All language subtitles for The Vow - 01x05 - Class 1 Data

Within NXIVM,
there's a secret sisterhood.

They have to sign a lifetime
vow of obedience,

and they have to provide blackmail,

and they're branding girls.

I just spoke to India,

and she did admit to being branded.

She thought it was wonderful.

I will do whatever I can
to get India out.

We knew there was
another branding ceremony

that was about to happen,
and it was like

"We have to get this story out
and Frank will report it."

And when he came out with the news,

it set the whole organization
into a panic.

The idea was not just
to expose what was going on.

It was about getting people
away from danger.

This organization has taken my child.

I will do whatever it takes
to get her back.

And... whenever you're ready.

You know, like, here we're doing this,
you know, wonderful,

idealistic movement,

and we're trying to create something,

and we have created something
that just produces value.

Enhances people's lives.

And we're just minding our own
business and doing this great thing,

and we're just being attacked.

So, I just feel determined.

You know, like,
"Motherfucker." You know?

Like, how could they do this to us?

When I think of how
destructive that is,

I think, "Oh, my God.
That is just heinous."

We're gonna uncover all these things,

and then people are gonna say,
"Don't fuck with those people,

because, you know,
they'll come after you."

You know? "They will,
they will figure it out.

"They will... They won't let it go.

They're not...
They don't let things slide."

Yeah!

♪ Days we were young ♪

♪ We took photographs of
everything we could see ♪

♪ We had to run from it ♪

♪ Priest and prophetess ♪

♪ We were nothing we would defy ♪

♪ Oh, invisible skin ♪

♪ Where is the world within ♪

♪ Invincible skin ♪

♪ It's how we all begin ♪

He asks about Albany.

He's like, "Mommy, when are
we going back to Albany?"

- I wanna get down. I wanna get down.
- What about your sweatshirt?

- I wanna get... I want...
- Ooh.

What about your sweatshirt?
You wanna put it on like a cape?

- Yeah.
- Put it on like a cape.

I'm gonna give you this jacket in case.

- Superman!
- Good?

Bye, Troy. Love you!

So I got a call from the police officer

from the financial crimes unit
in Vancouver

saying that they were trying to
get me arrested on three fronts:

fraud, mischief, and theft.

I knew this was coming,
because I'd heard

through someone who was
kind of playing both sides

that they were preparing
a legal case against me.

That's when I called Jim,

because he was one of
the main leaders of SOP,

and also, I considered him
to be a friend.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I really don't.

I'm not angry at
the people still in. I understand it.

I've been on that side of it.

Jim and a couple other friends
are the ones that, like,

as I'm sitting here,
I'm struggling to...

you know, I, I still feel...

I still feel like
they're my buddies, you know?

And I feel...

You know, I spoke to him and Mark,

you know, almost every other day.

And he showed me

a level of compassion that,
you know, from a guy,

you might even think
is somewhat uncomfortable.

But, you know, he showed me love,

uh, in a way that, you know,
another guy hadn't.

He, he hung in there with me,

and he really helped me,
where I just didn't have

certain skill sets in certain areas,

and he goes, "I know you
to want these things,

"and when you behave like this,

you undermine the things
that you want."

You know, he was the kind
of guy who could tell me that,

much like a brother could.

I think a lot of times, we're doers.

And men, we like to accomplish things.

And sometimes, that gets in the way

of our relationships with each other

and standing up for each other.

And there's nobody that I know

that does that and represents that more

than Keith Raniere.

So, I give you Keith Raniere.

And that's the
hard part of this whole thing.

He's, you know, loyal to Keith,
I think to a fault.

We kept getting
information through people that were

on the inside, straddling things,

that realized things were bad,
but didn't wanna,

y ou know, make a big fuss.
That basically said, you know,

message is the legal dogs
have been released,

and that I am going to be
considered the enemy.

Well, he's gonna find a way to get us.

