Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg opens up on daughter’s ordeal in sex cult

Alleged sex cult NXIVM brainwashed many high-profile stars, including the daughter of actor Catherine Oxenberg, who has opened up about the horrifying experience.

Former Dynasty actor Catherine Oxenberg is grateful she was able to save her daughter India from the alleged sex cult, NXIVM.

The 58-year-old will share her story in an upcoming documentary for the series True Hollywood Story that will air on Foxtel channel E! on Wednesday at 7.30pm.

NXIVM’s female members were invited from the upper echelons of the multi-level marketing company that offered “professional development” seminars throughout the Americas. It would take years for those members to realise what NXIVM really was — a cult designed to satisfy the sexual deviance of its founder, Keith Raniere.

Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg and her daughter India, who was brainwashed by NXIVM.

Former Smallville star Allison Mack was revealed to have been a senior figure within the group as well as several other high-profile people.

The women were branded with Raniere’s initials in secret ceremonies — but not before they provided “collateral”, surrendering compromising photos and videos to ensure they could never leave the group.

They willingly obliged, convinced they were signing up for something that would change their lives for the better.

RELATED: Allison Mack’s role in NXIVM revealed

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“The last thing I wanted to do was expose my daughter publicly,” Oxenberg recently told Closer Weekly.

“It was a last resort because I failed at an intervention, and the fear was I could lose her forever. I knew she could be sitting where Allison Mack is now, facing years in jail. At times I lost hope.

“I was convinced the moment that Keith Raniere was arrested that that would wake her up, but that failed.

“There were many times I didn’t have hope, and my life was threatened. But then the Government called my lawyers and said ‘we want Catherine to know we’re moving in with the FBI aggressively’. That was the moment when I had hope.”

Allison Mack after a bail hearing in relation to the sex-trafficking charges filed against her on May 4, 2018 in New York City. Picture: Jemal Countess/Getty Images/AFP

Back in 2011, Oxenberg and India, who is 28 today, attended a NXIVM class after a friend of the actor told her about a life-changing course conducted by the group.

Oxenberg wasn’t that interested after the initial introduction but India was, and she wanted to continue the program with her mum.

India became increasingly drawn to the group and even donated the majority of her inheritance to NXIVM.

It took several years for India to finally leave NXIVM in 2017.

“India is very committed to her healing process,” said Oxenberg about her daughter today. “She understands what happened to her and she is empowered. I’m doing everything that I can to spend time with my other girls.

“I tapped into a quality of maternal strength that I didn’t know I had. That I would be willing to risk my life for my child. I know myself better, and I have become a more courageous person as a result of my ordeal.”

Raniere, 58, was found guilty in June of sex trafficking and coercing women into sex. Prosecutors told jurors that Raniere — known to his followers as “Vanguard” and revered as “the smartest man in the world” — was actually a creepy conman who barely passed his classes at college.

According to testimony, Raniere’s “slaves” were forced to give up nude photos and other material as “collateral” to keep them in line.

Keith Raniere and Allison Mack's initials (KR and AM) are allegedly seen here. Picture: YouTube

Among the more damning allegations against Raniere were that he had some women branded with his initials, and he started having sex with a follower when she was 15.

Prosecutors said he took nude photos of the teen that were shown, one by one, to the eight women and four men on the jury.

Back in August 2018, Oxenberg claimed to Fox News that some of the women associated with NXIVM were put on strict diets that were 500 to 800 calories a day.

“Keith had a specific body type that he was attracted to, and he wanted women to be very thin, so they were on starvation diets,” she said, adding that a lot of the women in this subgroup were also “given an assignment to have sex with him”.

“They didn’t want to, but they felt obligated to because they felt like if they didn’t, if they said no to their master, then they were going to release this collateral. So at so many levels, this was just so wrong.”

Cult leader Keith Raniere. Picture: Keith Raniere Conversations/YouTube

Oxenberg, who found all of these details out within a two-week period, said the moment that she “completely lost” her mind was when she found out “they were branding the women with (Raniere’s) initials on their pubic area”.

After learning about the subgroup and what they were doing, Oxenberg took action.

“First to educate myself about cults, then to figure out how I was going to do an intervention, and then it’s kind of snowballed from there,” she said.

“It’s the most horrific group, touting itself as female empowerment … that’s how subversive it is.”

Oxenberg said her daughter was not a sex slave.

“That’s not her experience,” the actor said.

“And what she shared with me doesn’t seem like that that was her experience at all.”

To get her daughter out, Oxenberg took her battle public and let the world know she was trying to save India from NXIVM.

“There’s a chance she could never come out of this, and she’s too good to have that life. She deserves something better. So the risk that I took is permanent estrangement, and for over a year she wouldn’t talk to me. She was very, very angry that I had made this decision to expose he,” she said.

Oxenberg said NXIVM was ‘the most horrific group’.

But for Oxenberg, it was all worth it. Now, India is back at home.

“She is such a brilliant, beautiful, young woman and she’s going to be more than OK,” Oxenberg said.

“And, ultimately, she will come out the wiser for it, and she will have a gift to offer for the world because of what she’s been through and because of the depth of her experience.”

“I have to also respect that this was her journey,” Oxenberg added.

“And, eventually, I will understand why she chose to go through this and what gift she has to offer the world as a result of this.”

— Fox News’ Mariah Haas and The Associated Press contributed to this report