Will Smith has what reads like a new interview with UK’s The Sun. He’s promoting his upcoming movie, After Earth, with his 14 year-old son, Jaden. Some of the quotes we’ve heard before, so I can’t be sure that The Sun isn’t rehashing other interviews, although most of it is new to me. As he’s explained in the past, Will continues to talk about his hands-off parenting approach, which involves very little discipline and is firmly rooted in the beliefs of the Scientology cult. (Will and Jada deny that they are Scientologists, but they’re surely raising their kids like they are.) Will and Jada’s children are allowed “self determination,” and they’re given the same treatment as adults basically. These two don’t believe in punishment or in telling children what to do at all. Will admits that Jaden, 14, wants to be an emancipated minor and is asking for his own house. Will explains this like it’s not a big deal and is normal. Note that Jaden has performed with Justin Bieber and regularly hangs out with him. So he probably has quite a bit of control over his life already.

Will, 44, reveals: “He says, ‘Dad, I want to be emancipated.’ I know if we do this, he can be an emancipated minor, because he really wants to have his own place, like ooh.

“That’s the backlash. On the other side, if kids just want to have command of their lives, I understand.”

On his movie imitating their real life
Will can’t deny that art is imitating reality. He says: “It’s very similar for Jaden and me — your father’s the biggest movie star in the world, and you’re struggling for your little piece of dignity in this extreme shadow.”

His parenting approach
Will says: “We generally don’t believe in punishment. From the time Jaden was five or six we would sit him down, and all he has to do is be able to explain why what he did was the right thing for his life.

I think it’s a much more difficult question to ask someone — ‘Why was that right?’ — than to try to show them why it was wrong.

“Nobody wants to be wrong, all parts of yourself fight like crazy to not be wrong. So I’ll say to Jaden, ‘Why was that the right thing to do for your life?’ and if he can explain why kicking his sister in the chest was the right thing to do, we can see to it that he understands that it wasn’t so smart.”

On letting his kids do anything they want
Essentially, the only conflict is getting the rules down. Like for example, when Willow shaved her head bald.
“There was a big thing about her being allowed to do it. Well, the rule in our house is you can do anything that you want and we don’t pull the parent card until danger is involved. So we are not going to let you do something that injures yourself or will have long-term repercussions.

“But she didn’t cut my hair, she cut her own hair. It grows back.”

[From The Sun]

Little kids are very self-centered by nature. Depending on their age it’s a stage they’re in and they’re not able to understand adult issues like accountability, cooperation and morality until they get to be older. It’s just how their minds work. Having them explain why they behaved badly isn’t going to get them to grasp concepts like an adult would. That’s why they need guidance on how to behave and act when they’re little. Giving a child complete freedom is ridiculous. How does this work with things like mealtime and baths? Are the children allowed to eat candy constantly, refuse to clean up, and watch television the entire day? Are they given anything they want from the entire store? It sounds like a recipe for disaster.

But can’t you tell from this interview that Will is considering letting Jaden go off on his own? That he’s treated his kids like little adults since the time they were born and is seriously thinking about letting Jaden get his own house? I worry about those kids. At least Willow is asking to be a kid, and her parents are letting her. You can tell they would rather be her buddy while she becomes a big star, though.

Update: Will’s rep tells Gossip Cop that “this isn’t real.” So does that mean that this interview isn’t real or that Jaden isn’t really going to get emancipated? So many questions.

These photos are from May, July and September, 2012. Credit: WENN.com

Will Smith was asked in an interview about how he raises his kids. His answer was very telling, and explains why the Smith kids are basically running their own careers and being expected to face deep adult issues on camera. He says he treats them like adults, basically, and judging from his answer I would say he’s done that since they were little. It’s sad for them and makes me want to protect them. Remember that Willow is just 12 and Jaden is 14.

“We don’t do punishment. The way that we deal with our kids is, they are responsible for their lives. Our concept is, as young as possible, give them as much control over their lives as possible and the concept of punishment, our experience has been – it has a little too much of a negative quality.

So when they do things – and you know, Jaden, he’s done things – you can do anything you want as long as you can explain to me why that was the right thing to do for your life.”

