India Oxenberg is the daughter of actress Catherine Oxenberg. She was a member of Nxivm, a multi-level marketing organization that branded itself as an empowerment training center and was later exposed to be an apparent cult, for several years. Oxenberg and her mother, Catherine, first got involved with Nxivm as a duo. Catherine then spent several years trying to pull her daughter out of the organization; this effort culminated in a memoir, which has since been adapted into a film, which will run on Lifetime on September 21. Oxenberg left Nxivm in 2018, and is now in a relationship with chef Patrick D’Ignazio.
The film, which is titled Escaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother’s Fight to Save Her Daughter, is dramatized by other actors and actresses. Catherine explained her decision to take that route in an interview with Variety. She said, “To be quite frank, going through this once was plenty, and I’m so grateful to hand the part over to somebody else. I’m barely recovering from the first time.”
Catherine also said that this movie is told largely from her perspective, not from India’s. India is currently working on her own book, reportedly. Catherine said to Variety,
“I’m very careful to say that this is not her story. She has yet to tell her story. In my book I’m very careful not to trespass on her story at all, and so probably the hardest part for me was reading the parts of the script that tell her side of the story — because I’m very, very sensitive to my daughter having ownership over her perspective. But in order to tell this story in a visual medium, she had to be portrayed — and in moments that no mother wants to see her child, whether it’s the branding ceremony or scenes with Keith. But she did not participate in the telling of this story, and she will be telling the most accurate story from her perspective when the time is right.”
So for all of the scenes that are from “India’s perspective” in the movie, they’re actually just inspired from research into Nxivm in a general sense. They’re not based on India’s story, specifically.
Several high-ranking members have since been convicted of crimes that include racketeering and sex trafficking. Nxivm leader and “Grand Master” Keith Raniere was convicted of several crimes, including: racketeering, sex trafficking, conspiracy, forced labor, sexual exploitation of a child, identity theft, and possession of child pornography. He faces anywhere from 15 years to a lifetime in jail; his sentencing hearing, too, was scheduled for September and postponed indefinitely.
Allison Mack, an actress whose Nxivm membership features heavily in the Lifetime film, pled guilty to charges related to racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. She, too, is awaiting sentencing, and could face jail time up to 40 years.
India is played by Jasper Polish in the Lifetime film, Escaping Nxivm: A Mother’s Fight to Save Her Daughter. Here’s what you need to know about where India Oxenberg is today, in 2019:
India Oxenberg Left Nxivm in 2018 Because of Her Relationship With Chef Patrick D’Ignazio
India Oxenberg Instagram
Oxenberg has given no interviews about her experience as a member of Nxivm, and has not spoken to the press since she left Nxivm. However, her mother has kept people up to date on where her daughter is, and how she’s doing.
Specifically, Oxenberg left Nxivm because she fell in love with Patrick D’Ignazio, a chef at Double Zero, a restaurant in New York City, according to Page Six. A former Nxivm publicist told the newspaper, “Patrick said he would not tolerate his girlfriend taking orders from Raniere and being in a sex cult.”
On April 20, 2019, Oxenberg reaffirmed her relationship with a one-year anniversary Instagram tribute, which can be seen above. And though she is active on Facebook, she has no references to her time with Nxivm on her social media accounts.
Catherine Oxenberg Said Her Daughter India ‘Wants to Move Forward’
During her press tour in the week leading up to the Lifetime movie release, Catherine stopped by for an interview at Good Morning America, in which she explained why it was a hard decision to move ahead with a film.
“Deciding to make the film actually was a harder decision because my daughter was out of the cult and wants to move forward and doesn’t want the stigma of being associated with NXIVM,” she said. “But the decision was it’s more important to expose these sexual predators and their predatory tactics because they lose power, their playbook is very slim.”
Catherine further said that she’s “really proud” of her daughter, who has since done “a lot of healing.” She noted that “it was a terrible ordeal,” then added that India is now “in a really empowered place.”
India’s Instagram Account Shows Sunny, Happy Photos of Her With Her Boyfriend & Cat
India may not be ready to speak to the public about her side of the story, but she does occasionally post updates on her life in the form of Instagram posts. Her bio on the social media platform reads, “Pixilated: adj literally ‘possessed by pixies’ ✨”
However, those looking to find clues of what her Nxivm life was like will be disappointed by her feed, because she doesn’t reference Nxivm at any point in her photos, even during the time period when she was still involved.
Oxenberg did pay tribute to her mother in a recent Mother’s Day post on Instagram, writing, “Happy Mother’s Day ❤️ Thank you Mom ? ‘You loved me before seeing me; You love me in all my mistakes; You love me for what I am.’ -Luffina Lourduraj”
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