Il seguente articolo contiene menzione di violenza sessuale.
È stato uno scandalo che molti hanno ritenuto oscuro anche per gli angoli più profondi di Hollywood. Dopo molti anni di accuse e una lunga indagine, l’allume di “Smallville” Allison Mack è stata condannata a tre anni di carcere nel giugno 2021 per il suo ruolo nella setta sessuale NXIVM. Accusato nel 2019 di racket e cospirazione per commettere racket, l’attore si è unito per la prima volta a NXIVM nel 2006 prima di salire al ruolo della mano destra del leader Keith Raniere, secondo The Guardian. Promuovendosi superficialmente come gruppo di auto-miglioramento, NXIVM era, in realtà, un culto del marketing multilivello. Mack e altri membri di alto livello attirerebbero altre donne affinché si unissero alla società segreta di NXIVM, Dominus Obsequious Sororium (che, in latino, si traduce vagamente in “maestro delle compagne obbedienti”), o DOS. Tra gli atti subiti dalle donne all’interno del DOS c’erano il marchio delle iniziali di Raniere sui loro corpi, atti sessuali forzati e assunzione di cibo limitata.
Allison Mack was suffering impostor syndrome when she joined NXIVM
According to a 2017 interview with Vanessa Grigoriadis, Allison Mack joined NXIVM while facing a case of impostor syndrome. "I moved to Albany [NXIVM's headquarters] to fill that emptiness and find the soul of myself again," Mack explained in the interview, which was re-released on a December 26 episode of Grigoriadis and Gabriel Sherman's podcast, "Infamous: Inside America's Biggest Scandals." As Mack recounted, she asked NXIVM ringleader Keith Raniere "if he would help me become a great actress again because I felt like I was a fraud."
Although she later helped prosecutors dismantle NXIVM's criminal empire, Mack denied accusations of criminal wrongdoing in 2017. Mack insisted to Grigoriadis that Raniere was "not the head of a harem" and that she was "not recruiting young, nubile women to be his sex slaves." The "Smallville" alum also likened her situation to a witch hunt, saying, "It's just like, throwing accusations and spreading like wildfire." Although she admitted to questioning her convictions after some friends called her "brainwashed," Mack still stayed with NXIVM.
As reported by Us Weekly in 2018, Mack attempted to recruit — to no avail — high-profile celebs such as Emma Watson and Kelly Clarkson. Mack reached out to the "Harry Potter" star via a tweet, writing that she was "involved in an amazing women's movement" to which Watson might take interest. Neither Watson nor Clarkson responded to her outreach.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