[From Metro.us via Starcasm]

This is Scientology-speak. This is how the Scientologists treat kids, like little adults who are responsible for themselves and don’t need parenting. The cult’s doctrine preaches “self-determination” for children which may sound ok as some kind of theory, but often becomes neglect and abuse in practice. Little kids in no way have the maturity or capability of adults, and they need our guidance and help. This is a recipe for disaster like so much other crap in Scientology.

Will Smith’s private school uses Scientology “teaching” materials which are wholly unproven and can be harmful, so I guess it’s not surprising that he follows their recommendations for raising his children. I now believe the rumors that the Smiths are undercover Scientologists and that they’ve been hiding it for years. I’ve been willing to give them the benefit of the doubt until now, but no longer. It’s just a shame because the kids are the ones who suffer the most, and I’ll leave it at that. At least Willow and Jaden won’t be expected to join Sea Org.

First of all, The NY Daily News has a copy of the handwritten note that Madonna sent to the new President of Malawi, Joyce Banda, and it’s hilarious! It’s full of exclamation points, run-on sentences and misspellings. Go over to the NY Daily News to check it out and come back here. That’s a note you send to a friend, not a head of state. Madonna should realize that she needs to send a type-written, proofread, respectful and formal note to a new President.

Madonna was requesting a personal meeting with the new President prior to her weeklong tour of the country. Madonna of course adopted two children, both now 8, from Malawi, skirting longstanding adoption laws to do so. She’s also had several charity projects in Malawi that have been mired in controversy, most notably a $15 million dollar school, plans for which were scrapped in 2011. The NY Times ran a piece a couple of months later detailing the millions of dollars that went missing in that charity, spent on “outlandish expenditures on salaries, cars, office space and a golf course membership, free housing and a car and driver for the school’s director.” And of course Madonna’s cult, Kabbalah, was involved and was going to influence the school’s curriculum. So there’s much more going on here than Madonna offending the President with a dumb, handwritten note. This is Madonna trying to do damage control and tout the charity work that her foundation eventually did in Malawi, by funding some community schools. Still, the note is funny. Here’s more, thanks to Radar:

The Material Girl sent a muddled letter to President Joyce Banda of Malawi last week to coincide with her latest goodwill trip to her country. But the impact of her words was diluted by a multitude of misspellings and led to her being refused a meeting, according to the New York Daily News.

Madonna, 54, addressed President Banda with the informal greeting “Dear Joyce” in the hand-written note, in which she congratulated the most powerful woman in Africa on the “new position” as the nation’s first female leader.

The pop star, who traveled to Malawi to check in on 10 school projects her charity built, proved she was in need of some serious schooling herself as she made a slew of errors in her note, including writing “responsability” instead of “responsibility.”

She even asked for a face-to-face with the president but her rambling and casual tone instead offended the president! The president told the pop star that she was too busy and instead delegated the meeting to officials from the education ministry, according to a report in the Nyasa Times.

And if the scribbled note wasn’t bad enough, the outreach itself may have been enough to upset the President. The President’s sister was previously fired from her role at Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity after accusations surfaced that she stole money.

Madonna is the country’s biggest global philanthropist, but as The Telegraph reported, her Raising Malawi program sparked criticism from the education minister over the schools that are financed by the charity.

Minister Eunice Kazembe denied that Madonna’s charity had built 10 new schools, saying that they had in fact “built 10 classroom blocks.” However, her philanthropy team claims that the schools are built to the national standard and house thousands of kids in classrooms instead of under trees.

“We have called President Banda, we have sent letters to President Banda but we have not heard back,” said Trevor Neilsen.”It’s pretty clear what’s going on here – the president’s sister now works in the education ministry and has an active grudge against Madonna.”

[From Radar Online]

In regard to the allegations that the President’s sister stole from Madonna’s charity – the head of Raising Malawi stole a bunch of money in 2009 (allegedly) before resigning and running off with Madonna’s then-trainer, Tracy Anderson. (Who is a known fraud. Madonna fired Tracy as her trainer, then Tracy and that guy broke up.) So all this business about the President of Malawi’s sister being fired for embezzling money from the charity may be a smokescreen – or she may have been one of many people lining their pockets with money from that charity, from the top-down.

