She didn’t name him. She didn’t have to.
Madison Pettis, an actress and former Disney Channel star who was one of the most recognizable faces in mid-2000s family entertainment, sat down on the podcast In Your Dreams With Owen Thiele and shared one of the most casually brutal ex-boyfriend confessions in recent memory.
The host asked if she’d ever consider being a basketball wife. She smiled and answered honestly.
“My ex is now in the NBA. When we dated, he was in high school and college. I broke up with him before he was in the league because he was a psychopath.”
One word. And the internet lost its mind.
Madison Pettis calls her ex-boyfriend Michael Porter Jr a psychopath 💀 pic.twitter.com/HbGgx05yFt
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) March 11, 2026
Who She’s Talking About
Pettis and Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. dated from late 2016 into mid-2017, well before his 14th-overall selection by the Denver Nuggets in 2018.
She never volunteered the name but fans connected the dots in minutes. She sounded like someone stating an old truth she’d long since made peace with.
The clip quickly spread online, with fans revisiting Porter’s past comments about dating and women.
This Isn’t Happening in a Vacuum
If this were the only data point, you could debate it. But Porter has spent the past two years building a secondary reputation that gives Pettis’s verdict a lot of room to breathe.
On the One Night with Steiny podcast, he admitted he plays Andrew Tate videos for women he’s dating as a screening tool. He then clarified, unprompted, that he doesn’t consider himself a misogynist.
On his own podcast, Curious Mike, he said his relationship with God had drifted. He admitted that he struggles with “a pull of the flesh,” and listed women as his primary vice, comparing his own battles to his brother Jontay’s gambling addiction, which ended in a lifetime NBA ban and federal charges.
Put it together and a picture emerges. He’s not a villain, but someone whose approach to women is unconventional at best.
What Pettis Did Next
After calling Porter a “psychopath,” she didn’t follow with a rant. Pettis said she still appreciates athletes and wouldn’t rule out dating one again. That’s not someone trying to burn a man down. She simply answered a question honestly and moved on.
The clip spread because a single word, delivered calmly and without drama, hit harder than a 10-minute rant ever could.
On the Court
Porter is in the midst of a career year in his first season with the Nets, scoring around 24 points per game. He’s emerged as one of the better scorers in the Eastern Conference, albeit on a team that is 31 games below .500.
But his performance on the court hasn’t taken the spotlight away from his behaviour off of it.
Both things can be true. He can be a productive NBA player and a difficult partner.
The Bottom Line
No screenshots. No long story. No attempt to convince anyone.
Just one word from someone who knew him before the NBA.
And years later, the public version of Michael Porter Jr. has done plenty of the explaining for her.
