Toni Collier’s ex-husband is Sam Collier, the founding pastor of Hillsong Atlanta, whom she divorced after announcing in December 2023 that years of repeated infidelity had ended the marriage. He disputes her account to this day.
Toni Collier ex husband story of a very public church divorce, told through light falling across empty pews
The Toni Collier ex husband question actually has two answers, because Sam was her second husband. Toni was married once before, in her early twenties, to a man whose name has never appeared in any of her public telling. Both marriages belong in this story, and so does the fact that nearly every claim in it comes from one of the two people involved.
Who Is Sam Collier?
Sam Collier is the pastor who became Hillsong Church’s first Black lead pastor in the United States when the network announced him in 2020, planting Hillsong Atlanta with Toni at his side. The two met in 2015, when he was 27 and she was 25, and married three months later, per The Christian Post.
Hillsong Atlanta did not survive the network’s global scandals, and by late 2023 Collier was leading his own congregation, Story Church, in Atlanta. The divorce announcement landed in the middle of that rebuild.
The December 2023 Divorce, In Both Their Words
Toni went first, on Instagram: “After years of discovering and enduring repeated acts of infidelity, I have chosen to end my marriage with Sam,” she wrote, adding, “I’m at a point where I have to say ‘no more,'” per The Roys Report.
Sam’s first response, posted the same day and deleted within hours, called her “a liar and abuser” and claimed he had tried to divorce her seven times. His second post that morning apologized for the first: “It did not reflect the leader I am or my sincere feelings. I was emotionally overwhelmed and angry at the highest level.” His formal statement insisted the divorce was mutual, rebuked “any unfair accusations and slanderous commentary,” and said the full truth would come out through the legal process.
Neither account has been tested in a public courtroom. What exists on the record is her statement, his counter-statement, and one police report that touches a piece of the story. Christian publishing has seen this arc before; the divorce of author Lysa TerKeurst traveled the same road from private crisis to documented public record.
The Extortion Story and the Police Report
In an October 2025 appearance on the Girls Gone Bible podcast, Toni said the final unraveling began with a phone call she received while filming in Nashville: Sam told her he was being extorted by a trans-identified sex worker he had hired, had already paid about $10,000, and that the extortionist was threatening to show up at their church.
One document corroborates the extortion itself. On September 24, 2023, Sam filed a report with the Atlanta Police Department stating he was “being harassed and threatened by a transgender man extortionist by phone,” someone who “makes up lies and false stories and threatens to spread them in exchange for money.”
The report proves he told police he was an extortion target. It does not establish why he was targeted; his own account frames the extortionist as a serial fabricator, while Toni’s account frames the episode as proof the infidelity never stopped. Both readings sit on the same piece of paper.
Her First Marriage, Before Sam
Toni’s first marriage predates her public life entirely. By her own telling, she married soon after a radical conversion at 21 and left the marriage at 25, citing abuse, becoming a single mother in the process. She has never named her first husband publicly, and no outlet has identified him.
That thin record is deliberate on her part, and it means anyone searching for a name will not find one from a credible source. Her speaking and writing career grew out of the years after that first exit.
Where Both Stand Now
Sam Collier now leads Christian Cultural Center Atlanta, and in January 2026 he returned to the pulpit with a standing ovation in what The Roys Report described as his second restoration. Toni stepped back from the stage after the announcement to focus on her children, and was back in front of audiences by the October 2025 podcast appearance where she told the extortion story.
Both of them, in other words, rebuilt inside the same church world that watched the marriage fall apart in public.
FAQ
How many times has Toni Collier been married?
Toni Collier has been married twice: an unnamed first husband she married in her early twenties and left at 25 citing abuse, and Sam Collier, whom she married in 2015 and divorced after December 2023.
Who was Toni Collier’s first husband?
His name has never been made public. Toni has described that marriage only in outline: she wed soon after her conversion at 21, left at 25, and raised her child as a single mother afterward.
Where is Sam Collier now?
Sam Collier leads Christian Cultural Center Atlanta and returned to its pulpit in January 2026 after what supporters called his second restoration. He has continued to deny being unfaithful during the marriage.
Did Toni Collier remarry?
No public record shows Toni Collier has remarried since her divorce from Sam Collier. She has kept her post-divorce personal life private while continuing her speaking and writing work.