Madonna is shown at the GLAAD Awards with Anderson Cooper on 3-16-13 and performing in November. There’s also a photo of her children, David and Mercy, in Miami in November. Credit: WENN.com

Page Six has a story today about Marc Anthony’s new romance, with 21 year-old TopShop heiress Chloe Green. Yesterday we talked about Chloe and Marc’s Disneyland outing with his kids. Chloe and Marc were looking cuddly and she was carrying his daughter around at one point. It was gross to me because Chloe is young enough to be his daughter and because it doesn’t seem too wise to have her around his kids when they’ve only been dating a month – tops. So Page Six’s theory about this new May-December romance is interesting, but I’m not really buying it and I’ll explain why in a moment. They say that Marc is into Scientology, in secret-like, and that he’s bringing Chloe into the fold. Say what? That’s news to me. Here’s more:

Marc Anthony’s relationship with Chloe Green, the 21-year-old heiress to the fortune of UK’s Topshop, has celebrity and social circles whispering about what’s really behind the sudden May-December romance.

Some fear that 44-year-old Anthony’s ties to the Church of Scientology could be an influence on Green, the aspiring actress and designer who starred in British reality show “Made in Chelsea.” The pair were seen strolling with their arms around each other at Disneyland this week, and also touring the park with Anthony’s and ex-wife Jennifer Lopez’s twins.

But Green — whom sources say Anthony has “known for years,” since she was a teen — is a stark departure from his stunning exes, Lopez and Shannon de Lima, the Venezuelan beauty queen he just split with.

Anthony and Lopez reportedly had close ties to Scientology, which is known for targeting celebs and scions of wealthy families, making Green a perfect potential object of interest for the church. While Anthony’s reps deny he’s a member of the faith, he and Lopez rubbed elbows with Scientologists including Tom Cruise and reportedly broke up over the religion.

Green, who arrived in LA two weeks ago for the launch of a Topshop there, posted a cryptic tweet after her date with Anthony on Tuesday. Quoting a friend, she tweeted, “ ‘LA thank you . . . I’ve found myself,’ ” followed by “So have I!”

[From The NY Post]

Kaiser pointed out to me that Rupert Murdoch owns the NY Post, and that he’s very vocal in his hatred of the cult of Scientology, so it’s possible the Post has some insider information that we don’t. It’s also possible that they’re jumping to conclusions based on some cryptic tweets which sound more to me like two goofballs thinking their new romance transcends age, famewhoring and excessive consumption.

We have heard that Marc and J.Lo were into Scientology, but it was J.Lo pushing the cult’s faux self-help crap, not Marc. Lopez’s dad is a Scientologist, and she’s good friends with Lean Remini (also a Scientologist). She’s spoken very positively about it in the past, but claimed that she wasn’t personally a Scientologist. She’s just down with them or something. It just doesn’t seem to be Marc’s thing, and if it was Lopez probably would have converted.

So I don’t really believe this story that Marc is into Scientology and that he’s introducing it to this Chloe character. He’s just psyched to be banging some young chick again, and is taking every opportunity to throw it in his ex’s face. (Just like she’s been doing, basically.)

Here’s a photo from Connor Cruise’s Twitter page that depicts the budding DJ with his comparatively reclusive sister, Isabella. Over the past six months though, Isabella has been the subject of much romantic speculation. That is, the tabloids have been rife with the news that Isabella and fellow (2nd generation) Scientologist Eddie Frencher have been preparing to announce their engagement after Bella tweeted a photo of a diamond ring, and we’ve already heard that Tom is dying to play wedding planner (you know he’d do it) for his eldest daughter. And he’d wear his very best lifts for the occasion!

