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Rev. David Bassette, a Pentecostal minister in Fulton, N.Y., and Crystal DiGregorio, a former adult movie actress, are getting married.
(Provided photo)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Crystal DiGregorio and Dave Bassette fell in love at church.
It sounds almost cliche, but theirs is a union no one -- including them -- would have expected. The Oswego woman is a former adult movie actress. He is a Pentecostal minister in Fulton.
"I never saw myself going this extreme," said DiGregorio, who now works as a paralegal and only wear skirts that go past her knees. "But God leads you in these directions."
DiGregorio, 30, went by the name Nadia Hilton in her movies. She made her last film in June. She's done with the x-rated movies forever now, she said.
DiGregorio and Bassette starting dating in August.
She had started going to church at Oswego River of Life, where Bassette's father is the minister. DiGregorio noticed Bassette when he came there to perform some baptisms over the summer. But she didn't think of dating him.
Bassette, 23, was young for her.
Enter Jessica Reynolds, DiGregorio's sister. She's been friends with Bassette for years, he said, and thought the two of them would hit it off. Bassette said she didn't tell the two of them she was setting them up. Instead, she just invited them both to a card game without telling the other.
The chemistry was instant. They started dating immediately. And she started attending his smaller church: Pentecostals of Fulton.
Bassette said he loves that DiGregorio decided to change her life not for him, but for herself and for God.
DiGregorio had already left the adult movie business and stopped drinking when they met.
She said she had a life-changing moment when she crashed her car while driving drunk in March. A friend was supposed to drive, but was too drunk, so DiGregorio got behind the wheel. She crashed the car and broke her nose.
"I haven't had a drink since that date," she said. "It was a wake-up call for me."
Bassette impressed DiGregorio because he was good, kind and hard-working. Aside from being a minister, he also works at Time-Warner cable. But the thing that topped her list: "He loves my kids. He's really good to my kids."
She has two sons, 5 and 14.
Bassette said he doesn't worry much about DiGregorio's past.
"If Christ left it there, who am I to bring it out," Bassette said. "My past isn't that great, either."
He said their love is a little like Shakepeare's Romeo and Juliet. Some of her friends don't like him because they think she's being brainwashed. Some of his friends don't like her because of her past.
Neither of them care.
On Oct. 11, before heading home, Bassette dropped down on one knee and pulled a box out of his pocket. He cracked it open, showing a diamond ring surrounded by pink stones and asked DiGregorio to marry him.
"I cried," DiGregorio said. And then she said yes.
They're getting married Jan. 10, 2015, where they first met at his father's church in Oswego. Bassette's church in Fulton isn't quite big enough for the 400 people they're planning to invite.
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