Allison Mack – the former actress best known for her role as Chloe Sullivan on Smallville – made headlines several years ago when her involvement with a far-reaching cult was revealed. The group in question was NXIVM, a sex-trafficking organization founded by Keith Raniere in 1998. Mack became a high-ranking member and was arrested and charged with various offenses, before beginning her prison stint in 2021. Now, Mack is shedding light on her duties within the cult and the impact those responsibilities had on her.
The 43-year-old Wilfred alum’s account of her experiences with the cult is being chronicled in a seven-part limited series podcast called Allison After NXIVM. As part of the show, Mack took part in conversations with Vanity Fair correspondent Vanessa Grigoriadis as well as her podcasting partner, Natalie Robehmed. During the talks, Mack gets candid about having been tasked by Keith Raniere to recruit other young women to their cause. On the podcast, Mack describes herself as the link between Raniere and the victims:
I was the go-between between him and this person. It was my job to relay what to do with him for her growth. The more she said, ‘I’m scared, I don’t want to do it,’ the more I would say, ‘You need to do it, and the longer you wait, the more consequences there will be.’ The coercion started, and the pressure and the pressure and the pressure…. And then it was like rape.
With NXIVM, Raniere established a caste system of sorts, which saw “slaves” educated on how to become totally submissive to their “masters.” Allison Mack was instrumental in finding new recruits, leading to the expansion of the cult. Other notable celebrities – like Smallville alum Callum Blue and Battlestar Galactica’s Nicki Clyne – also became involved at different points. While Mack admits in one episode of the podcast that she’s not abrasive by nature, she did manage to tap into assertiveness to get what (and who) she wanted:
I don’t like confrontation but, if there’s something I want, I’m very willing to go after it in a very aggressive way. I call it ‘the little dictator.’ When I was like five, playing with my brother and he wouldn’t do what I wanted him to do, the dictator came out. And I became very like, ‘You will do this,’ very willful and firm. And that part of my personality came out with my slaves, and that is a part of myself that I have to contend with, you know, and that’s where I went to prison for that.
Back in 2018, Mack was arrested by federal agents on charges of sex-trafficking, sex-trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy. Around that same time, alleged details on the star’s involvement in the cult were also divulged, including how she supposedly established the branding method for “slaves.” In 2021, Mack pled guilty to charges of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to three years in prison.
After her guilty plea, Allison Mack released a formal statement and apologized for her role in the cult. She eventually served time at Federal Correctional Institution and was ultimately released from prison early in 2023. Looking back on her position with NXIVM now, Mack – who also became intimately involved with the since-arrested Keith Raniere – can admit she was consumed with responsibilities she was given:
Yes, I was excited by the power that I felt having these young, beautiful women look to me and listen to me. And yes, the sexuality of it was exciting.
NXIVM’s exploits have been chronicled in multiple documentaries, with Allison Mack’s role in the organization being particularly highlighted in The Vow (which is streamable with an HBO Max subscription). Mack, who’s currently pursuing a master’s degree, expresses remorse over her actions today. As for how people react to her comments, she says that regardless of blowback, she now has the opportunity to “say it out loud.”
Episodes of Allison After NXIVM are being released weekly. However, listeners who subscribe to CBC True Crime Premium on Apple Podcasts or CBC True Crime’s YouTube channel can listen to the series in its entirety now.
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