Isabella is apparently very serious with Eddie, and it all happened very fast. According to People, the couple has been dating since early this year, and you can see a photo of Eddie here. Reportedly (and this is per Isabella’s own, now-defunct Facebook account), Frencher joined the infamous Sea Org approximately a week ago, and as such, he’s signed away his life (as well as his future ones) on a billion-year contract. While it’s hard to believe that, in this age of the internet, anyone would fall for this nonsense, I guess 2nd gen CO$ kids have been so insulated from the rest of humanity that one can’t blame them for knowing nothing other than the CO$ universe. Considering that Tom left his two eldest children entirely unattended (according to ex-high-ranking Scientologist Marty Rathbun) on a daily basis with Tommy Davis (head of the Celebrity Centre), who repeatedly told them that Nicole Kidman was a sociopath, I pretty much absolve Isabella of any blame for belonging to this cult as a 2nd gen member. Let’s face it — the girl had no choice. By that point, Scientology has already decided that Nicole Kidman was a hazard to their mission, and they unceremoniously rid themselves of her presence. In other words, Mom can’t save Isabella now.

So obviously, this is quite the tricky paradox. Sure, Tom absolutely loves the Sea Org for all of its inclusive slave labor that was used to build his various homes and vehicles, but would he really be happy with his own daughter joining the ranks? Here’s the official story from the Village Voice, which tells a very Shakespearean tale of woe between Isabella and her love, Eddie Frencher:

The Voice has learned that Tom Cruise’s daughter, Isabella, announced on a private Facebook page this week that her boyfriend Eddie Frencher signed Scientology’s billion-year “Sea Org” contract about a week ago and is now going through its “Estates Project Force” boot camp in Los Angeles. Isabella took down that Facebook page a few days later, but a friend who recently shared an apartment with Isabella and Frencher tells us that the information is correct, and Frencher has joined the Sea Org.

Former Sea Org executives tell us that Isabella would be under intense pressure to join the hardcore Scientology organization herself or be forced to give up her relationship with Frencher. Another close family friend tells us that after being cut off from Frencher for a few days, Isabella began considering seriously the prospect of signing the Sea Org’s contract and joining him in the EPF.

We asked Tom Cruise’s attorney, Bert Fields, for a comment today and are still waiting for a reply. We also sent a request for a statement to the Church of Scientology’s media office.

Isabella, 19, and her younger brother Connor, 17, were adopted by Cruise and his previous wife, Nicole Kidman. But after they split, the children spent most of their time with their father and both became members of his religion, the Church of Scientology.

In recent years, media reports had Isabella rebelling against her father and his church, but then in January, the tabloids went wild reporting that Isabella was now in a relationship with another young Scientologist, Eddie Frencher, who had also grown up in the religion and is four years her senior.

Through [a] close Cruise family friend, we learned that Isabella had announced on a private Facebook page that Eddie had joined the Sea Org and that she wished him well.

Sea Org members work up to 100-hour weeks for about $40 to $50 a week, and almost never get a day off. And when they are in the EPF, the Sea Org’s boot camp, they are cut off from friends and family. Isabella would have been entirely sealed off from Frencher.

After a few days of separation, say family friends, Isabella began to consider joining the hardcore organization herself. “Bella is very serious about following Eddie into the Sea Org,” one source told us.

I asked Amy Scobee, a former Sea Org executive, to tell me what kind of choice Isabella is facing. “She’s either going to need to join or that’s it, it’s over,” Scobee says.

A 27-year member of Scientology, Scobee was a dedicated Sea Org official who left the church in 2005 after witnessing the violent work environment at Scientology’s secretive international base east of Los Angeles, something she details in her book, Abuse at the Top.

I asked Scobee what Frencher is going through now as he works through his EPF training. “It’s five hours of study each day. And then otherwise it’s ‘deck work’ — either garbage detail or renovations or other menial work. He’ll be eating on a buffet, and it’s not the best food in the world. He will be having to hustle wherever he goes. There’s no TV. It’s going to be a shock to him,” she says.

If Isabella joins him, I asked, would the daughter of Tom Cruise also go through those kinds of hardships? “Yes! You are signing over your entire life. Every minute of your day is spent there. I didn’t take a day off in 11 years while I was in the Sea Org,” Scobee says.

