Allison Mack admits she used fame 'to get people to do what I wanted' in NXIVM cult

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Former Smallville star Allison Mack is speaking out for the first time about her role in the NXIVM sex cult on a new podcast, where she admits to using her fame as a "power tool" to "get people to do what" she wanted.

Mack is opening up for the first time since her incarceration on Uncover's Allison After NXIVM podcast, chronicling her involvement and recruitment of women for Keith Raniere's scandalous NXIVM group (which was the subject of HBO's docuseries The Vow).

Monday's first episode details Mack's introduction to the cult as well as when she was ultimately sentenced to three years in prison for her role in performing criminal acts including sex crimes, physical branding of female members, and lasting psychological damage to members. When speaking about the moment she was sentenced in court, Mack remembered the judge calling out "the fact that I seemed callous and laughed at people's pain and led people in negative directions, and that that was not acceptable."

When asked about using her celebrity to recruit and coerce women in NXIVM, Mack said, "I think that I capitalized on the things I had. And so the success I had as an actor, I think I did capitalize on that, yeah. And it was a power tool that I had to get people to do what I wanted... I think that I was very effective in moving Keith's vision forward."

In June 2021, a judge ruled that Mack must serve three years in federal prison and pay a fine of $20,000 after she pleaded guilty to racketeering, manipulating women into becoming sex slaves for Raniere, led women to be branded with Raniere's initials, and was a "master" overseeing women who were her slaves. She was released from prison one year early, roughly two years into her three-year sentence, in July 2023.

In her podcast interview, Mack claimed she dated a toxic "rock star" boyfriend early on while filming Smallville who would spend all her money, "hit himself," and "cut his own face" during arguments. (She would not reveal his name publicly.)

"That was the first time that I got someone's initials burned into my body," Mack said. "I got his initial tattooed on my chest when I was 20. He had gotten a big 'A' tattooed on his chest, and then it was like, 'If you loved me, you would get the same thing. If you loved me, you would do this.' So then to prove to him my love for him, to try and make it so that he didn't hurt himself again, I got tattooed on my chest, and all the while I'm on Smallville, so it was crazy."

Mack said she was a "mess" during that time, and it took her three years "to get out" from that relationship. Soon after, she formed a close friendship with Smallville costar Kristin Kreuk, where they traveled the world and spent a lot of their free time together. Mack claimed it was Kreuk who first got her interested in NXIVM after taking a "life coaching course" from the company.

"'It's the science of joy, it's the most amazing thing. It's made everything so much better in my life. You've got to do this,'" Mack claimed Kreuk told her. "It was like all she could talk about... She had a coach and she was talking about Vanguard and Prefect, which are the names that you called Keith and [his wife] Nancy [Salzman, co-founder of NXIVM], at the time. Kristin was like, 'There is an organization, Keith's Creative, it's just for women and they're doing a weekend. And I think you should do it. I think you'd really like it.'"

Mack detailed the first weekend she attended a NXIVM course and how she liked "the curriculum" and how they "were learning about honesty and what does it mean to be honest."

After the weekend ended, Mack accepted Salzman's invitation to go on her private plane to Albany to meet Raniere. Her first meeting with the cult leader happened during a midnight volleyball game, where men played and women watched on the sidelines.

"Keith came over and they introduced him to me," Mack remembered. "I wasn't expecting, like, some big, studly, like, I didn't think, 'Whoa, he's so hot.' I thought, 'He's an older, geeky dude.' He looked like somebody that my dad did opera with when I was in Germany. He just looked like a normal white dude, and I mean, yes, he's a total geek with his headband and his glasses and his volleyball thing, whatever."

Mack said she was told that NXIVM members considered Raniere to be "the smartest man in the world," and he "blew" her "mind" by explaining that "art is a reflection of whoever you are and whatever you are inside," which made her cry during their first interaction.

In October 2020, Raniere, 65, was sentenced to 120 years in prison in Brooklyn federal court, in addition to being ordered to pay a $1.75 million fee. He was previously convicted in June 2019 of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, attempted sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, and wire fraud conspiracy.

Ahead of her 2021 sentencing, Mack released a statement regarding her involvement with the cult. "I threw myself into the teachings of Keith Raniere with everything I had," she wrote at the time. "I believed, whole-heartedly, that his mentorship was leading me to a better, more enlightened version of myself. I devoted my loyalty, my resources, and, ultimately, my life to him. This was the biggest mistake and regret of my life."