In April, former CW star Allison Mack was indicted by federal authorities on three counts of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor. In the scandal that followed, the former fan favorite actor became the centerpiece of a shocking new chapter in Hollywood’s history of cults.
Mack’s involvement in the supposed sex cult hiding within New Age pyramid scheme Nxivm (pronounced Nex-ee-um … yes, like the heartburn medication) was punctuated with claims that the actor participated and even spearheaded multiple instances of sexual assault and forced imprisonment as well as the branding of several women. The initial reports have painted Mack to be a monster in active cooperation with Nxivm’s founder, Keith Raniere.
In a new article from The Hollywood Reporter, however, authors Scott Johnson and Rebecca Sun chart the actor’s path from bubbly Smallville star to the felon she became, and the portrait illustrates a woman who turned herself inside out to become the figure Raniere wanted.
According to reports from Mack’s associates, Nxivm’s founder kept a harem of women over which he held full sway. He insisted the women keep to a strict diet of 900 calories a day and often blamed his own impotence on them being too heavy. Though she never admitted to being intimate with Raniere, Mack’s closest associates recognized the physical traits that came to define the actor. As one anonymous source explained:
“She had a gray pallor that was common to Keith’s women because they all start to get a little sickly. I know I did. They drop weight. Their heads get too big for their bodies, so they become bobbleheads. It’s scary-looking.”
Even as she became Nxivm’s most high-profile victim, Mack was reportedly engaging in brutal tactics designed to keep Nxivm’s “slaves” in line.
Allison Mack’s involvement in Nxivm is still a hotly debated subject. Is she a victim? An architect? Or both? As the date of the trial looms, some suspect that the answer may be revealed shortly.