“If she joins, Isabella isn’t going to last long,” Scobee predicts. “She grew up with a celebrity lifestyle and now she’s going to clean garbage cans and never get a day off?”

[From Village Voice's Running Scared Blog]

So the question remains … would Tom actually let Isabella join the Sea Org to be near her fiancé? On one hand, it would look really bad if she requested to do so, and Tom didn’t allow it. On the other, it would also seem terrible if Isabella joined (only to be treated like all the non-celebrity Sea Org members) and then (somehow) found a way out of the Sea Org only to live to tell the juicy, salacious tale … IF they didn’t put her on lockdown on an immediate basis, but I don’t know if David Miscavige would go there with the daughter of his prize Gollum. Does anyone else harbor the inevitable fear that Isabella will actually join and be treated like a virtual princess because the rules are different for daughters of Tom Cruise? It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the CO$ tried to pull that sort of PR maneuver in an attempt to convince the general public that the Sea Org is a wonderful place for everyone’s child to spend all of eternity.

In the utmost example of related news, this story lends a lot of credence to Katie’s fear that Tom would give Suri to Sea Org, right? Scary stuff, indeed.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, WENN, and Connor Cruise’s Twitter

In 2010, Kirstie Alley came out with an expensive “diet” scheme and subscription-based online weight loss community, Organic Liason. Cos-watchers pointed out that Kirstie’s diet supplements and “certified organic” juices bore a striking resemblance to vitamins and supplements used as part of cleansing rituals in the Scientology cult, of which she is a defensive member. Kirstie’s response to this criticism was to call anyone who noted the similarities a “bigot,” the go-to defense of Cos members who feel threatened by questions about their “religion.”

More than that, Kirstie’s diet was of questionable effectiveness given her own inability to keep the weight off. Organic Liason, and Kirstie, are now being sued for fraud by a woman who claims that the diet is a scam and that Kirstie is not being honest about how she lost the weight. (This news came out earlier, but it’s the summer. Sometimes we’ve got to cover stuff we initially passed on.)

Kirstie Alley might have lost 100 pounds, but at the moment she has a bit less to be cheering about. The 61-year-old actress is being sued for reportedly lying about how she shed the weight.

Alley credits her weight loss to Organic Liaison, a weight loss program she helped develop, founded on the basis of “liaising” dieters from their daily eating habits to a healthier organic diet. The plan includes organic weight loss products, natural dietary supplements, and access to online diet and exercise tools.

Kirstie Alley might have lost 100 pounds, but at the moment she has a bit less to be cheering about. The 61-year-old actress is being sued for reportedly lying about how she shed the weight.

Alley has been touting the product everywhere, from her official website to her personal blog to the television home shopping network QVC.

“I can assure you that if you follow this program, you’ll get healthier, lose weight, and not be ‘annoyingly’ hungry,” Alley claims in her QVC promotion.

But at least one California native isn’t buying it.

TMZ first reported that plaintiff Marina Abramyan has filed a class action lawsuit against Alley, Organic Liaison LLC and Organic Liaison Management, alleging that Alley did not lose 100 pounds by using Organic Liaison but rather by dancing the weight off during “Dancing With The Stars” Season 12 — which started in March, same month she decided to create the Organic Liaison program — and by following a strict low-calorie diet.

Abramyan tried the weight loss plan and claims the products “are nothing more than run-of-the-mill fiber and calcium supplements,” according to Courthouse News Service, which reported on the lawsuit text. Abramyan did not lose any weight while using the products.

The plaintiff also alleges that Organic Liaison used false advertising, including allegedly deceptive photos of Alley, to promote the weight loss plan.

“In peddling the Organic Liaison Program, Ms. Alley attributes her weight loss to the program, but in reality, Ms. Alley’s weight loss is due to nothing more than the tried and true concept of diet and exercise,” the complaint states, according to Courthouse News Service. “It is commonly known, and indeed a scientific fact, that if you are increasing exercise while decreasing caloric intake, you will lose weight. There is no magic pill or supplement that causes weight loss.”

