In her new book, The Program, Toni Natalie describes her long and harrowing history with Keith Raniere, now infamous as the leader of NXIVM, a cult organization which engaged in sex trafficking, blackmail, and physical branding of its members, all while claiming to be a self-help group for professional women. Natalie met Raniere well before he went on to establish NXIVM, and, as both his business partner and his girlfriend, saw first-hand how manipulative and power-hungry he could be. She describes herself as Raniere’s “Patient Zero,” a kind of lab rat on whom Raniere developed his coercion techniques. And when she decided to end their relationship, she says, he made her life hell.
- The Cut