He has an army of people,
about a hundred strong,

who are so devoted.

They will sell us out.
They will lie about us.

They will make up stuff about us.

They will do everything
they possibly can

to try to convince the world
that we're criminals.

So we're up against not only him,

but all of his agents, as well.

When other people were leaving...

It was like he
didn't want to get contaminated

- by the evil, right?
- Yeah.

At that point,
I trusted Keith completely.

You think they're, like,
the most ethical...

- Completely.
- Noble people in the world.

Hello?

- Hey.
- How's it going?

Good.

Mm-hmm.

Kristin Keeffe was a proctor in ESP.

And she was the legal liaison
for a long time.

In fact, she worked with the
lawyers on all of the lawsuits.

"I'm thinking of sit, like, doing,
like, belts, like martial arts,

but instead of judo, sashes."

And I was like, "Keith,
you can't do that. That's so queer."

But like, that... I remember
that very specifically.

You were like...

Yeah.

She seemed very
close to Keith Raniere, as well.

But then she suddenly just disappeared,

and I didn't know why.

And I found out later she ran,

because she had a baby
with Keith Raniere.

Anywhere in
your body that there's a sensation

that you try to... try to ignore,
or try to suppress,

it just gets stronger and stronger.

And perhaps there are areas in
your body you haven't noticed before.

Like certainly you've noticed
your stomach, at times.

And maybe the sensation
in your stomach now

is changing,

but not going away. Maybe intensifying.

Maybe not. But probably intensifying.

You may even be coming
less comfortable.

But that's okay.

I guess you're not gonna
let me finish my report.

- No, you're almost done.
- I'm, I'm trying to read.

- Yeah, that's okay. You can finish your report.
- Can you... can you stop?

I, I can stop,
and you wanna know what else?

I will stop.

Right.

Sorta.

Right.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

What I was told was,

when you officially resign,

give it a few weeks.
She'll reach out to you.

It's fuckin' full espionage shit.

And she does.

And it's burner phones, man.

Fuckin' different numbers every week.

Just fuckin' never know
where she is, and like,

we're talking all the time.

And so that's when she says to me,

"I can help you." And a few days later,
we called Sarah.

Hmm.

Clare Bronfman,
heir to the Seagram's fortune,

is the financier of NXIVM.

But when I first came in,
she was a coach.

Right.

But,
she eventually took control of legal.

She's on the executive board.
So she had more and more power,

you know, as the years went on.

At this point, in essence,
she's funding a lot of the lawsuits

against the perceived enemies of ESP.

She was probably told it
was the ethical thing to do.

Okay, so a number of things
were happening

in ESP and the company
that weren't necessarily good.

Did you guys have a chance
to do any research on NXIVM?

This is like Scientology.

It is a cult, where the leader

is keeping people through
fear and dependency

and now, blackmail.

I can't spell NXIVM for the life of me.

ESP has had about
15,000 people go through it.

In terms of permanent members,

it's probably 700 to 800 people.

What happened was,
I was invited into this women's group...

The secret society is called DOS.

DOS. D-O-S.

Dominus obsequious sororium.

Which I believe means "dominant
over submissive" or something like that.

By the way, DOS does not stand
for "dominant over submissive."

I made one error.

That means
"dominant submissive sorority."

I think there are about at least
50 women in this secret society.

You are aware, I'm sure, that my
daughter is a DOS slave at this point.

The girls were branded
in a branding ceremony.

This business was ESP, right?

- N-X-I-V-M?
- Yes.

Just point me in the right
direction. I'm, like, a distraught mom.

I will... I will knock
on anybody's door.

I don't care anymore if I'm prepared,
not prepared.

I've been living with this for
months now. I can't take it.

This morning Sarah contacted

the head of victim services
in Latham, New York.

Uh, she referred Sarah to an
investigator in the police department.

So, Sarah spoke to him and
I'm waiting to hear from her.

- Hey.
- Hi.

