Allison Mack is breaking her silence for the first time since she was released from prison.
The former actress is speaking out about her controversial past on the new podcast Allison After NXIVM which is made by CBC’s Uncover.
Here is everything you need to know about the former star whose life was derailed after she joined Hollywood’s infamous sex cult…
Who is Allison Mack?
In 2001, Allison Mack burst onto the screen with a starring role on teen Superman prequel series Smallville.
The actress played Chloe Sullivan, the plucky journo on her highschool paper who was also best friends with Clark Kent (Tom Welling).
So popular on the show, she even got her own spin-off series called Smallville: Chloe Chronicles.
In her new podcast interview, Mack claimed she was first introduced to NXIVM by co-star Kristin Kreuk, who played Lana Lang.
“We both were at the point where we were 25,” Mack said. We were in New York City together. It was our break. And we had rented an apartment in the same building in the West Village. And we both were like, why do we both feel so unsatisfied?”
Mack explained that Kristin had told her about a self-help course in Vancouver.
‘“It’s the most amazing thing. It made everything so much better in life. You’ve got to do this,”’ Mack recalled Kristin telling her.
Mack signed up for the course which was run by Nancy Salzman in 2006.
Salzamn co-founded NXIVM alongside Keith Raniere.
The organisation purported itself as a self-help group in upstate New York. Prosecutors described it as a sex-cult pyramid scheme that enslaved and branded women.
“We were learning about what’s the purpose of mankind, and we were learning about how does that relate to gender differences and relationships,” Mack explained of her initial course.
How long did Allison Mack spend in prison?
Mack was arrested in April 2018, after federal authorities had raided the NXIVM headquarters.
In April 2019, she pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges in a federal court in Brooklyn after she had recruited women to the cult.
She further admitted that she had coerced two unnamed women into performing services by threatening to release damaging information about them.
“Through it all, I believed that Keith Raniere’s intentions were to help people,” she told the court at the time. “I was wrong. I now realise that I and others engaged in criminal conduct.”
She served two years of a three year sentence from 2021 to 2023.
Raniere is currently serving out a 120-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges.
Mack had used her fame to recruit other women to the cult.
“I think that I capitalized on the things I had,” Mack explained in her new podcast interview. “And so the success I had as an actor, I think I did capitalize on that, yeah. And it was a power tool that I had to get people to do what I wanted.”
At Raniere’s trial, former NXIVM members described how he established a secret sorority within its ranks called DOS.
Women within it were described as “slaves” and Mack was their “master”.
She kept them on near-starvation diets, they were branded with Raniere and Mack’s initials and ordered to have sex with him.
“I was not kind and I was aggressive and I was abusive,” Mack admitted. “I was harsh and I was callous and I was aggressive and forceful in ways that were painful for people.”
Who is Allison Mack’s husband?
In June 2025, Mack tied the knot in a Jewish ceremony at home with Frank Meeink.
The pair met while she was walking her dog shortly after her release from prison.
Her husband also has a troubled past and has been to prison after joining a neo-Nazi group.
At 17 he was sentenced to three years in jail for kidnapping and assault.
While incarcerated he renounced racism and left the white supremacy movement. He is a now a civil rights speaker and activist who works at a non-profit that connects unhoused people with resources.
The couple bonded over their passion for prison reform.
While Meink didn’t recognise Mack when they met, he says she was honest about her past.
“She wasn’t defending anything,” Meeink told the new podcast. “She was just like, ‘Here’s the deal. A bunch of women got branded. This is one of the reasons why I went to prison. You know, we were part of this cult.’”
What does Allison Mack do now?
Mack is persuing a new career following her release from prison.
She is currently studying towards a master’s degree in social work.
Despite numerous offers, Allison After NXIVM, is the first time she is sharing her story.
“She wants to tell her story in podcast form, because she loves podcasts, and because she’s no longer comfortable in front of cameras like she used to be,” host Natalie Robehmed told Variety.
