Nicki Clyne is a Canadian actress, known for her role as Cally Henderson on the SyFy television series Battlestar Galactica. Clyne was a member of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing company founded by Keith Raniere that has been described by former members, the media, and cult experts as a cult.
Career
Clyne is known for her role as Cally Henderson in the 2003 reimagining of Battlestar Galactica. Like several members of the cast, she was originally cast in a minor, non-recurring role but, having impressed the showrunners, became a major part of the series until her character's death in season four. In 2018, she appeared with fellow Battlestar alumnus Richard Hatch in the web series Personal Space.
She was also featured in two episodes of the podcast Tiki Bar TV, and presented an episode of HypaSpace. She stars alongside Lance Henriksen, Danielle Harris, Bill Moseley, and AFI's Davey Havok in the "illustrated film" series Godkiller. Clyne hosted two seasons of Syfy's Blastr TV, covering science fiction pop culture and events. She appeared in the independent film Lunamancer.
NXIVM
Clyne was a member of NXIVM, a now defunct multi-level marketing large-group awareness training company founded by Keith Raniere and headquartered in Albany, New York. By her own account, she attended her first NXIVM event In November 2005, an "intensive with Executive Success Programs (ESP)," one of several NXIVM companies. It has been reported that Clyne left Battlestar Galactica in 2008 to focus on being a full-time member of NXIVM. Clyne denies the claim.
Prosecutors dismantled NXIVM's corporation structures in 2020 by seizing First Principles Inc., the company with title to NXIVM and Keith Raniere's intellectual property. Nevertheless, Clyne and a small group of NXIVM members continue to proclaim Raniere's innocence and are described in media as NXIVM "dead-enders," or "loyalists."
Following Raniere's 2019 conviction of human trafficking and sexual abuse, Clyne continued to support Raniere and advocated for his release. Clyne was part of the remaining NXIVM members and continued to defend NXIVM and its practice. On March 27, 2023, the Frank Report published a statement from Clyne stating that she would no longer defend Keith Raniere.
Relationships with Keith Raniere and Allison Mack
Clyne has given statements to a federal court and the press that she was a sexual partner of Keith Raniere for over a decade. Clyne married American actress Allison Mack, a fellow member of NXIVM and DOS and a sexual partner of Raniere, in 2017 and witnessed by another NXIVM member. The marriage was little discussed until Mack was arrested in 2018. In 2020 Allison Mack filed paperwork in Orange County, California to divorce Clyne.
Fox News, quoting Frank Parlato, Jr. reported that the marriage was an immigration-related sham to keep Clyne (a Canadian citizen) in the United States. The New York Times, citing prosecutors from the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, have said similar.
The Knife of Aristotle and DOS
In 2014, NXIVM adherent Rosa Laura Junco (daughter of Alejandro Junco de la Vega) founded the media organization The Knife of Aristotle, later shortened to The Knife. Clyne was given a job with the organization, and was credited as its "Executive Producer."
By Clyne's own account, she helped Keith Raniere found a "secret sisterhood" that started in 2015 called "DOS" (also known as "the Sorority," and "the Vow.") The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said that DOS was arranged as a pyramidal organization with Raniere at the apex and subordinates Clyne, Mack and others as its "First Line." The First Line were Raniere's direct slaves, instructed to become "masters" by recruiting slaves of their own. The slaves of the First Line (and below) were to treat Raniere as "Grandmaster," but were not allowed at first to know of Raniere's participation.
The DOS sorority required a number of acts of devotion involving masochism or submission. These acts included ceremonies conducted in the nude, one involving branding with a symbol that (undisclosed to several recipients) was a monogram of the initials of Keith A Raniere. Members were instructed to provide humiliating photos and derogatory information about themselves as "collateral" used to blackmail them into obedience. At Raniere's trial, several recruits to DOS indicated their masters told them to have sex with Keith Raniere or an individual acting as his proxy. The group also practiced forms of corporal punishment ("penances") as well as severe caloric restriction and sleep deprivation.