I have, uh, Catherine here,
and Bonnie here, as well.

Hi.

Hey, Sarah.

So, the investigator.

- Yeah.
- What was his conclusion so far?

Um, that it's definitely fucked up.

He's not totally sure
where the crimes are. Um...

Yeah.

You look like you need a rest.

I'm sending you love from here.

I feel it. Thank you.

What else can we do?

Speak. I mean, how do you get

law enforcement to move
in this country?

You fuckin' blow it up in the press.

Uh...

Okay.

Twelve years.

I was one of the highest-ranking

male members that's ever defected.

Well, there is no, there is no
good way to leave this organization.

You are usually harassed,
spied on, et cetera, et cetera.

There are members
in our group of people

that have left that have had threats.

Now, we have spoken to law enforcement.

Uh, there is this
Frank Report thing out,

but it's a very marginal website.

And we began thinking, you know,

what needs to happen is
a reputable source

needs to look at this,

and, and I'll tell you,
there's a lot of reading you can do

to understand the larger story.
And in fact,

there was an article
in "Forbes" magazine.

There were many articles
from the "Times Union."

There were many sort of
breaking news-type stories about

different women that left
the organization.

Pretty much all of it. I was
sleeping very, very little.

I was dedicating my time to
constantly solving different problems.

I put my career on hold.

My first year that I was kind of around,
in and out,

I went to Keith Raniere and I said,

"This bad press is a real problem."

And he's like, "Eh,
not really." I'm like, "What?"

Right.

He said to me,

"Fearful people that
can't think critically

"hear something, and freak out.

"We don't want those people.

"We want the people that can
reason things out.

"The ones that just,
don't just freak out over nothing.

We want the critical thinkers."

And I was like, "That is brilliant."

And I
would say it with such confidence.

Because, like, in some ways,
it's the guardian at the gate

to make sure that we get the best.

Camera. Marker.

From the moment I get there,

they want me to figure out
how to make the film

to exonerate Keith
of all this terrible press.

And me and Keith and Kristin
Keeffe and a bunch of people

begin having a discussion about, like,

how do we show that what's
been done to Keith in the press

is horrible,

and this is the very
problem in civilization.

That when somebody tries
to do extraordinary things,

they get suppressed.

And we start shooting this pro-Raniere

anti-cult film,

and it was basically to vindicate him.

To think that Keith and Nancy's
names would go down as...

They would go down
in history as schmucks,

when in my opinion they're both,

you know, intellectual
and humanitarian giants.

Uh, I can't live with that.

'Cause I understand that,

you know, reality isn't
what it looks like.

And I understand that
justice doesn't happen.

You got to make justice happen.

So, I just feel determined.

We spent years
and years planning this film,

but never made it, because the
bad press just kept on coming out,

and we had to keep on coming
up with different strategies,

which we never could.

So, this is when the story
gets even more interesting.

So, Raniere tells me that
the, the issue is

all the negative press

is written by journalists who,
in essence, are being paid off,

funded in extremely high level
in the world,

with billions of dollars behind it.

Because, you know, you have young,
fairly open-minded children

from very powerful families
come to take ESP,

as apparently happened
with the Bronfmans,

who came in 2002.

And suddenly saw the world differently.

So what happens if they stop responding

to the parental pressures
that they used to respond to?

And Keith would explain,
"Their family's extremely powerful,

and they see this as a threat,
and they come after me."

I was told that Clare
Bronfman got upset one day,

told her father something,

and her father tried to
destroy ESP and the mission.

He was behind the "Forbes" article.

She was basically responsible
for a lot of the bad press.

That was considered her breach.

And so it seemed
like she was gonna spend

the rest of her life fixing it,
at Raniere's behest, I guess.

I really struggled with

the idea of going to the press.

That being said,
I'd been speaking with Barry Meier.

And I said to him, "I want this to be

"a piece that could impact

"a broader range of people
into really understanding

the danger of this."

