Amazon is now taking orders for the book “Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life” by
It comes out in hardcover on September 17, 2019.
It can also be purchased on Kindle
Here is the description of the book as it appears on Amazon:
In 2005, Sarah Edmondson was a young actress getting her start in Vancouver and hungry for purpose. When NXIVM, a personal and professional development company, promised to provide the tools and insight to reach her potential and make an impact, Sarah was intrigued. She would go on to become one of the cult’s most faithful (and effective) devotees. Over her twelve-year tenure, Sarah enrolled over 2,000 people and operated her own NXIVM center in Vancouver.
Of course, things were not what they seemed. As Sarah progressed up NXIVM’s “Stripe Path,” questions kept coming up about the organization’s rules and practices. Why did the organization prevent members from asking questions? Why did those who did ask questions promptly leave or disappear? These questions came to a head in 2017 when Sarah accepted an invitation from her best friend, Lauren Salzman, to join DOS, a “secret sisterhood” within NXIVM and headed to the headquarters in Albany for the initiation ceremony. Thanks to Sarah’s fearlessness as she put her life on the line, that ceremony would mark the beginning of the end of NXIVM.
In this tell-all memoir, complete with personal photographs, Sarah shares her true story from the moment she takes her first NXIVM seminar, revealing in-depth details of her time as a member, including what happened on that fateful night in Albany, and her harrowing fight to get out, help others, and heal. This is also a true story about abuses of power, the role female friendships play in cults, and how sometimes the search to be “better” can override everything else.
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
Please leave a comment: Your opinion is important to us!
Re: Sarah Edmonson’s morality. Sarah Edmonson may not be the heroine people wanted but she is the heroine they needed.
When a certain somone put Sarah Edmonson and the Nytimes reporter together, to bring the NXIVM branding story to the masses….. I believe he did so with the knowledge that Sarah Edmonson was the perfect person to deliver the salacious story.
Sarah Edmonson is an intelligent photogenic woman. She is attractive, but not too attractive. Women can relate to her and men are attracted to her.
I personally believe if a certain former NXIVM publicist had chosen anyone else the NXIVM branding story never would have spread like wildfire nationally as well as internationally around the world.
The story was covered by the world’s largest media organizations.
Hate on Sarah Edmonson if you must…
…Just remember that without her, the branding story may never have been picked up by so many media outlets.
Her ‘sexy’ and affable presence helped sensationalize and sell the story to the world.
Thank you Sarah Edmonson!
Sarah has to confront her brand constantly and I think it’s dark funny. Buy a book about it? No thanks. Aged out ingénues are tedious.
While this one is not a fiction book, why should anyone give money to someone who willingly received $30000/month?
She made enough money from Nxivm…i don’t feel like giving her a dime.
[…] New Book By Sarah Edmondson ‘Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult That Bound M… […]
[…] also bad-mouthed Sarah’s upcoming book – and suggested that she would use the book to “gloss over” the period of time she […]
Gross. Fuck you Sarah Edmondson. You are a manipulative liar, who knew what you were a part of. You loved the easy money. Now you play the victim card and are still trying to profit. You are a fraud.
Agree with what you say, but there is also the possibility that this woman is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and was easily manipulated.
Bullshit. All the NXIVM cultists I knew were above average intelligence. They are just born fucked up.
‘CONNED’
How I ripped off NXIVM customers, earned more than $100k a Year. Then played the Victim card to make more cash
Edmondson should take all of the money she made from NXIVM, her book, and any other sources, and give it to people who lost money in NXIVM.
We don’t know that she still has any of whatever money she made. You should know that if NXIVM was really working like a pyramid scheme, she plowed lots of whatever she did get into paying for her own participation. Looking at her IMDB entry, it appears that she may have stopped doing movies while she was heavily involved in NXIVM, so she may just have traded one source of income for another, spending what she made through her center on living and lifestyle expenses.
Hopefully, her book will be honest and provide some real insight into how the centers away from Albany ran. If she makes much money from the book then I’d agree that there’s a question of what to do with it, but there’s also no equitable mechanism set up for distributing money to people harmed by their participation in the group, so there’s no easy answer.
Anonymaker, I recall at the trial, Mark Vicente testified that the NXIVM centers he owned were always running in the red or close to red. So you are probably right that much of the money ended up in Albany.
Dianne, thanks for that bit of confirming information.
It sounds like the Scientology model that Raniere admired – suck local operations dry with fees that have to be sent “uplines” (a Scientology term that just happens to overlap with pyramid schemes), plus the costs of the operators’ own counseling and training.
Until we know details, I don’t think we can assume there was money anywhere – including Albany. A fair bit of money flowed through, but they were also burning through a lot on unnecessary things, like Raniere’s vendettas and predilections. Plus if Raniere really did gamble, as has been reported, he may well have squandered most of any money that did accumulate, other than what Nancy Salzman managed to stash in her house.
You don’t have a clue how pyramids work. It’s not just the single person at the tip that makes money, it would quickly fall apart if that were true.
I’ve followed several religiously-related pyramids, and it’s a different thing when that sort of belief is involved. I can imagine Edmondson being satisfied just making enough off her center, to substitute for cutting back on major projects as an actress.
Just look at NXIVM’s inner circle. Most of them were either broke, or burning through inheritances and other money they already had.
Scott Johnson,
You should follow your own advice.
“Edmondson should take all of the money she made from NXIVM, her book, and any other sources, and give it to people who lost money in NXIVM”, Scott Johnson.
You are one incredible selfish delusional individual.
LMFAO!!!!!
Its on my ‘must read’ list.
I wouldn’t pay a penny for it.
Scott,
No one would pay you a penny for your thoughts on any subject.
Yes, but if Shadowstate wrote “Chloe…Memoirs of an Overaged Fanboy” you would be all over it like hot sauce on Vanguard’s pizza
All Witches,
After a long Monday I needed a laugh!
Thanks for the laugh at Scott’s expense!