Weight loss has been an uphill battle for the actress, who weighed 230 pounds in 2009. But in March 2011 she claimed to have found the solution in Organic Liaison. In September 2011, Alley announced that she had lost 100 pounds with the product.

“When I hit that mark, I went, ‘That’s it!’ ” Alley, who is now reportedly a size 6, told People magazine last September. “I have more energy than I’ve ever had in my whole life.”

“I feel back to normal. I have my game again,” she added.

While Alley has not publicly responded to the lawsuit, she did post the following comment Monday on Twitter:
“Lol…noise noise.. lots of noise….One sure sign of success is noise…even Heroes have lice…;)”

Abramyan is seeking unspecified damages.

[From Huffington Post]

I googled “even heroes have lice” thinking that it was a weird Scientology phrase, and of course it is. I found a Scientology site (I’m not going to link it) which claimed that L. Ron Hubbard wrote in 1958, “There’s nothing personal in having squirrels*. Even heroes can have lice.”

So in her mind Kirstie is a “hero” for developing this useless juice and vitamin diet she basically copied from Scientology’s “Purification Rundown.” Because Kristie is the only one who can help people lose weight, since she’s done it so effectively long term. In her mind, Kristie also lost 100 pounds to get down to a 22 inch waist and a size 4. It’s about time she got back to reality, not that a lawsuit is going to do it for her.

*’Squirrel’ is a Scientology term for people who practice their “religion” outside their mafia-like organization. See this post for more information.

Photo credit: FameFlynet and WENN.com

This story came out earlier in the week and I sat on it for a few reasons. It’s full of Scientology jargon and concepts that are hard to make sense of, and I’ve been reading about the cult for years. As a non-Scientologist, I sort-of understand what Scientology defector and former second-in-command Marty Rathbun is talking about, but I’m sure I don’t fully grasp it on the level of someone who practices. There is some real dirt in here about how Tom Cruise’s best buddy, cult head David Miscavige, personally oversaw Katie Holmes indoctrination in the form of her “auditing” sessions. There’s also some half-confirmation of the rumors we’ve heard that Miscavige inserted Scientology staff into the Holmes-Cruise home so that he could know everything that went on behind closed doors – at least it’s implied.

More than that, and something that may only be very relevant to Scientologists, is that fact that current leader Miscavige gave Katie Holmes some warped, personal version of the Scientology “tech.” That is to say, Miscavige wanted to re-work the Scientology practices as established by L. Ron Hubbard, and made Katie’s indoctrination follow his own view of how it should proceed, which was counter to long-established cult methodology. To us that shit doesn’t matter, I mean I don’t care about that, but to the people who practice Scientology that’s a huge deal and is something that violates their religion.

I think the real takeaway here is that Tom Cruise’s best friend Miscavige was so arrogant that his way was the right way, that he re-interpreted the way their “scripture” was delivered for one of their most high profile new parishioners. (If you’re going to treat it as a legitimate religion that is.) Here’s more, and keep in mind some of this may not make sense on first glance.

David Miscavige has no doubt by now convinced Tom Cruise that yours truly ought to be the target of his ire for Katie Holmes’ splendidly executed split and consequent historic media coverage. After all, he’s already got Cruise’s attorney, the august Bert Fields, alerting the media far and wide claiming to be victim of me.

And just as certainly, as per usual, the real target is David Miscavige himself.

I have learned from very credible sources that David Miscavige quite in addition to infiltrating the household of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise and interjecting his insanity directly into Katie’s life through his undue and unnatural influence over Tom, Miscavige also directly and intentionally saw to it that Katie received squirrel, reverse Scientology as explicitly covered in my book What Is Wrong With Scientology?

Katie’s introduction to Scientology was the Golden Age of Tech II (GAT II) pilot project run directly by Miscavige’s organization (Religious Technology Center – RTC) at the Celebrity Center in Los Angeles. Katie was put at the top of the project’s line up as one of its first unwitting guinea pigs. GAT II’s mission with respect to Tom Cruise’s wife? Put her through Miscavige’s latest brand of Quickie Grades (for a complete explanation of what that entails, see chapter 6 Grades of my book What Is Wrong With Scientology?)