I'm coming to pick up my mother.

Because she's coming to give me
some emotional support right now,

because I was feeling
particularly alone in this fight,

as far as my family's concerned.

Hello, Mama. Oh.

You made it!

That's cute.

- No. No, I don't think so.
- You don't.

To the girl...

Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, this is a slightly...

It's ghastly.

Yes. She will.

I mean,
there are people in that organization

that don't have relationships
with their families anymore,

and they're not young anymore like her.

They've dedicated their entire life to

upholding this ideology.

I think that the whole idea about
having him come was to basically...

vindicate Raniere.

And then what happened is,
that event got canceled.

Because there was a lot
of negative press,

the Dalai Lama was pressured,

and he said something
to the effect of, you know,

"We need to examine these
things before we take the next step."

That's when myself,
Nancy Salzman, Sara Bronfman,

and Keith Raniere went to Dharamsala

to try to convince the Dalai Lama

that, you know,
Keith Raniere was a good guy,

and to please come.

And so, I went to document
the whole meeting.

- It's that way.
- Which way?

There it is.

Good morning.

Yes.

I guess first and foremost,
I wanted to apologize.

I... The things written
about me are not true.

To the best of my knowledge,

the factual information is not true.

But it is my responsibility,

and I do want to change that.

Precautions.

The different things proven against him

and he has lawsuits against others.

These are going on, right?

Are they all settled?
All lawsuits are settled?

There's no lawsuit...
Don't you have lawsuits against, uh...

We've actually...

Yeah. Can I give you
a little bit of the history?

- Sure.
- Um...

It... It is my belief that all of
the accusations against us

are not true.

- Okay.
- Um...

- And there's never... Now...
- Yes.

Um...

The things that are said are not only

just opinion,

but the facts that they use
are incorrect

to propagate that we are cult,
we are a cult, we are cult

with no evidence.

Right?

And he's
dedicated for some good things.

- Isn't it?
- Okay.

- So, thank you.
- Okay.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
See you again tomorrow.

And at the very end
of the tail end of the meeting,

um, somehow, he said yes.

You know, and this was
the moment that Raniere

would be finally vindicated.

Yes.

But despite our
win with the Dalai Lama,

the bad press just kept on coming.

He has been involved with several women

younger than 16 years old.

The girl pictured here lost
her virginity to Keith Raniere

at age 15 or 16.

Her older sister says,

"He had told her that
she was a bodhisattva,

whose soul could be much older
than her biological age."

Hutchinson killed herself
outside a Buddhist monastery

a t age 33.

When 2012 rolled around

and the "Times Union" article came out,
I read the whole thing.

That disturbed the hell out of me.

That was a lot to take in.

But we were trained for years

to think that the most honorable thing

is to maintain silence.

To hold this position of

nobility against these
terrible things in the media.

And at that time,
as a fervent believer,

of course one of my first calls
was to Keith Raniere saying,

you know, "I think we should talk."

But he was very well-prepared
for these things.

He had answers for everything.

You know, we get the negative press,

- and I, I think I know where it comes from.
- Mm-hmm.

But the good side of it is,

in learning about it
and watching how it's done,

and watching how it's done to me,

I was able to come up with

a useful tool set

that can really transform media,

and transform how
people interact with media,

and with the data within media.

So 2014,

"The Knife" was born.

I was one of the founding
members of "The Knife."

So in essence, it was a media company,

and the idea was to analyze the news

for objectivity,
or lack of objectivity.

So, I trained a group of people,

what we called analysts,

on logic and a series
of Raniere's ideas.

There was Rosa Laura Junco,
whose father owns

one of the largest papers in Mexico,

Nicki Clyne,

Allison Mack, and Jens Erik Gould,

who used to be with "Bloomberg."

We would talk about the
kind of bias in the article.

The slant, the skew, the use of,
you know, adjectives.

