Smallville Actress Denies Recruiting Women For An Alleged Sex Cult

After Keith Raniere, the founder of alleged sex cult NXIVM, was charged with sex trafficking earlier this week, rumors started circulating that Smallville's Kristin Kreuk had a hand in recruiting and grooming the women who became sex slaves. On Thursday night Kreuk took to Twitter to vehemently deny these reports, and fellow actress (and silence-breaker in the original New York Times exposé about the organization) Sarah Edmondson, has corroborated that Kreuk was not involved in the "weird" aspects that were reported.

In October of 2017, the New York Times reported the alleged details behind the "Executive Success Programs" hosted by NXIVM that victims say is a front for an inner-circle belonging to Raniere that involved branding, meal restriction, sex, and blackmail.

"I wept the whole time," Edmondson said of her branding. "I disassociated out of my body."

Kreuk was accused by Frank Parlato of luring women into the cult, but the actress took to Twitter to say that while she was a part of the cult, she left five years ago and was never involved in "illegal or nefarious activity."

"When I was about 23, I took an Executive Success Programs/NXIVM 'intensive,' what I understood to be a self-help/personal growth course that helped me handle my previous shyness, which is why I continued with the program. I left about five years ago and have had minimal contact with those who were still involved," the statement read. "The accusations that I was in the 'inner circle' or recruited women as 'sex slaves' are blatantly false. During my time, I never experienced any illegal or nefarious activity."

She went on to express her support for the victims who have come forward.

Edmondson backed up Kreuk's claims, writing, "For the record, my dear friend @MsKristinKreuk was never in the inner circle of #NXIVM. She never recruited sex slaves and has been out since 2013 before shit got weird. She is a lovely person who should not be dragged into this mess. Thank you."

The full details of the accusations can be found here.

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