“Dynasty” star Catherine Oxenberg and her daughter India are opening up about India’s experiences as an alleged victim of Keith Raniere and Allison Mack’s NXIVM sex cult.
India was introduced to Raniere’s organization when she was 19, under the pretense of a self-help group. The mother-and-daughter duo shared their alleged experiences in a new interview with “Good Morning America”.
“What I thought I was learning was self-help and personal growth. What I was learning was the opposite. It was inhumane,” India told the program. “It was a trap. And it was a ploy for Keith to enslave women for his own sexual desires.
“The relationship took a different turn and became sexual when I was commanded to do a seduction assignment. That was the beginning of continual sexual abuse and I didn’t see it as that at the time.”
India said Raniere and “Smallville” actress Mack made a deliberate effort to sever the bond between India and Catherine.
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.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE: #Dynasty actress’ daughter speaks out on alleged sex cult. India Oxenberg says she was brainwashed and branded with the initials of the group's founder and how her mom, Catherine Oxenberg, helped rescue her.@arobach https://t.co/Lt7l39AEUI pic.twitter.com/lbvFxpW5aP
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 13, 2020
“That was all strategic and we were unaware why they were doing that at the time. It is actually something I learned later on called parental alienation,” India shared. “I was too deeply in, I was scared and I was confused.”
That is years of grooming and when you are unaware it is so easy to be led astray especially by people who are masters at manipulation and these people were that. Especially Keith Raniere, he is a master of manipulation,” India continued. “He’s a predator.”
India spoke candidly about the alleged sexually and physically abusive elements of NXIVM, including being branded.
“I would describe that sexual relationship as rape. I had given collateral which automatically removes my choice, so I did not have the option to say no,” she said. “Saying no meant hurting my family or hurting my friends and I wasn’t gonna do that.
“That’s the real thing, is that we were told it was a symbol of the elements and that this was going to be a bonding experience. We were sleep-deprived, we were starved, we were coerced, you don’t just decide to be branded, you are coerced into being branded.”
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MORE HERE: https://t.co/x4bGHfjEb2
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 13, 2020
India spent seven years as a part of the alleged sex cult, departing the group after Raniere and Mack were arrested in 2018.
“It was stages of revelations and I started working with the deprogrammer who helped me tremendously,” India explained. “But you have to be open to it but you can’t force somebody to see the truth, they need to want to and I didn’t want to for the longest time.”
Oxenberg feared for her daughter’s safety.
“God, I lived in fear for probably two years but my faith has always been stronger than my fear, always,” she said. “I thought I could wake her up, I told her she was brainwashed and in a cult, I said I know about the cult, I don’t care if it’s about me, don’t let that be the reason you stay in.
“Getting somebody out of a cult… it’s very different from a drug intervention,” Oxenberg explained. “Their critical thinking has been taken away and so the process of working with a cult defector is to reawaken and reignite their critical thinking and stir a line of questioning to help them start to think for themselves. Very gentle and different.”