Miscavige’s only two tech trained staff (Anne Joasem – once Rathbun – and Elsie Tucker) personally oversaw every session of it and answered and reported directly to Miscavige, every step of the way. Anne and Elsie cherry picked the processes to run from the huge body of tech for each grade, and Miscavige approved every individual one to be run on Katie.

So, there too is your Golden Age of Tech II news. Apparently, based on his spectacular results with Katie, Miscavige announced recently he was going to unleash his suppression on the planet at large.

In a way, Miscavige did Katie a big favor. Had she been delivered standard grades she might have been more able to withstand the entheta Miscavige brought into her marriage and household. She might also have attributed her wins to the Miscavige administration. The net result would have been that she hang around longer and be effectively spiritually fattened up for a gruesome kill.

This is the conundrum of corporate Scientology and the reason why the ‘church’ of Scientology is dead. You are damned if you and you are damned if you don’t in Scientology Inc.

The bottom line is four-fold:

a) David Miscavige is a squirrel (someone who alters Scientology to the detriment of the people to whom it is applied).

b) Religious Technology Center (RTC) is a squirrel group.

c) Religious Technology Center is a suppressive (sociopathic) group.

d) David Miscavige is a suppressive person.

[From Mark Rathbun's blog]

That was obviously written for Scientologists, but you get the gist. Miscavige went against their teachings to do his own thing with Katie Holmes, and the traditionalist Scientologists believe it was to her detriment. As an outsider, I don’t see what they believe in or how Scientology goes about practicing their beliefs to be an issue. It doesn’t matter to me if one guy mixes it up. It may seem strange to us, but to each their own. To me the issue is the lack of transparency in Scientology, the human rights violations and the use of intimidation and litigation to suppress enemies and defectors. I don’t care about their religion – that’s their business, I care about how they violate the law and abuse practitioners and their families.

Rathbun addresses this in a new blog entry in which he says that the recent PR crisis for Scientology, and Miscavige’s attacking, lying response, is bringing down the entire religion, not just the organization. To people like him, who still see value in Scientology as a practice, it’s not fair because no one makes a differentiation between the religion and the criminal way it’s managed. Is there really a way to differentiate, though? It’s not like you can walk in and out of a Scientology “church,” or casually take a class on it. It’s never been set up that way. From what people have said who have had even minor brushes with Scientology, they will harass you for years. I doubt there’s any way to take whatever’s good and useful about their spiritual practices and separate it from the “bad.” L. Ron was a shyster and he’s the one who came up with their “Fair Game” concept and their war on psychiatry. Their cult-ness and mistrust of others is embedded in their origins. But maybe they’ll be able to separate from that at some point, thanks to people like Rathbun who are going public.

Here’s Katie outside spinning on 7-18 and with Suri on 7-15. Credit: Fame

Last month, before Katie Holmes made the brilliant personal and professional move to divorce Tom Cruise, John Travolta was fueling the latest Scientology PR crisis. Only people weren’t focusing so much on what a destructive cult Scientology is, they were just speculating that Scientology’s hatred of gay people had pushed Travolta into living a lie in a sham marriage. All the lawsuits against Travolta for forcing himself on various service professionals were making people wonder if he was so angry at being deep in the closet that he was acting out by preying on innocent men. Well the press forgot about Travolta in the wake of the sensational TomKat divorce, and all the subsequent news about Scientology the followed. But Travolta and his Cos bride Kelly Preston want us to know that unlike Tom and Katie everything’s fine with them! They went on a vacation to Mykonos, Greece, which incidentally has a thriving gay scene from what I’ve heard. Here’s the story from Radar, which also has a photo of the two of them in Greece. Gee, I wonder how that got out:

Putting his embarrassing masseur sex scandal firmly behind him, John Travolta has taken wife Kelly Preston on vacation, and RadarOnline.com has photos of the couple enjoying their Euro trip.

The 58-year-old Grease star and his 49-year-old wife are enjoying some much needed R & R on the stunning Greek island of Mykonos, which is famous for its vibrant bar and nightclub scene and nude beaches!