Basically talk about
how objective something was,

versus, you know, very subjective.

The idea was to give every
newspaper article a rating.

Joining us now to analyze

is the editor-in-chief
of "The Knife" media,

Jens Erik Gould.

Your rating of the coverage
in three outlets

of the Trump Presidency
in the first six months.

The language used in their stories

have some sort of vagueness.

Some sort of sensationalism.
Let me give you an example.

Words like "constant chaos,"

"in-fighting," "abrupt and angry,"

"warring factions," "floundering."

These are words
that are not measurable.

They're not based on data or facts.

They're emotional,
and they get us riled up,

and we get into that.

But they're not helping us
be more informed.

So when the
President says it's fake news,

what you're here to
tell me is, a lot of it,

if it's not fake,

it's heavily spun and very biased.

It's an important distinction,

because something can be a fact,

but it can be distorted
in how it's presented to you.

Very interesting.
"Knife Media" is what it's called.

Jens Erik Gould,
thank you for being here today.

At the time, I understood "The Knife"

was a way to analyze the accuracy

of media outlets...

which I now understand
was literally to prepare people

for any negative press
that would come against ESP,

because they would,
in essence, discard it

for its emotionality.

You know, if you reduce
everything down to the simplest thing,

you know, you go from,

a man raped a woman to

a man did something.
There was a woman involved.

When you, when you basically
take all the emotionality out,

you have no idea
what actually happened.

Hello.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Here's the deal. I cannot...

A year ago, I could not imagine

that I would be talking to you,

taking the position I'm taking.
I couldn't.

Because I have a lot to lose

if, if it's public that
we're having this conversation.

This, this thing is a ligation machine

funded, funded by a lot of wealth.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All my paranoia...

Literally my 20s in South Africa

for seven years were watching my back,

looking to see who's following me,
you know.

Being, being, you know,
really espionage-minded,

'cause my father was a spy.

I now feel like I'm back there again,

doing all the same things.

Walking through a space,
memorizing faces.

Watching cars, looking for tails.

It's all like,
the same shit I went through.

And it's hard on Bonnie, you know.

So, Mark started this thing,
like, two years ago

where he wanted to have
cameras in our house.

And at first it felt like,

like that was a good, protective,
you know, safe thing.

So he put a camera here. And, uh...

At first, that was good.

Now, when I quit, um,

I didn't trust him completely.

I was very paranoid,
and I had called a cult counselor.

And I literally tried to
avoid the camera

so he wouldn't see me
making a phone call.

And I'm, like, talking
in the corner of the kitchen

calling the counselor, paranoid,

saying, like,
"I'm so afraid to call you."

Um, luckily he didn't rat me out.

So that's fine.

Now, it feels like
we're on the same page,

which is, like,
the most important thing.

We know what we're standing for.

We know what happened to us.

Now we're talking to "The
New York Times," and...

none of us know what's gonna happen.

Basically, we've been laying low.

Not a lot of people
have known we were here,

and actually the reason

we're okay with shooting here

is 'cause we're about to leave here.

What we'd made a decision about

was applying for the
government safe address program.

To basically go off the grid,

so that nobody can find out
where we really are.

A nd all, all mail and all
everything points to Sacramento.

It would be good if we're moved in,

and then "The New
York Times" comes out,

and the address protection
thing will happen

in the next, like, two weeks. I think.

And then we can be
pretty much off the radar.

If they want to serve us papers,
they can't find us.

All right, so I got correspondence

from a lawyer,

and a document from what
appears to be NXIVM Mexico,

the letter and notice from
the State Attorney in Mexico

that's notarized.

"I hereby request the compliance of

the following restraining measures."

"Failure to comply with such
measures shall bring along

"the imposition of urgency measures.

"Such measures vary from a warning,

"up to an arrest for 36 hours,

alongside criminal
responsibilities that shall arrive."

Are you serious?

