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“Smallville” actress Allison Mack broke her silence Monday about working with NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere.
In the seven-episode CBC podcast, “Allison After NXIVM,” the former child actor described how Raniere convinced her that a physical relationship was required to “heal” her.
Raniere, a self-improvement guru whose organization attracted millionaires and actresses among its supporters, was sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020 after being convicted on seven counts that included racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and attempted sex trafficking.
FORMER ‘SMALLVILLE’ ACTRESS ALLISON MACK RELEASED FROM PRISON EARLY IN NXIVM SEX-SLAVE CASE
“Smallville” actress Allison Mack described the manipulation tactics she endured under NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
After Mack confided in a NXIVM friend that she was struggling with her sexuality, the actress was encouraged to speak to Raniere about her personal life.
“So that’s when I approached Keith and I said, ‘I feel like I really struggle with my sexuality,’” Mack remembered. “‘I think that there were things that happened when I was a kid that weren’t OK. I can’t feel myself connecting to my sexuality. I feel ashamed of my body and my sexuality. Like, I don’t understand how I can get around this.’ And he was like, ‘Well, I can help you with that.’”
Mack added, “He said, ‘But in order for me to help you with that, we’re going to have to be physically intimate because it’s an experiential problem that you’re having.'”
ACTRESS ALLISON MACK SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS IN NXIVM SEX-SLAVE CASE
“‘So I can’t just theoretically help you through it. You have to have the experience of going through it.'”
Allison Mack claimed the NXIVM leader forced her to be “physically intimate” to help answer her sexuality questions. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
Somehow, Rainere’s proposal made sense to Mack through the NXIVM lens, which is how their physical relationship began.
She remembered thinking “this is f—ing weird” as the intimacy began, but also found solace in believing that Raniere was going to help her through his own therapeutic modality.
“He’s my teacher, and he’s going to help me,” Mack recalled. “He called it energy work, so when he was sleeping with you, he would say, ‘I’m moving energy through your body, like Tantric kind of a thing.'”
Raniere’s manipulation tactics and the NXIVM curriculum caused Mack to believe she was the problem.
NXIVM leader Keith Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison in 2020 after being convicted on federal sex crimes. (YouTube)
“In my head, I’m going, ‘This is weird,’” she said, before attempting to justify her own thoughts to prove “how dysfunctional” she was.
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“This is the safest man that you could be with, and this is a person that just wants to take care and love you. He doesn’t even want anything from you, he just wants to make sure that you’re OK.”
Mack was released early from prison in 2023 after serving two years of a three-year term for federal racketeering and conspiracy charges.
The actress was arrested in 2018 on federal charges for her involvement in NXIVM. Shortly after her arrest, Mack posted a $5 million bond.
Allison Mack pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and conspiracy charges. (Jane Rosenberg)
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Mack initially faced between 14-17.5 years in prison, but managed to reduce her prison sentence by cooperating with federal authorities in the case against Raniere.
Mack assisted prosecutors by detailing how Raniere created the private organization. Raniere branded women with his initials, brainwashed and forced them to have sex with him.
She expressed her “remorse and guilt” before sentencing in federal court, and admitted she made decisions she would “forever regret.”
“I am sorry to those of you that I brought into NXIVM,” Mack said in a statement to the court in June 2021. “I am sorry I ever exposed you to the nefarious and emotionally abusive schemes of a twisted man. From the deepest part of my heart and soul, I am sorry.”
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