According to The Guardian, a federal judge agreed to release former Smallville star Allison Mack on £3.5 million bond. She will live with her parents in California as she fights charges of sex trafficking.
This story was originally posted on April 24.
In a surprising turn of events, Emma Watson's name is now being dragged into a very dark conversation revolving around the NXIVM organisation and the allegations around it.
Allison Mack, a former actress who gained popularity from her role on Smallville, has been making headlines for her involvement in the inner circle of the "sex cult" NXIVM (pronounced 'nexium'), and now Watson is tangentially involved.
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Mack was arrested last week to be investigated for alleged sex trafficking by convincing women to join the organisation based in upstate New York. The allegations against her are incredibly disturbing (she was also allegedly involved in a forced labor conspiracy), but these recently uncovered tweets from Mack directed towards the Harry Potter star could reveal how Mack may have been recruiting for the group. It's been alleged that the group used the promise of "female mentorship" to entice young women to join their organisation, only to later abuse them.
Uncovered by People, it appears that Mack tried to recruit Watson into NXIVM via Twitter as recently as January 2016. Because Mack is currently under arrest, she presumably has no ability to delete these tweets, or to make her (verified) Twitter profile private, so it's easy to track her online correspondence on the site. In the series of tweets, Mack starts to tell Watson about an "amazing women's movement" that she thinks the (at the time) 25-year-old actress would "dig." Later that year, Mack bumped up her tweet to Watson on International Women's Day (a day close to Watson's personal mission statements; she is a regular at the United Nations, advocating for gender equality). Mack said she was hoping to chat with a "fellow game-changer."
.@EmWatson I'm a fellow actress like yourself & involved in an amazing women's movement I think you'd dig. I'd love to chat if you're open.
— Allison Mack (@allisonmack) January 24, 2016
In addition to Watson, Mack also reached out to Kelly Clarkson back in 2013. She wrote to the singer, "I heard through the grapevine that you're a fan of Smallville" adding that she'd "love to chat sometime."
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@kelly_clarkson I heard through the grapevine that you're a fan of Smallville. I'm a fan of yours as well! I'd love to chat sometime.
— Allison Mack (@allisonmack) July 20, 2013
It's unfortunate that both Watson and Clarkson are now being wrapped up into this extremely upsetting news cycle revolving around an alleged cult that has ruined lives. On Twitter, celebrities cannot control who tweets at them, but by engaging with them as a peer, Mack has temporarily included these two women in a narrative they most certainly never wished to be a part of.
Refinery29 has reached out to Watson and Clarkson's reps for comment.