I heard that Barry went up to Albany

to try to get a statement
from NXIVM so I think...

I think that's what tipped
them off about the article.

So I think they're trying to attack

anyone that they think might
be speaking to the press.

Yeah. I think so, too.

So I immediately sent the letter

to Barry Meier at "The New York Times,"

because I wanted his reaction.

Actually, my thought was
if he gets this letter,

maybe he will push for
the article to come out sooner.

But he basically sent me back
an email this morning saying,

"Welcome to the club."

He said he got the same letter,

so I'm baffled why they are doing this.

Hold on one sec. What's going on, Troy?

Hi, buddy.

Are you gonna go to the park?

I couldn't talk about it 'cause I didn't
want my collateral to be released.

The biggest fear,
I think, is my family,

and, like, the videos
of me trash-talking

all my important relationships.

Those are my biggest things.

And also, I just don't
want a legal battle.

- You know, I know what ESP does.
- Yeah.

They go after
anyone who speaks against them.

We have a three-year-old son.

I don't want to make this
his backdrop to his childhood.

Jesus.

Putting myself out there

and being the face of this...

is terrifying.

But, like, when I was in ESP,

there were always allegations,
but there was no proof,

or as they say, "class one data."

You know, if anyone's gonna
say anything about it,

it has to be someone
who's willing to say,

"Hey, here's the proof."

So now I have class one data,

and it's on my body.

And you cannot deny it.

So, I've decided to go on the record,

and expose this.

I was reluctant to talk to
"The New York Times." Scared.

And I don't want to be associated
with these things, you know?

I'm embarrassed.

You know. And then I was like,

if embarrassment is the
only price to do the right thing,

I'm just gonna go on the record,

and do what I can to
expose this. Take this out.

You'll be surprised
how many times I can say

"Keith Raniere and Allison Mack's
initials are on people's vaginas."

I will put that in
every single statement I can,

and if you leave reading that article

supporting that,
and you're in that camp,

it's gonna be obvious
that the problem is you,

and not people who are
standing against that stuff.

Spin it however you want.

That's the problem.
That's the bad thing.

I tap out at that.

I'm doing a very slow,
low depth of field,

just on your eyes.
That looks great, Mark.

Tilt your head a little bit that way.

And now, chin down every so
slightly... Right there. That's good.

- Good.
- I said to Barry,

"I don't know if I can go
on the record with this."

I wanted to back away.

And he said to me, "I,
I, I just want to tell you,

"the reason this shit
keeps going on is because

people don't want to go on the record."

I was like, "Fuck you. That's so true."

Oh, that's good. Straight ahead.

Just into the camera, just there.

They are gonna
look for us more and more,

'cause we're talking about
people that have a lot of resources.

No.

So Bonnie and I spoke about it,

and said, "Okay." And it was like,
it was like a suicide mission.

Just, like, we can't
live with ourselves.

What do I do with myself?

Yeah.

- That is true.
- You can even put it up

a little bit higher, if you want.

All right, you guys.
Look over here at me.

Good.

Hello.

So there's, uh,
Catherine on the record,

there's Sarah on the record,
there's Sarah's husband,

as well, on the record.

And then, myself and Bonnie.

Um, there are

a number of other girls
that are coming out.

But I don't know their status,

whether they'd want to
talk about this or not.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

- I'm gonna talk to a few different people.
- Right.

But I think in about 3 or 4 days,

I'll probably have a pretty
clear list of who would talk.

I wanted to just go
back to the question you had

about that article.

Um, what did you hear?

I wasn't 100% sure,

her level of involvement, but...

My daughter India, she's a ringleader.

She's a slave, and she's a master.

I don't think I'm gonna get her out

until the organization is taken down.

Do you think it's too late to call?

Hey, Barry.

Obviously, you know why I'm calling.

India's still in the clutches of...

that in... that madman.

And being subjected
to more mind control,

so that's really hard on me.

