- Allison Mack told the New York Times she came up with the idea of branding members of Nxivm.
- She said the initial idea of a tattoo wasn't substantial enough. She wanted something more intense.
- Mack has pleaded not guilty to charges related to her participation in the alleged sex slave cult.
"Smallville" actress Allison Mack told the New York Times Magazine that she herself came up with the idea to brand members of the alleged sex slave cult Nxivm.
Mack said that tattoos weren't intense enough. Instead, she wanted something that would be more difficult to accept and be more meaningful.
She said the idea was that tattoos aren't intense enough. Mack wanted something more that would be more difficult to accept and would be more meaningful.
"I was like: 'Y'all, a tattoo? People get drunk and tattooed on their ankle 'BFF,' or a tramp stamp," she told the Times. "I have two tattoos and they mean nothing."
The Times said not all Nxivm members welcomed the idea of cauterized brands on their flesh warmly, but they had methods of dealing with it.
"Some of them kidded around through it," the story's author, Vanessa Grigoriadis, writes. "Even if they cried when they were getting the brand; even if they wore surgical masks to help them with breathing in the smell of burning flesh; even if the brand was much larger than they were told it would be and looked like an ancient hieroglyph; even if they were in a state of sheer terror, they were still able to transcend the fear and cry out to one another: 'Badass warrior bitches! Let’s get strong together.'"
Hundreds of Nxivm's members were branded with a symbol that includes the letters "K" and "R," which stands for Keith Raniere, the alleged cult leader.
According to the Times, Mack was one of Raniere's personal sex slaves. Over time, according to the article, she acquired a slave of her own, who was branded with both the "KR" symbol as well as an "AM" symbol.
Mack has pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on April 24 on a $5 million bond. Prosecutors say Nxivm had more than 50 slaves.
A personal email address associated with Mack didn't immediately respond to INSIDER's request for comment.
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