Kristin Kreuk [l] recruited Allison Mack into the cult of Keith Raniere. Kristin reportedly got out ca. 2012.
A reader commented recently:
Kristin Kreuk will have my total respect if she speaks out.
But I also have to wonder if her feelings on this are somewhat mixed, precisely because of the responsibility she may feel for recruiting Allison Mack into NXIVM. Those two were so close for well over a decade, and I imagine it’s a struggle to try to reconcile the Allison of today with the image of the person she knew for so many years.
Kristin’s first instinct might be to keep quiet publicly, and try to keep an escape hatch open to Allison, as long as humanly possible, just on the off chance Allison would reach out and try to ask for help leaving.
This is especially true since Allison’s immediate family have apparently been drinking the Kool-aid, so they presumably aren’t losing their minds begging her to come home. I could understand some lingering reluctance to close that door. I was really shocked when I first heard that both Kristin and Mark Hildreth had left, but Allison remained behind.
What if I had been the one to pull a dear friend of so many years into an abusive hell that completely warped her beyond recognition, and then left her there to keep perpetuating the cycle of abuse, which hurt other friends of mine…?
I don’t know exactly how I would deal with that, to make me sleep better at night. I don’t know if I see a path that would ever let me sleep easy.
Allison was instagramming recently, idealizing dying young in the name of your beliefs – it’s chilling to watch, and feel so helpless when we can all see the red flags of where this might be heading.
Trying to imagine being in Kristin’s place as the one who walked her in the door, and lit this spark? I cannot fathom it. I can understand the perspective of victims who are upset and want Kristin to speak out on their behalf, but I also can’t imagine how this situation will be anything but painful for Kristin no matter what she ultimately chooses to do….
Painting a narrative of her silence being motivated by cold apathy towards everyone involved seems staggeringly cruel.
I feel a bit hesitant to judge Kristin, no matter what she ends up doing, but, at the same time, there are clear heroes to root for in this narrative, and a very obvious villain, Keith Raniere.
I hope the focus stays on uplifting the voices, like Sarah Edmondson, and those who stand alongside her, and praising them for their courage, and kindness. Because they’re the ones who are gathering the momentum that’s getting people out, making new recruits think twice when they Google, and generally breaking this cycle that’s been going on for years.
