‘Outer Banks’ Star Madelyn Cline Says Spanish Police Mistook Her for a Sex Ring Leader
Madelyn Cline has spent the past several years building a career on high-stakes, adrenaline-driven storytelling, first as one of the breakout stars of ‘Outer Banks’ and more recently branching into film work alongside major international names. That trajectory has taken her everywhere from the Carolina coastline of her Netflix series to the streets of Madrid, where she spent time filming her upcoming movie ‘Day Drinker.’
That Spain shoot, which also stars Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz, turned out to involve far more than the usual production headaches. While living alone in an apartment during filming, Cline found herself dealing with repeated, unsettling visits from local police, with officers showing up at her door multiple times without ever clearly explaining what was going on.
Speaking on the August 13 episode of Jake Shane’s Therapuss podcast, Cline revealed the actual explanation behind those visits was far stranger than she initially assumed. According to Cline, Spanish police had mistaken her for the leader of a sex ring operating out of her building.
Cline explained that the situation left her genuinely frightened and confused for weeks, since officers repeatedly questioned her in Spanish and took her passport and personal information without offering any real explanation for why she was under suspicion. Despite living completely alone in the apartment throughout filming, she found herself treated as the central figure in whatever operation authorities believed was based there.
The mystery only started to unravel once Cline mentioned the situation to her co-star Penélope Cruz on set. According to Cline’s account, Cruz happened to have a personal connection to the same building, and it was a conversation with an old neighbor that finally revealed what police were actually investigating. Officers had reportedly traced a local crime ring back to that exact address and, upon finding Cline living there alone, apparently concluded she was the person running it.
Once Cline understood what had actually happened, the situation shifted from alarming to almost absurd, giving her enough distance to recount it with the kind of dark humor Shane’s podcast tends to invite from its guests. It’s the kind of production anecdote that ends up overshadowing the actual filming experience, even on a project stacked with names like Depp and Cruz.
‘Day Drinker’ is expected to arrive next year, giving Cline another high-profile film credit as she continues expanding beyond the world of ‘Outer Banks,’ which is currently airing its final season. Whatever ends up defining the movie’s reception, this particular behind-the-scenes story already has an ending stranger than most on-set anecdotes fans typically hear.
What would you do if Spanish police repeatedly showed up at your door because they thought you were running a crime ring?
Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!
