Inside Hollywood's Evil Sex​​​​​​​ Cult

Under the guise of running a self-help group, Keith Raniere allegedly turned his female followers – a TV star and a billionaire heiress among them – into brainwashed “slaves”. Barbara McMahon reports on the trial that’s gripping America

- Barbara McMahon

Allison Mack, known as much for her bubbly, enthusiastic personality as for her work on the TV series Smallville, was the perfect person to spread the word about a feminist mentoring program. She was passionate about the advantages it had given her and tweeted to actress Emma Watson and singer Kelly Clarkson that both women would benefit by joining. “I’m a fellow actress like yourself and involved in an amazing women’s movement I think you’d dig,” she tweeted to Watson in January 2016. “I’d love to chat if you’re open.”

Mack was busy recruiting even when she was auditioning. Actress Samia Shoaib, who appeared in the films The Sixth Sense and Pi, recalled Mack as persistent in trying to recruit her at a casting call in Manhattan. “She told me, ‘It’s a bunch of women. We go on a retreat and we share our experiences and support each other,’” Shoaib said on American television. “Looking back, it was a very contrived effort, but at the time she seemed so sincere.”

None of the women joined, which is just as well, because the 36-year old blonde is now under house arrest on $6.8 million bail, having been accused of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labour while operating as a high-ranking member of the so-called self help group she was a part of. Today, she wears an ankle bracelet and appeared at a preliminary hearing in May. If found guilty of the charges, she could face life in jail.

It is the latest development in the strange story of a secret sorority – or cult – called NXIVM (pronounced “nexium”), which has entangled a bizarre set of characters, from Hollywood actresses to billionaire heiresses to a shady leader by the name of Keith Raniere.