Smallville’s Allison Mack Breaks Silence on NXIVM Sex Cult Branding, Slave Punishment: ‘I Was Abusive’

Mack played Chloe Sullivan on the WB show from 2001 to 2011, before going on to hold a high-level position in the brutal cult that framed itself as a self-help group but was actually revealed as a sex-trafficking organization. 

Mack first became involved with NXIVM in 2006 after attending a two-day introduction to a women’s group called “Jness,” before eventually rising to second-in-command of DOS in 2015, the so-called “female empowerment” sub-sect that was primarily a method for trafficking women for founder and leader Keith Raniere.

DOS was designed as a pyramid of female slaves reporting to Raniere at the top. The women were told the brand represented the four elements, but it was actually Raniere’s initials. Meanwhile DOS stood for Dominus Obsequious Sororium, which one member reportedly said meant “master over slave women,” per The Daily Beast at the time.

Speaking out on the Canadian Broadcast Company’s new podcast, Uncover: Allison After NXIVM, Mack first opened up about her mindset before joining the group.

She shared with journalist Natalie Robehmed that while she was on Smallville, she dated a “rock star” who would “hit himself” and “cut his own face” whenever they fought. She claimed that while dating him, it was also “the first time that I got someone’s initials burned into my body,” after getting his initials tattooed on her chest when she was 20.

“He had gotten a big ‘A’ tattooed on his chest, and then it was like, ‘If you loved me, you would get the same thing. If you loved me, you would do this,'” she said. “So then to prove to him my love for him, to try and make it so that he didn’t hurt himself again, I got tattooed on my chest — and all the while I’m on Smallville, so it was crazy.”

After she got out of that relationship, she formed a bond with costar Kristin Kreuk, said Mack, claiming Kreuk was the one who first got her into the group. Kreuk, however, claimed to have left before it evolved into an alleged sex cult; she has denied any knowledge or involvement with the organization’s alleged illegal activities and has not been charged with anything.

“The accusations that I was in the ‘inner circle’ or recruited women as ‘sex slaves’ are blatantly false,” Kreuk said back in 2018. “During my time, I never experienced any illegal or nefarious activity. I am horrified and disgusted by what has come out about DOS.”

“‘It’s the science of joy, it’s the most amazing thing. It’s made everything so much better in my life. You’ve got to do this,'” Mack said Kreuk told her, claiming NXIVM and its leaders — Raniere and his wife Nancy — were “all she could talk about.”

“Kristin was like, ‘There is an organization, Keith’s Creative, it’s just for women and they’re doing a weekend. And I think you should do it. I think you’d really like it,'” said Mack, who would go on to meet Raniere and then go all in on NXIVM.

In the third episode, Mack opened up about how she showed her devotion to Raniere, including wearing a cilice — a strap with spikes on it usually worn for religious penance.

“You wrap that around your body, so it’s poking you, stabbing you all day. I used to wear that around my waist, under my clothes if I overate, as like a punishment,” she said.

After that, came the branding, with Mack claiming it had been done by a cauterizing pen, without any pain meds or numbing cream.

“My body was like shaking, in shock … but I was so good at cutting that off and focusing on what I was doing, like, I’m not going to feel this right now, disassociate completely,” she recalled. “When other women would say, ‘That’s really painful,’ I was like, ‘What do you mean? It’s fine. It’s just another day.'”

Per Robehmed, Mack said that from 2015 to 2016, Rainiere was having sex with her “every day,” claiming he told her it was to help her with “healing” from past trauma. She was then allegedly told to recruit others, so he could heal them as well, with Mack admitting she did use her celebrity status to bring other women into the group.

“I think that I capitalized on the things I had. And so the success I had as an actor, I think I did capitalize on that, yeah,” said Mack. “And it was a power tool that I had to get people to do what I wanted … I think that I was very effective in moving Keith’s vision forward.”

Speaking about some of the “punishments” the “slaves” would be subjected to, Mack said it included cold showers and holding a plank for an extended period of time. She also said she once “assigned” a woman to do whatever Raniere said, before the woman claimed she was made to lay naked on a table, blindfolded, before oral sex was performed on her. “You’re really brave,” Mack said she told the woman after, while thinking that “blew my mind” at the time.

When asked what she would say to claims she was a “harsh monster,” Mack said it’s true.

“I was not kind and I was aggressive and I was abusive,” Mack admitted. “Yes, I didn’t hold anybody down and physically force anybody into anything, but I was aggressive emotionally … I was harsh and I was callous and I was aggressive and forceful in ways that were painful for people and did make people feel like they had no choice and was incredibly abusive to people, traumatic for people.”

She also claimed Raniere would make the women take “close up pictures of our bodies” to send him, before getting choked up while recalling the alleged threesomes she participated in with Rainiere and another woman named Dani.

“I got involved with her and him a few times and that was always like, ‘What the f–k am I doing? This feels so weird,” said Mack. “But again, in my head, it’s just because you’re so limited in your ability to love. Sex is just an extension of love and why are you so limited you can only feel love for a person in this one small way.”

She insisted that, at the time, she didn’t think what was happening was sexual assault, saying they were conditioned to believe everything was consensual.

Mack added that she started to hear about things happening with other women, some of whom allegedly were recording videos of themselves paddling each other, which were then sent to Raniere. She and Robehmed also said that the branding started to become more of a ritual over time, with some 20-30 women getting the initials on them. Per Mack, the women would have to say, “Master, will you please brand me,” before it was done.

For her part, Mack pleaded guilty in 2019 to charges of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy for allegedly helping to recruit women into the cult, including some who were branded with founder Keith Raniere’s initials, and gathering blackmail “collateral” to help keep them complicit. She was sentenced to three years and served 21 months until her release in July 2023. Raniere, meanwhile, is currently serving a 120-year sentence for his crimes.