Allison Mack vanished from our screens following a decade-long stint in Smallville, and it was later revealed that she'd become embroiled in an alleged sex cult called NXIVM.
Arrested by the FBI in 2018, Mack pleaded guilty to charges of trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and forced labour conspiracy. Accusations of money laundering and identity fraud followed, with racketeering and conspiracy charges also later added.
The actress who played Clark Kent's best friend, Chloe Sullivan, ultimately served 2 years behind bars and was released in 2023.
Mack, who has largely kept out of the spotlight since then, was reportedly responsible for recruiting new members to the group and has previously been accused of attempting to enlist her Smallville co-stars. Breaking her silence in the first episode of the CBC podcast series, CBC Uncover: Allison After NXIVM, Mack recently admitted to being "excited by the power" that came with recruiting women for cult leader Keith Raniere.
There wasn't much in the way of Smallville talk in that opening chapter, though Mack did claim (via Just Jared) that co-star Kristin Kreuk was responsible for introducing her to the group.
"We went to Syria and Turkey together, we went to Mongolia together, we went to Paris, and we had so much fun," the actress recalled. "We went to Paris multiple times together and just shopped and saw art and sat on the top of the Pompidou and had rosé and lived this kind of dream."
"I was like, 'I feel this odd emptiness, and it feels so wrong given the nature of my life.' And she was like, 'Yeah, me too,'" Mack said of being "unsatisfied" with the success she'd found on television. Kreuk had allegedly attended some classes at NXIVM, which was then billed as a self-help group.
Mack recalls the Lana Lang actress telling her, "'It’s the science of joy. It’s the most amazing thing. It’s made everything so much better in my life. You’ve got to do this.' It was all she could talk about. She was super excited about it. 'They’re doing a weekend and I think you should do it. I think you’d really like it,' and I was like, 'OK, if you think I should do it and I’ll like it, I’ll do it."
It's important to point out that Kreuk has never been accused of any inappropriate conduct within the group, and, in 2018, she issued a statement that 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."
While Mack is eager to tell her side of the story, it's not clear what her hopes for the future are. There's always a chance she'll act again, though it's hard to believe any comic convention would be willing to have her appear to meet with fans, given the severity of the charges she faced.