- Yeah. We're, we're...
- What... tell... What do you know?

Keep the faith. Keep the faith.

- Okay, and so you can't...
- Keep the faith.

Can you give me, like,
a vague ballpark?

Well, like, how about a...

day. Not the time, but just the day.

Mm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

God.

This is nerve-wracking.

He's ruining people's lives.

People's lives that
I brought into the company.

That is terrifying to me.

How do I reconcile that?

And my friends in Albany,
my close friends,

people who were at our wedding say,

"Oh, you seem really fearful

"and you're making a rash decision.

It seems like you're having a tantrum."

I'm not having a fucking tantrum.

I'm the most principled I've
ever been in my fucking life.

That's why I knew that
I had to do the article,

because I had to reach them somehow.

And Frank Parlato... The Frank
Report isn't the way to do it.

It's too sensationalized.

If we expose this, then, then they have

the opportunity to leave
if they want to.

If they want to keep going, go ahead.

Sarah?

- Yeah.
- Hey, sorry to bother you,

but I just found out some bad news.

- Okay.
- So,

"The New York Times" doesn't
consider this story urgent,

and there's a chance that

they may postpone it indefinitely.

Basically, the story is
considered evergreen.

There is no... They don't think
there's any urgency to this story.

But they don't have a kid
in there that's wasting away.

You just to talk
to him. You need to move this.

This isn't the gossip column.

People's lives are being ruined.

I'm desperate.

I don't know if you know
what's going on inside my body,

but I am desperate.

Because I don't know what
else we can do at this point.

I really don't. Like,
somebody tell us... give us an option.

I don't think that
someone signing up for

self-improvement or
self-help is a horrible thing

or a bad thing.

I'm so incapable of
self-improvement, okay,

that it just doesn't
appeal to me, straight up.

Right? It's like
there's no hope for me.

There's just no...
Nothing that could be done.

Even if there was some
self-improvement program

that actually worked,

it wouldn't work on me.

It's that simple.

So, I'm, like,
protected from this shit.

Because I'm fucking helpless.

I would guess the central thing
that I took away from it

was how extraordinarily
vulnerable we are,

as people.

And how even people who,
on the surface,

are bright, are capable,

talented, successful, in many ways,

have this intense vulnerability.

And that vulnerability

is available for someone to exploit.

The idea that in 2017,

when we think of ourselves as living in

an advanced,
culturally enlightened society,

where there's hope for equality
between men and women,

that this type of unspeakable cruelty

can persist.

And that people can partake

and be subjected to practices

that could only be described
as barbaric.

But, from the standpoint
of publication,

it's important to have
as many people as possible

speaking on the record.

And throughout the reporting
of the story,

the greatest fear that everyone
was expressing to me

was the fear of legal retaliation.

And they had a basis to believe that,

because there was this other group
of women who had left the group,

and in fact had been the
subject of numerous lawsuits.

I was the first significant person

in the entire organization
to ever leave.

Over the years, I heard from members

and ex-members and the media

that people were terrified

to be the next Barbara Bouchey.

They needed to make
an example out of me,

in order to instill in the community:

This can happen to you, too.

Buckle your seat belt, and get ready.

'Cause they're comin' for you.

♪ You better be careful, girl ♪

♪ You're all alone ♪

♪ You better be careful, girl ♪

♪ You're on your own ♪

♪ I see the tears begin ♪

♪ There in your eyes ♪

I'm front page of The New York Times.

Holy shit, the whole world knows.

Every now and then I'm getting, "What
the fuck? How could you let that happen?"

Now that I'm out and I'm looking back,

it was all for a man's pleasure.

And these women feel it's
a beautiful, noble attempt

to teach women strength and empowerment

and I am fucking that up for them.

I found out the board was all the women

Keith had been sleeping with.

I held a forum to confront Keith.

This is extortion.

So, we are filing criminal charges.

They were bombarding the court.

It was like a horror show.