Vancouver actress Kristin Kreuk denies she was part of the “inner circle” of the self-help group Nxivm, several days after leader Keith Raniere was arrested on sex-trafficking charges at a compound in Mexico.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, the Smallville star said she left Nxivm five years ago and has had little contact with those still involved.
“The accusations that I was in the ‘inner circle’ or recruited women as ‘sex slaves’ are blatantly false,” she said.
Kreuk claimed she was “horrified and disgusted” by recent stories about the group. “I am deeply disturbed and embarrassed to have been associated with Nxivm,” she added.
Kreuk and fellow Smallville star Allison Mack joined the program around 2006, according to a report in the UK tabloid The Sun.
Mack stayed with the program, and The Sun reported she was with Raniere when he was arrested at his Mexican hideaway.
Raniere, 57, allegedly lured wealthy young women into Nxivm— and a secret sex society called The Vow. The Sun reported that Mack recruited as many as 25 women for him.
Kreuk said she became associated with the group when she took a “personal growth/self help course” to deal with her shyness.
The 35-year-old Vancouverite has been an actress since she was 17 and is probably best known for her eight years as Lana Lang on the WB network’s Superman prequel Smallville.
Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang and Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville on YTV.
Kreuk got her acting break in the title role of the ABC television movie Snow White. She also starred in and produced Beauty & the Beast for the CW.
Earlier this year, she told Postmedia that she was confident in her new role as Joanna Hanley, a powerful lawyer in Burden of Truth.
She also said as a woman she has felt unsafe on set. She hoped movements like Time’s Up will help workplaces to become safer.
With Postmedia files
Kristin Kreuk arrives on the red carpet at the Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto in 2013.