America's Most Infamous Crimes with Katie Ring
America's Most Infamous Crimes with Katie Ring

NXIVM Cult: Behind the "Secret Sisterhood" That Branded Its Members Pt. 2

August 26, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 2017, India Oxenberg was held down on a table by other women while a cauterizing pen burned a symbol into her skin near her hip. There was no anesthetic, and the procedure took about half an hour. She could smell her own flesh burning. The scar she carries is a raised, jagged mark she will never fully lose. She was told it represented the four elements and was a sacred rite of sisterhood. It was actually the initials of the man who had been controlling her all along.

India first walked into NXIVM in 2011. She was 19 years old, the daughter of Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg, and looking for purpose after deciding college was not for her. Her mother recommended a multi-day NXIVM leadership seminar as something they could do together. For India, the experience was intoxicating. She was surrounded by impressive, high-achieving people who showered her with attention and praise—a technique known as love bombing. She was hooked. Catherine, however, had a different reaction. After hosting a women’s workshop in her own home, she was horrified by what she heard: that women are built to be accommodating, and that men are naturally inclined to spread their attention around. She walked away. India did not.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:46) **The "Secret Sisterhood" is Introduced** - The episode frames the secret group DOS, the promise of empowerment, and the trap of "collateral" that made leaving impossible.
  • 2 (02:56) **Part 2 Focus: India Oxenberg's Descent** - The episode sets up the story of a 19-year-old seeking purpose who got pulled into the cult's darkest inner circle.
  • 3 (03:21) **India Oxenberg's Entry into NXIVM** - India, a young woman from a famous family, joins NXIVM with her mother, finding the "love bombing" and sense of purpose intoxicating.
  • 4 (05:23) **Catherine Oxenberg's Alarm and India's Deepening Commitment** - India's mother senses something is wrong and leaves, but India doubles down, moving to Albany and cutting off her family.
  • 5 (08:00) **The Trap of "No Ultimate Victim"** - The cult's philosophy turned India's doubts back on herself, making her feel that any unease was her own weakness, not the group's fault.
  • 6 (09:53) **The Invitation to DOS** - Feeling stuck despite full commitment, India is recruited by actress Allison Mack into a secret, exclusive group that promises to finally make her "unbreakable."
  • 7 (12:40) **Inside DOS: Master/Slave Hierarchy** - The group is revealed as a rigid pyramid where women are slaves to their masters, with Keith Raniere at the top, completely hidden.

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Show Notes

In 2015, a nineteen-year-old named India Oxenberg accepted an invitation into a secret sisterhood inside NXIVM, and handed over collateral she'd never get back. In the second part of our 3-part series, Katie Ring traces how DOS, NXIVM's hidden inner circle, was built to blackmail, starve, and brand the women inside it, and how a promise of empowerment turned out to be something else entirely.

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