NEW YORK (NY)
Yahoo Celebrity
May 31, 2018
By Taryn Ryder
As Allison Mack awaits trial — or a plea deal — for her involvement in an alleged sex cult, federal prosecutors are likely interested in reading her new interview.
The Smallville actress, 35, spoke with the New York Times Magazine this winter as part of the publication’s deep dive into the self-help group Nxivm. The article, which was released on Wednesday, features interviews with many high-ranking Nxivm members — including its founder, Keith Raniere. It’s the first time in 14 years the group has granted access to a journalist.
Female members freely discuss a group within the group called DOS (short for a Latin phrase that roughly translates as “Master Over Slave Women”), which they describe as a “sorority.” Mack said DOS was “about women coming together and pledging to one another a full-time commitment to become our most powerful and embodied selves by pushing on our greatest fears, by exposing our greatest vulnerabilities, by knowing that we would stand with each other no matter what, by holding our word, by overcoming pain.”
It’s a group, she declared, that’s all about female empowerment. “I found my spine, and I just kept solidifying my spine every time I would do something hard,” Mack passionately declared.
Mack was so passionate about DOS, she said, that it was her idea to brand members with a cauterized pen. “I was like: ‘Y’all, a tattoo? People get drunk and tattooed on their ankle ‘BFF,’ or a tramp stamp. I have two tattoos and they mean nothing,’” she boasted, explaining she wanted to do something more meaningful and that took guts. (Members were held down and branded with a symbol that featured Raniere’s and Mack’s initials.)
The actress broke down how joining the sorority worked. The woman who invited you to the group was your master or the “representation of your conscience, your higher self, your most ideal.”
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