Jennifer Aniston Got Involved in an Illegal Cult With Ex-Boyfriend Gerard Butler

Jennifer Aniston was involved in a cult which was later criminally charged for sex-trafficking. Her link with the NXIVM organization raised many eyebrows. In a docu-series, Seduced released in 2020, detailing the chilling anecdotes of the cult, a former sex slave in the cult shared how she briefly came across the Friends star with her then-rumored boyfriend Gerard Butler. Presumably, around the year 2010, Aniston was seeing the 300 star who together once attended an introductory class as reported by Business Insider. 

Back then, Aniston was shooting a rom-com movie, The Bounty Hunter with Butler which sparked romance between the two. However, their relationship was short-lived and the reasons were not confessed by either of them about their separation. The explosive documentary shed light on the illegal cult that once saw the former pair appearing together for a class but never becoming full-time members. The rescued slave, and executive producer of the docu-series, India Oxenberg was introduced to the cult by her mother, Catherine Oxenberg as reported by The Things. 

Disclosing the involvement of celebrities, India said in the documentary, "There were entrepreneurs and strong powerful women like Rosario Dawson, who I just got to strike up a conversation with. I was impressed." In a recording of a video recovered during the investigation, the cult leader, Keith Raniere said, "So what's abuse in one area is not abuse in another. So what is abuse really? Abuse is, 'Is the person a child, or is the person adult-like?' Some children are perfectly happy with it," as he advocated having physical relations with minors with their consent. 

The cult was later busted for its exploitative tendencies and for advocating sex trafficking with juveniles. "One of the hardest things for me to reconcile is I was the one who introduced India to Nxivm and that I did not recognize the warning signs, the red flags," India shared. "What Keith was a genius at was tweaking and working this curriculum with the deliberate attempt of breaking people down," cult researcher Rick Alan Ross told Oxenberg. 

Other than mental traumatic experiences, and physical and sexual abuse, the cult was also charged with medical misconduct. Brandon B. Porter, a member of the cult, was behind the idea of mandatorily asking the members to wear a cap that would map the brain wave patterns to check out the manner in which various members would function while discussing trauma or watching disturbing content. Inside NXIVM, DOS functioned, which was similar to a sorority for secret sex slavery where the slaves were destined to honor their masters.

"Keith told me sending these pictures was a practice in pushing myself out of my comfort zone," Oxenberg added in her scandalous revelation about the cult. The victim of the illegal cult shared that she was not aware of the similar predicament of other women with her. The cult founder had made similar demands from other women as well.