Former "Dynasty" star Catherine Oxenberg nearly alienated her daughter India completely when she spoke out against Nxivm, the alleged sex cult that India joined. The 58-year-old mom fought hard to get India back home safely but there were moments when she felt completely hopeless.
In a recent interview, Catherine said going public about the ordeal was not an easy decision to make. She did not want to "expose" her daughter but was left with no other choice, Fox News reported.
"It was a last resort because I failed at an intervention, and the fear was I could lose her forever," Catherine said.
It was terrifying to think that her daughter could have faced a similar fate as "Smallville" actress Allison Mack, who ranked as a senior Nxivm member and is now facing a significant prison sentence after admitting she coerced two unnamed women into performing services by threatening to release damaging information about them.
Catherine said she went through periods of complete despair.
"There were many times I didn't have hope, and my life was threatened," she said, recounting how even the arrest last year of Keith Raniere, founder of the alleged sex cult, could not initially shake sense into her daughter.
"But then the government called my lawyers and said 'we want Catherine to know we're moving in with the FBI aggressively.' That was the moment when I had hope."
India first stumbled upon the group in 2011, when she and her mother attended a Nxivm motivational course, Fox News reported. Catherine did not express much interest but India was intrigued and decided to continue the program. She soon got sucked into the alleged cult and only left several years later.
Raniere, 58, was arrested on sex trafficking charges in March 2018 for running Nxivm, which left women branded with his initials and which saw them forced to follow extremely restrictive diets and have sex with him.
It was only after his arrest that Catherine and India reconciled, but it was a rocky road for the mother, who nearly jeopardized their relationship completely when she outed Nxivm.
It was a risk Catherine was willing to take to ensure her daughter's safety. Now India is working on rebuilding her life and bonding with her mother again.
"She understands what happened to her and she is empowered," Catherine said. "I tapped into a quality of maternal strength that I didn’t know I had. That I would be willing to risk my life for my child. I know myself better, and I have become a more courageous person as a result of my ordeal. My children taught me what it means to really love somebody. I'm proud to be a mom."
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