Allison Mack, the former Smallville star who pleaded guilty to charges tied to her role as a top lieutenant to NXIVM founder Keith Raniere, is speaking out for the first time since her release from prison in a new podcast, Allison After NXIVM.
The seven-part series premiered in full today, Nov. 10, via the CBC and Campside Media. It’s hosted by Natalie Robehmed and produced by Vanessa Grigoriadis, who wrote about NXIVM for The New York Times Magazine after Raniere’s arrest in 2018.
Mack, 43, sat for extensive interviews, speaking in detail about her career as a child actor, how she came to join NXIVM, and her time in the self-improvement group and multilevel marketing organization, which came to be widely described as a “sex cult.” Mack also discusses her plea deal and testifying at Raniere’s trial, which ended with his conviction on all charges (including sex trafficking, racketeering, and wire fraud conspiracy) and a 120-year prison sentence.
Mack was considered Raniere’s second-in-command and allegedly served as a “master” in DOS, a secret subset of NXIVM where members were referred to as “slaves,” branded with Mack and Raniere’s initials, and required to have sex with Raniere to prove their fealty. Mack and other “masters” allegedly recruited others for what was pitched as a “women’s empowerment group” and allegedly coerced recruits into providing “collateral,” such as nude images or sexually explicit videos.
The first episode of Allison After NXVIM opens with Mack recalling her 2021 sentencing hearing after she pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. She said she remembered thinking about her mother and brother, who were in the courtroom, as they all listened to statements from victims describing what Mack had done to them.
“I can take it, but fuck, you guys, I’m so sorry,’” Mack said of her family. “I think that was hard. I don’t see myself as innocent and they were.”
When she was eventually sentenced to three years in prison, the judge said that Mack had “capitalized” on her celebrity while working for Raniere. On the podcast, she agreed with this assessment, calling her fame “a power tool that I had to get people to do what I wanted.” She added: “I think that I was very effective in moving Keith’s vision forward.” (Mack was released from prison in 2023 after two years.)
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Speaking with Vanity Fair about the new series, Robehmed admitted she initially wasn’t interested in “being a tool in Allison Mack’s redemption arc” when when Grigoriadis came to her with the idea for the series. She changed her mind after speaking with Mack and finding her “surprisingly down to earth” and willing to speak openly about everything that happened.
“That was compelling to me, her willingness to grapple with the wrong she’s done,” Robehmed said.
From Rolling Stone US
