Main content

Nxivm ‘sex cult’ part one: How my daughter became trapped

Catherine Oxenberg discovered her daughter India’s self-help group, Nxivm, was in fact a dangerous cult and that India was being sexually exploited by cult leader, Keith Raniere.

In 2011, the former Dynasty actor Catherine Oxenberg and her 19-year-old daughter India took a course from the self-help organisation Nxivm (pronounced Nexium). It was a pivotal experience for India as she had been struggling to find a career and Nxivm seemed to offer her purpose. She ended up working for them as a coach and moving away from her mother. What India didn’t know was that Nxivm was in fact a dangerous cult. Eventually she would be trapped in a secret subgroup, which was really a sex-trafficking ring operated by the cult leader, Keith Raniere.

Ray Holman, the Trinidadian master of the steelpan, describes how he revolutionised steelpan performance. (This interview was first broadcast in 2016)

Shaku Myoshin isn't your average Buddhist monk. For a start, he has long hair, tied in a ponytail. But that's not the reason he's called the 'Funky Monk'. He goes by the name of Tatsumi and is known as Japan's beatboxing monk. (This interview was first broadcast in 2017)

The interview with India and Catherine Oxenberg is part one of Cult Behaviour, a mini-series from Outlook exploring how a cult can manipulate a person’s sense of reality, and what it can take to break free. Part two, which explores the next stage of India and Catherine’s story is available here: /programmes/w3ct1jwb. Or you can listen to both these episodes combined on the Outlook podcast.

Picture: Catherine and India Oxenberg, with Catherine's mother Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia on the left
Credit: Courtesy Starz Entertainment

Available now

44 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Mon 31 May 2021 11:06GMT
  • Mon 31 May 2021 17:06GMT
  • Tue 1 Jun 2021 02:06GMT

Contact Outlook

Contact Outlook

Info on how we might use your contribution on air

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary

Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected