Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter from the Terrifying Cult Nxivm

Written by Catherine Oxenberg and Natasha Stoynoff

Narrated by Catherine Oxenberg

Including a new afterword, Captive is an emotional, ripped-from-the-headlines exposé that lays bare the inner workings of the secretive NXIVM cult that shocked the world.

I am a mother whose child is being abused and exploited. And I am not alone.

In 2011, former Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg joined her daughter, India, at a leadership seminar for a new organization called NXIVM. Her then twenty-year-old daughter was on the threshold of starting her own professional life and they both thought this program might help her achieve her dream. But quickly, Catherine saw a sinister side to the program that claimed to simply want to help its clients become the best versions of themselves.

Catherine watched in horror as her daughter fell further and further down the rabbit hole, falling under the spell of NXIVM's hypnotic leader, Keith Raniere. Despite Catherine’s best efforts, India was drawn deeper into the cult, eventually joining an elite “sorority” of women members who were ordered to maintain a restricted diet, recruit other women as “slaves,” and were branded with their leader’s initials.

In Captive, Catherine shares every parent’s worst nightmare, and the lengths that a mother will go to save her child. Catherine’s efforts finally led the FBI to take notice—and the journey is not yet over. A powerful depiction of a mother’s love and determination, and with horrifying insider details never revealed in any news story, Captive will keep you reading until the very last page.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Aug 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781508260172

Catherine Oxenberg

Catherine Oxenberg is best known for her role as Amanda Carrington on the hit primetime soap opera Dynasty. She got her start as a model before making her acting debut in The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana. Oxenberg is the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, making her a royal descendent in her own right. She currently lives in Malibu, California.

Reviews for Captive

[Mark Barnes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Riveted by a mother’s unbreakable courage when protecting her child.

[Dale Poncy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heartbreaking and heartfelt. A mother’s true fight to save her loving daughter in a gut wrenching true story.

[Linda James · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book shares how destructive high control authoritarian cults use deception to recruit and hold their members captive. Unfortunately, when one is in a cult, they don't realize that what they are involved in is actually a cult. In this case, it was a self improvement workshop that was used as a front for the more nefarious secret activities that one wouldn't even realize it's happening behind the scenes, ( and often never will realize ) until they've been involved in it more deeper and for some time. Yet by this time, they have become more dedicated, more loyal and committed to it. What is the "it" that I am talking about? "It" is always a very worthy cause. "It" is going to save mankind. "It" is one's purpose in life. "It" is why one is here on earth.
There is a mistaken belief that cult's well recruit those of less intelligence. No, that's simply not true. They recruit good hearted idealistic people who want to make a difference in this world. Those who stand for what they believe is morally right. Those who are positive, educated and stand for justice. Those that are believing that good will win over evil and that they are True Believers that they are on the good side helping the good side win over the evil side or the unjust side of thing's, and they are able to do this because of their involvement within the cult that claims this cause of being on the good side, not knowing that they are in fact being used by the leadership who are of course part of the evil and bad side.
One can find themselves most vulnerable for recruitment into a cult when they are going through times of transition. Times such as leaving home to go to College or university, moving to a new location where one will be building a whole new social structure, after a breakup of a loved one, weather the breakup was amicable or toxic, when one mourns over this loss or are in denial, either way, it is in these time that one is vulnerable for recruitment into a cult.
When there is a death of a loved one. There are some cult's that literally go through the obituaries to write family members of the deceased about being able to see their loved one's again in the afterlife or in paradise such as the Jehovah's Witnesses. I know this because I was raised within this JW cult. I left 40 year's ago and still struggle with some of the fear indoctrinated doomsday cultural teachings.
Today my freedom is precious. I have no regrets for deciding not to be a part of the JW Organization because when one is involved within a cult, the cult makes a point of changing one ( or in my case not allowing for my own authentic personality to ever develop ) by way of gaslighting them to be part of their well oiled machine. When one has a good sense of oneself, cult's have to tear that down to rebuild one to where one finds their identity within that culture rather than who they authentically are. Today, I like who I am.