Allison Mack — the former “Smallville” star known for being the infamous architect of NXIVM leader Keith Raniere as Jeffrey Epstein’s Ghislaine Maxwell — finally tells her story on CBC’s new podcast, “Alison After NXIVM.” The seven-episode podcast, part of CBC’s “Uncover,” which premiered on Nov. 10, is hosted by Natalie Robemed and produced by Vanessa Grigoriadis of Campside Media.
Mack, now 43, was a child actor who grew up in Long Beach, Calif., and eventually moved to Vancouver to star in “Smallville,” the story of teenage Clark Kent. The show aired for nine seasons on The WB (later The CW) starting in 2001. In the first episode of “Alison After NXIVM,” she recalls going to her first NXIVM meeting through co-star Kristin Kreuk. I quickly accepted it in 2006 (and later fell under Raniere’s spell).
In the premiere episode, Robemed explains the goal of the podcast is to answer the question, “Who is Allison Mack? Is she a victim or someone who victimized others?” As “Allison After NXIVM” meticulously details, Mac is, of course, both victim and victim. She was completely brainwashed by Raniere and became part of his harem of women who catered to his every need. She had forced sex with him every day and left her life and career to move closer to NXIVM’s headquarters in Albany, New York.
However, as Raniere’s right-hand man, Mack was also the group’s ruthless taskmaster. She encouraged other women to go to Mr. Raniere for the same kind of sexual “assistance” he was giving her. That meant she was sending them off to be raped by him. Within the NXIVM women’s group DOS, which Raniere was secretly in charge of, Mack had “slaves” who dictated what (at a minimum) they ate, when they ate, and every action they took. She also recruited women to NXIVM. They include prominent former member India Oxenberg, whose mother, actor Katherine Oxenberg, was one of the first to speak out about the cult.
For these charges, Mack served nearly two years in federal prison and was released in July 2023. He said on the podcast that it was during the prosecution that he slowly began to wake up to what Mr. Raniere had done and what he had done under Mr. Raniere’s spell.
NXIVM’s abuses were first widely exposed in October 2017 in a New York Times investigation titled “Inside the secret groups where women are stigmatized.” In the article, NXIVM whistleblower Sarah Edmondson, who was at DOS, detailed her experiences within the group. After this story, the winds turned against Raniere, and he was arrested in Mexico in 2018 (Mack was also on the premises).
The HBO documentary series The Vow, directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer, premiered in August 2020 and became a pandemic success, popularizing the cult’s story. In both The Vow and its second season in 2022, Mack was a shadowy, mysterious figure (directed by Raniere who filmed the whole thing), often in the background. Raniere was convicted in 2019 and is currently serving a 120-year sentence for sex trafficking, extortion and fraud.
“Allison After NXIVM” begins with Mack recounting the day of her sentencing in June 2021, in which she says her family had to listen to what she had done. “Oh my god, my poor little brother behind me now has to hear about his sister,” she says tearfully. “Poor mom! I’m so sorry, you guys. I can stand it, but damn it, you guys, I’m so sorry. I don’t think I’m innocent, and neither were they.”
The story depicts Mac, who is married and earning a master’s degree in social work. The carefully publicized project, as is often the case, received backlash online for giving Mack a platform. But as Robemed says in the first episode, “It Happened in Vancouver,” Mack had received countless offers to tell her story, all of which she had turned down.
“Alison has not spoken publicly since she was incarcerated,” Robemed said. “She’s had a lot of offers, but she’s always turned them down. Until now. She loves podcasts and doesn’t like being in front of the camera like she used to anymore, so she wants to tell her story in podcast form.”
Of course, there are more easy-going platforms that Mack could have chosen, and those who do listen will find that ‘Allison After NXIVM’ challenges Mack at every turn. Additionally, this podcast includes the first interview with Lauren Saltzman, daughter of NXIVM co-founder Nancy Saltzman. Salzman was sentenced to prison and five years of probation in 2021 after pleading guilty and testifying against Raniere (who was also his girlfriend) at trial.
