Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
'Dynasty' Actress Catherine Oxenberg Fights To Save Daughter India From 'Terrifying Cult' NXIVM
Catherine Oxenberg says her 27-year-old daughter India is part of NXIVM, an alleged cult which brands women and uses them as sex slaves.
"Dynasty" actress Catherine Oxenberg says she is trying to rescue her 27-year-old daughter India from NXIVM, the same alleged sex cult that "Smallville" actress Allison Mack has been accused of participating in.
Oxenberg, 56, sat down for two interviews to promote her upcoming book, Captive: A Mother’s Crusade to Save Her Daughter from a Terrifying Cult, set to air Monday on "Dateline NBC" and Tuesday on "Megyn Kelly Today."
Oxenberg admits it was to introducing her daughter to the notorious organization.
"I brought her in. And that’s why I feel responsible for getting her out," Oxenberg told Kelly in a clip posted on Page Six. "At first I felt horrendous guilt that I had participated in bringing my daughter into an organization that was this deviant and dangerous. And then I started to educate myself. And I spoke to numerous experts. And they said, ‘Would you stop blaming yourself? These cults are well-oiled machines. And India never stood a chance.’"
In another newly released clip, Oxenberg tells "Dateline NBC"that a friend, who also allegedly joined the cult, called Oxenberg and told her, ‘You need to save India,' She said they had signed a lifetime vow of obedience to the master.”
In April, Mack was arrested by federal authorities for her alleged role as in the alleged cult. Mack, 36, faces charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor. She was ordered held without bail and has since been released on $5 million bail.
“Under the guise of female empowerment, she starved women until they fit her co-defendant’s sexual feminine ideal,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Kim Penza told judge Cheryl Pollak, referring to Keith Raniere, who allegedly led the cult. He was arrested in March and charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy. Raniere is being held without bail and his requests for a bond have been denied.
Mack reportedly joined the alleged sex cult in 2006. Over the years, she eventually allegedly became a high-ranked “slave master” who allegedly recruited more members, all under the guise of a women’s self-help organization.
Raniere and Mack each face a minimum of 15 years behind bars if convicted.
Oxenberg said she and her daughter attended a 2011 NXIVM seminar, that she thought would help India start a business. Raniere spoke at that event.
NXIVM, which is based in Albany, New York, was founded by Raniere in 2003 and it describes itself on its website as “a community guided by humanitarian principles that seek to empower people and answer important questions about what it means to be human.”
In a 2017 New York Times story, a former member claimed that NXIVM members were branded and forced to become sex slaves.
[Photo: Getty Images]