Her daughter India had joined Nxivm after attending a meeting with her mother in 2011.
- Aug 8, 2018
AceShowbiz - Actress Catherine Oxenberg is rebuilding her relationship with her daughter after rescuing her from a controversial cult.
The former Dynasty star revealed last year (17) that her daughter India had joined Nxivm, after attending a meeting with her mother in 2011.
Catherine found what they were calling a female empowerment group "weird and creepy", but she later discovered India had become a member of the organisation, which also had a sub-group, Dominus Obsequious Sororium (DOS), in which women were allegedly forced to perform sex acts for their male masters.
The difference of opinion caused a rift in their mother-daughter relationship, and Oxenberg subsequently tried to use her public platform to urge authorities to investigate Nxivm's co-founder, Keith Raniere.
In March, he was arrested on sex trafficking and forced labour counts in Mexico. Smallville actress Allison Mack, who is accused of serving as his second-in-command, was also arrested and charged.
Catherine tried to reach out to her 27-year-old daughter upon learning of Raniere's arrest, and in June, they were reunited.
The veteran actress has detailed the fight to rescue her child in a new book, titled Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from a Terrifying Cult, and in a candid interview on breakfast show Today, Oxenberg admits she fears what would have happened to India had she not sounded the alarm in the media.
"I had to be willing to risk my relationship with her, in order to get her out, and I did try and do it quietly...," she told presenter Megyn Kelly. "Nothing worked, and then I had to get more public, because it was my only resource, and it was awful... exposing her was awful; very, very painful...".
"If I hadn't done what I'd done, maybe my daughter India would be sitting where Allison is sitting today, and I couldn't take that risk," she added.
Oxenberg, who claims she received death threats as she spoke out about Nxivm, reveals India is now focused on a fresh start, and is "moving on with her life".
