, u/MuffinTiptopp, stated that Israel Houghton could cheat on her one day, as he had two kids with his mistress while being married to his first wife.

Israel Houghton's wife, Adrienne Bailon, previously called cheating a "cowardly move"

In February 2019, three years after Israel Houghton and Adrienne Bailon got married in Paris, Bailon's talk show The Real discussed Jeff Bezos's relationship with Lauren Sanchez.

For the unversed, at the time, the Amazon CEO's divorce from his former wife, MacKenzie Scott, made headlines as she was granted $38 billion settlement. Lauren Sanchez also gained media attention as her friends leaked screenshots of her texts with Jeff Bezos.

While discussing the matter, Israel Houghton's wife said that cheating was a "cowardly move," and if one is unhappy in marriage, they should get divorced before dating another person.

"If you're just unhappy, leave, and don't just leave. You have to actually get divorced, finish that, and then start something new completely," Bailon stated.

The co-hosts of the talk show agreed, with Jeannie Mai saying that cheating was "deplorable" as it breaks all the vows, and is all about "deceit," and "dishonesty."

"For me, when it comes to a cheating man, to me, it is the most deplorable thing you could possibly do in your human nature. Because it checks all of the boxes: deceit, dishonesty, betrayal of your vows," Jeannie Mai said.

Stay tuned for more updates regarding Israel Houghton and Adrienne Bailon.