Catherine Oxenberg Feared Starved Daughter India Would Commit Suicide For Sex Cult
July 30 2018, Updated 4:38 p.m. ET
Actress Catherine Oxenberg feared her sick and starved daughter, India, would commit suicide in honor of the NXIVM sex cult, RadarOnline.com can exclusively report.
The worried mom opened up about her journey to save India, 27, from NXIVM's sex slave ring known as DOS in her new book, Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from a Terrifying Cult.
Catherine, 56, said she spent 2017 worried sick about India's health. She wrote that during a visit home to California in May of that year, India appeared "gaunt and sleep deprived."
Catherine's concerns skyrocketed, however, after former DOS sex slaves claimed that NXIVM members' loyalty to their leader, Keith Raniere, was so strong that they might consider taking their own lives for him.
"When I began speaking to defectors in the summer, some speculated that if Keith got in trouble and needed a diversion, he'd push a loyal DOS slave to commit an 'honor' suicide," Catherine wrote.
As RadarOnline.com readers know, Raniere – along with Smallville actress Allison Mack, Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman, mother-daughter duo Nancy and Lauren Salzman, and Kathy Russell – is currently facing racketeering charges for leading the alleged sex ring.
Catherine attended a course taught by the cult in 2011 with India. She said she remembered a coach discussing suicide in a positive light.
"On day five, one of the modules under the 'Good and Bad' theme posed the question: 'When is suicide honorable?'" the former Dynasty actress wrote. "Survival and values were 'good' while the destruction of values and counter-survival was 'bad.'"
Catherine continued that Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc who set himself on fire in 1963 was dubbed an "example of tremendous character" by former NXIVM coaches because "he died for his beliefs."
While Catherine worried that India might be forced to commit suicide for Raniere, she already was putting her health at risk while living with Mack in New York, she explained.
"Her golden blonde hair had been falling out in clumps, and, at twenty-five, she hadn't had her period in a year – the reason she was seeing the doctor that day," Catherine wrote in the memoir.
India underwent an ultrasound and learned her ability to have children could be affected, her mother continued.
"After India shared about her starvation diet, the doctor told her she needed serious psychiatric help," Catherine furthered.
Catherine continues to fight for her daughter. The mom appeared in court last week where Raniere, Mack and Nancy Salzman pleaded not guilty to new racketeering charges.
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Oxenberg's book comes out next month.
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