The tabloids were buzzing a couple of weeks ago that Katie Holmes is leaving Tom because she was at their home Telluride, Colorado while Tom Cruise was encamped at Scientology Celebrity Centre in LA. Their massive new mansion is undergoing renovations, and maybe they just decided to take a separate vacation. As much as I would relish a real story that they’re breaking up, no one really seemed to have the details or evidence to back it up.

One tabloid tale that rings true to me claims that Cruise discouraged Katie from taking that stage role in Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” in New York. She is still said to be negotiating with producers, and Tom supposedly told her she doesn’t have the voice to do stage work. He sent her for voice training to – where else – the Scientology Celebrity Center:

[Tom Cruise] dumped on [Katie Holmes’] dream of starring on Broadway… in “All My Sons” – insisting her voice is far too drail to “project and dominate” in live theater!… Disagreeing angrily… Katie filnally caved and agreed to obey Her Lord and Master’s Looney-Order of the Day: Proceed immediately to Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood, where a church-approved coach will exercise and strengthen your vocal cords!

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker’s column, May 5, 2008]

The full interview with former Scientologist and actor Jason Beghe is currently available on Xenu.tv. It’s in 8 parts and is long, but incredibly interesting. So far I’ve watched the first four parts, in which Beghe describes how he was sucked into the cult by striving for higher levels of self awareness, in which he says he only became aware of Scientology’s way of looking at the world. He said that Scientologists are often very decent people who believe they’re helping people. He was in Scientology for 12 years and it took him a long time before he realized what a trap it was. At that point he had spent a million dollars.

Beghe’s interview is worth watching to learn more about the way that Scientology tricks parisioners in spending more money on training, auditing and courses. He described how you’re told that you can achieve a state of clear, in which they claim you’ll never get sick and “no longer have a reactive mind.” Given Beghe’s experiences with fellow “clears,” he says that’s of course completely bogus.

Whenever you have a problem or an accident you’re told it’s due to a “Potential Trouble Source.” Everything negative that happens is all because of these Potential Trouble Sources, and he said it’s like the “spiritual flu.” You’re told to get rid of “suppressive persons” in your life, and in his case he was told to drop his best friend since the 9th grade, David Duchovny, who was actually very nice to him about Scientology and did not give him grief about joining the cult. Beghe said that all the courses, auditing, and programs he took through Scientology really damaged him psychologically.

It’s not surprising that Cruise would tell his wife that Scientology has a way to help her project her voice since they seem to have a high-priced course for everything. You only hope she can get out of that relationship and the cult’s influence before it’s too late for her, but she seems to be content with having sold her soul for unlimited designer clothing.

Thanks to WENN for these photos of Tom and Katie outside Cut restaurant on 2/27/08, where they had a double date with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.