A reader, La La Lad, asked me a question, in a comment on a recent post, Smallville Stars Tom Welling, Michael Rosenbaum, and Kristin Kreuk Are Having a Virtual Reunion for Charity – Allison Mack Won’t Be Attending
His question was:
Frank, if you could advise Kristin Kreuk—
What would you suggest she do or not do about her time in the sex cult?
But not what she should do morally or ethically etc. Advise her as if you were paid only to help her career as an actress with modest but continuing success.
Thus, would you suggest she continue to keep her head down and say no more than she has and hope the attention on her sex cult years fade? That seems to be the advice she is getting now.
Or would you advise her to speak up or take some other kind of action that may clear the air?
Remember, advise her only to do what is best for her career, not ethically or what you as a reporter might want.
Kristin Kreuk, Nicki Clyne, and Allison Mack put on a show to promote Keith Raniere. Note the banner in the background.
My answer to La La Lad’s question:
After I broke the branding and blackmail story in June 2017, Kreuk was concerned that her name would be linked to Nxivm. I think she sensed that the branding – blackmailing – sex slave story was potentially a huge story and she could be tarnished.
A friend of hers called to ask me to remove her name from the 2011 coaches list that I had posted.
At that time, I asked Kreuk, through her friend, to help in the battle to take down Nxivm. Kreuk declined.
Of course, I did not ask her to get involved because I was advising her on what was best for her career, but because we were in a fight for our lives against a strong and well-funded opponent.
We won without her.
However, her support during that critical time, had she given it – during the summer of 2017, a time when she knew about the blackmail and branding – would have been of significant value since her name, added to Catherine Oxenberg’s and others, would have ensured publicity and keen public interest during the long months when I was the only person writing about Nxivm.
Rather than help, she was looking to hide under the radar.
After the FBI investigation began and things started looking more promising for victory – and after Keith was arrested – we did not need Kristin’s help.
Following Keith’s arrest on March 26, 2018, probably sensing she would be named in media stories, she issued one carefully worded tweet.
She has not said a single word publicly about Nxivm since then, as far as I know.
As to the question of advice, being based on what is best for her career:
Back in 2018, unless she had some real skeletons in her Nxivm closet, after Raniere’s arrest, I would have advised her to make a strong stance and get ahead of this. Offer to help victims. Offer to help Allison Mack, her former co-star on the TV show Smallville – and do it publicly.
Condemn Nxivm, condemn Raniere.
Get ahead of it. Show solidarity with the victims. Be like the character she plays on TV.
Mack was arrested on April 20, 2018. Kreuk has not said a single word publicly about Mack, the woman she recruited into the cult.
Kristin Kreuk plays a brave lawyer on the Canadian taxpayer-funded TV show “Burden of Truth”.
Her character risks her career to protect young women. So, let us take up the present.
There is still something Kristin could do. It would take a little bravery. I think it would help her career and get her immense publicity.
She could show support for the woman she recruited into Nxivm, whose life was destroyed by it – Allison Mack.
It would show she is a real human being and not just a phony.
Though the press would come with a mention of her time in the cult, a good PR agent could ensure that it spun favorably for her.
But there are arguments against it.
At this point, [May 2020], the story of her role in the cult is fading. Overall, she was not much damaged by it, as far as her career is concerned. I might advise her, given her reticence to speak out against Nxivm, to say nothing about Nxivm, which is just what she has been doing.
However, since she insists on continuous virtue signaling, I would definitely advise her to offer support for Mack.
Mack with the monster, Keith Raniere.
She could help turn the tide for Mack, much as she could have helped turn the tide in our fight to take down Nxivm.
If it is true that Kreuk did not witness anything nefarious during her time at Nxivm, she could come out with a candid and comprehensive statement and “clear the air” for herself once and for all and also support Mack.
Kristin Kreuk with Allison Mack at a Nxivm event.
Kristin Kreuk and Allison Mack on Necker Island in 2010 at a Nxivm gathering.
A good publicist could ensure that she placed her story with the right media outlets and get good outcomes – i.e., favorable and sympathetic stories in print and on TV, etc.
As it is, Nxivm still lingers a little in Kreuk’s world, like a vague shadow. From time to time, she is mentioned [not just on Frank Report] as a former member.
In her statement or interviews, I would advise her to:
Express measured outrage that she was used for recruitment by the cult
Make a succinct and rational explanation of how Nxivm was structured so that she [and other students] knew nothing about the foul deeds of the leader and his inner circle.
She could explain the two faces of Nxivm – one for students such as herself – and how some of the teachings had merit for her [and thousands of others] – and the other face, the one Allison sadly fell into – of the secret sex practices and cult activities that were hidden from her.
She could add, that while she was there, she met some wonderful people, enduring friends, who, just like her, were deceived and are victims.
Then she could express – and this would be the heart of the press release – the one that will get the headlines – true sympathy for Allison Mack: She could announce that she was writing or even release a letter to Mack’s sentencing judge, US District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, asking him to show Mack leniency in sentencing.
He has a lot of discretion in sentencing her. This is why it is important. The charges Mack pled guilty to come with a maximum of 20 years each for racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. He could sentence her to a maximum of 40 years. He could also follow the sentencing guidelines that suggest a much shorter sentence of 3-5 years.
He could also sentence her to less time or even home confinement.
Kreuk standing up for her friend could have real impact – not only for Allison but for her career too because everyone appreciates a friend in need.
Kreuk in her press efforts could also directly message Allison via the media to say, ” I love you, Allison. I know you made some mistakes and you have admitted your mistakes and I know you would never do it again. I believe in you. I know you are a kindhearted, truly loving person and that your mistake was following a bad man. I love you. I am there for you… etc.”
This, of course, would be a huge story, and probably every major media outlet in the world would report on it.
It would require extra bravery on Kristin’s part, something that I have seen no evidence she possesses.
This approach has some risk, of course. There may be carping critics. [I would not be one of these if she stood up for Allison.]
Doing this would be more in keeping with the truth of the image she is trying to project – as this brave justice warrior and less of her hypocritical virtue-signaling persona which is what some see when they see her social media posts.
Finally, I would advise her to vet her virtue-signaling social justice tweets, etc. a little better.
One absolutely insane virtue-signaling effort was her support for a revisionist movie about the mass murderer Phoolan Devi of India.
Kreuk bought into [evidently without doing any research] that Phoolan Devi, who incited a gang to commit the mass murder of about two dozen men, based solely on her uncorroborated story that she was raped, was somehow a glorious woman’s empowerment achievement.
Mass murderer Phaloon Devi
Taking the law into her own hands and executing dozens of people without a trial, killing young men who, as the evidence shows, most likely had nothing to do with her alleged rape [if she was even raped, which was never proven and is highly in doubt] is hardly the thing that Kreuk, [who followed and supported a real rapist, Raniere] should endorse.
If she believes it’s OK for victims to take the law into their own hands, why didn’t she do anything about her mentor, Raniere?
Finally, supporting Mack – even if it was not good for her career [and I think it would be good for her career] – is the right thing to do.
It is certainly not too late for Kristin Kreuk to redeem herself if she chose to do so.
