Allison Mack, the “Smallville” actress accused of being part of a sex cult, is probably wishing she could delete the Internet right now.
An old YouTube video of Mack from 2013, which you can watch above, shows her discussing Jness, which is said to be a subgroup or an affiliate of the larger NXIVM organization, with praise and adulation. NXIVM, which is pronounced “NEX-ee-um,” billed itself as a self-help and empowerment organization. Prosecutors claim the group engaged in sex trafficking. The group’s leader, Keith Raniere, has denied wrongdoing. Raniere and Mack are both charged separately with sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy and forced labor conspiracy.
Mack, who was released Tuesday on $5 million bond, is accused of working as a “slave master” who recruited women to NXIVM.
Here’s some of what Mack said in the video with regards to the alleged subgroup or affiliate Jness:
I want to be remembered for my joy. I want to be remembered for my spirit. I want to be remembered for my compassion and my passion. I want to be remembered for the things that are most important to me. I want to be remembered for the way I impacted people. I want to be remembered as a woman who was honest and true and strong, and joyful, committed, and loving. That’s what I want to be remembered for. Yeah, I want to be remembered for the relationships I had and the ways I was able to increase the lightness in the world.
Working for Jness I think is the most gratifying thing I’ve ever done. It’s the most challenging thing I’ve ever done because it consists of working with a group of people in a way that is totally interdependent, meaning, we’re all working together and no one is ever punished and no one is ever told that they’re wrong or they’re bad. The most important thing in working on Jness is the relationships in Jness. I’m not used to that. I’m used to the objective being met; I’m used to having strict, hard, fast deadlines, and lots of fear and punishment if I didn’t get it right. Working for Jness, there isn’t any of that. So, it comes purely from a place of self-motivation.
[ . . . ]
Working for Jness is the most satisfying and purposeful thing I’ve ever done. Watching the women who are in Jness completely transform and evolve in a way that is so pure . . . that is such a privilege. Really, literally, seeing people’s life paths completely turn 180 degrees where in one moment they really felt like this was all they had and this was all that they could do and then, all of sudden, they come through Jness and they start working with us and in our community and it’s like a whole another life is born out of their new experience with themselves. That’s an incredibly satisfying and gratifying thing to do. I think it’s challenging because I think Jness is an organization that looks to all participants to be 100% responsible for themselves and their lives. So, it makes it hard to blame people for mistakes that are made when you’re always looking at your own responsibility and participation in a situation. That’s just hard for my ego and my pride. I think if the whole world operated that way, we’d have a more joyful and a much more efficient existence. All the time we spend blaming others is a little ridiculous. Working for Jness is grounding and satisfying and humbling and wonderful.
She further discussed Jness in a blog post, which is cached, but has since been removed. In the post, Mack called the “guidance” provided to women “a profound educational curriculum.”
“Women in Jness have a beautiful opportunity to build and deepen their relationships with themselves and others through the guidance of a profound educational curriculum run by small groups of women who meet weekly to share and explore questions and concepts,” she wrote. “The process deepens their understanding of their inner world and experiences and as an effect, many women begin to have a greater understanding of the secret, honest world of femaleness.”
More of the blog is cached here.
Mack pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
[Image via YouTube screengrab]
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