Where Is Barbara Bouchey After Leaving NXIVM?
By Pippa RagaSep. 25 2020, Updated 6:27 p.m. ET
HBO’s The Vow explores the story of Keith Raniere and his cult NXIVM, as well as a lot of ex-members who left the gang earlier than it imploded in 2018. One of those other folks is Barbara Bouchey, an ex-girlfriend of Keith’s and probably the most first ladies who left the crowd back in 2009.
Barbara remained silent about her experiences at NXIVM for a long time after leaving because of harassment she faced from the crowd and a barrage of proceedings that had been used to stay her quiet. But what happened to Barbara Bouchey and where is she now?
What happened to Keith Raniere's ex Barbara Bouchey?
An clever lady and self-made millionaire through the age of 40, Barbara did not appear to be the type of individual to willingly sign up for a cult. She used to be first drawn to Keith Raniere’s world via Nancy Salzman, with whom Barbara had executed a few remedy sessions through the years.
When she joined NXIVM in 2000, Barbara used to be going via a in particular tricky time in her existence as she was once going via a divorce and her best possible pal had simply committed suicide. She used to be taken by means of Keith’s self-help workshop and located his curriculum to be “profound and life-changing” at the time. Barbara notes that while she didn’t in finding Keith that spectacular at first, she began to view him through a special lens after completing her workshop.
When Barbara joined NXIVM, she worked as an overly a success monetary planner, but quickly, Keith satisfied her to prevent taking new clients and dedicate extra time to volunteering with the gang. He also started pursuing her romantically, and 6 months after becoming a member of NXIVM, Barbara started to reciprocate his emotions. Keith also satisfied Barbara to take a position her private money into a commodity account with him and in time, she misplaced over $1.6 million, which amounted to her complete existence savings.
Barbara idea that she and Keith were in a committed, monogamous dating for nearly a 12 months till she came upon that he was once also involved with different girls in his interior circle. Additionally, she began to notice Keith’s abusive habits and in 2009, Barbara left the group — however now not earlier than she and eight other girls faced Keith about what they saw as his troubling habits.
After she left NXIVM, Barbara confronted years of harassment through incessant felony circumstances that had been introduced towards her via Keith and his protégés. She was wrongfully arrested and confronted false extortion charges along with an onslaught of persona assassination that attempted to damage her reputation as a relied on member of her neighborhood. Although the instances had been in the end pushed aside, Barbara incurred massive attorneys' fees, which forced her to document for brief bankruptcy aid.
Due to the relentless harassment, Barbara used to be compelled to stay a low profile for many years but she never subsidized down from trying to disclose the group. Eventually she become a part of the group of ex-members who alerted the authorities to NXIVM’s practices. And after Keith’s arrest in 2018, Barbara after all felt safe sufficient to speak out.
During Keith’s trial, Barbara advised an target market at CrimeCon that staring at the trial was a horrifying enjoy for her as the secrets of the group came to mild. “I have moments where I want to barf, moments I can’t discuss,” she said. “I’m crying myself a river within the again aisle of the court. I’m listening to issues I will be able to’t even comprehend, and my thoughts is racing so fast to check out and understand what came about all over my time there and why.”
Watch new episodes of The Vow, Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO.
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