Fortunately, the Hollywood couple was fully clothed when they walked hand-in-hand down the paved streets of the vacation spot that is known as the “gay capital of the Mediterranean,” before stopping in at a local cafe for lunch.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, John and Kelly’s 21-year marriage was rocked by repeated rumors that he made highly innapprioate sexual moves while getting in-room massages by men, with the Scientologist actor’s attorney describing a lawsuit against Travolta as “malicious prosecution.”

[From Radar Online]

Gotta keep up appearances. This is the second known vacation for the couple in the wake of the scandal. They went to Hawaii in June, where they were also conveniently photographed. Their makeup trip was chronicled by the tabloids, with In Touch taking the “romantic reconciliation” stance and Enquirer the more realistic “Kelly’s hell.” I feel like Kelly enjoys playing happy family, that it’s something she’s bought into entirely, and that John appreciates her kind of glassy-eyed devotion. Kelly isn’t going to slap John with surprise divorce papers, even if she finds him in bed with a willing male participant.

These photos are from the Savages premiere on 6-26-12. Credit: WENN.com

Jezebel recently pointed us to this article in Business Insider on former celebrity Scientologists. It answered a question for me about Brad Pitt’s involvement with the cult. We know he dated Juliette Lewis around the time that they co-starred in the TV movie Too Young to Die in 1990 and the film Kalifornia in 1993. Lewis has been involved in the cult since at least 1988. So did Lewis attempt to get her then-boyfriend, Brad Pitt, indoctrinated into Scientology? Former Scientology Amy Scobee claims in a recent book that Lewis did, and said that it caused Pitt and Lewis to break up. Scientology bigwigs were of course drooling over Pitt, but he was wise enough to get the hell out of there while he could.

In former high-ranking church official Amy Scobee’s book, “Scientology — Abuse at the Top,” she claims Brad Pitt completed two Scientology courses in July 1991 and May 1993.

“In the end, Brad didn’t think it was for him and he and Juliette broke up,” said Scobee. “He was high on the church president’s list of stars they felt could be ‘recovered.”

[From Business Insider]

The site “Truth about Scientology,” which compiles information from Scientology’s official magazines, has Pitt listed as completing two courses in Scientology in the years Scobee mentioned. Given the time frame, he was probably high as a kite at the time. Good for him for getting out while he could.

I found this article I wrote in 2006 and totally forgot about. It’s about Tom Cruise making a weak ass attempt to recruit Angelina Jolie into Scientology by asking her to come by their headquarters and pick up an “award.” Cult expert Rick Ross also mentioned that Brad Pitt dumped Juliette Lewis over Scientology, so I guess this news has been out there for a while.

I finally watched the BBC Panorama documentary on Scientology from 2007 that so many of you have been mentioning in the threads. (It’s available in four parts on YouTube.) I remember hearing that Juliette Lewis was interviewed in it, but when I watched it the segment with the famous Scientologists, including Kirstie Alley, Ann Archer, Leah Remini and Juliette Lewis, had no actual statements from the actresses due to legal threats from Scientology. All we saw were the facial reactions from the women. (That’s at about 4:00 into this video.)

Part of Juliette’s interview did make it online eventually. BBC later released deleted scenes from the Panorama series, in which journalist John Sweeney asked about Scientology being a cult. (Juliette’s segment is at at 4:30 in the video linked here.) She handled it way better than the others. Juliette laughed about whether Scientology was a cult and said “Some people also say that women are really stupid and shouldn’t vote.” Both Leah Remini and Kirstie Alley pulled the bigotry card, with Alley and Anne Archer getting particularly worked up.

As for the Panorama documentary, I’ve heard about it for a while and put off watching it until now. It’s a worthwhile expose, but there was so much yelling, stalking, intimidation and creepiness that it was hard to watch.

Here are some highlights I found:
Scientology spokesperson Tommy Davis goes off at 6:00.

Sean Lonsdale, a videographer attempting to expose Scientology, is shown at the beginning of this video. He gets confronted by Tommy Davis with details of his criminal history (which was also posted on fliers around town in an attempt to intimidate him). