For its former members, leaving the NXIVM cult left lasting scars. Literally.

If you’ve watched “The Vow,” the HBO docuseries following disaffected members of NXIVM, as they extricate themselves from the alleged cult and speak out against its leader, Keith Raniere, then you might be wondering how seemingly intelligent people got involved in such a dubious operation. They were well-meaning spiritual seekers who found a sense of purpose through the group’s “Executive Success Program” — or ESP — personal development seminars, supposedly designed to help people overcome their “limiting beliefs.” As recounted in “The Vow,” Edmondson and Vicente worked their way up the organization’s internal hierarchy — known as “the stripe path” — and became enthusiastic boosters of its mission, recruiting Hollywood actors and other artists to join NXIVM and helping it expand across North America. But more recently, they were key players in the downfall of the group, speaking out in an explosive 2017 New York Times story detailing a secret society within NXIVM, known as DOS, whose female members, including Edmondson, were designated roles as “master” or “slave” and branded with Raniere’s initials. “The main reason it was done was for Keith’s own narcissism,” Edmondson says, “because he was so ‘wise.’” World & Nation NXIVM leader Keith Raniere convicted in lurid sex cult case The former leader of a purported self-help group was convicted Wednesday of federal charges that centered on lurid details of what prosecutors called a secret society of “sex slaves” within a community of followers in upstate New York. But I still destroyed Eden, and that’s upsetting.” Vicente says leaving the group was “like a shuddering wakeup,” and his attitude toward anything even vaguely related to personal growth was “very reactionary,” he says.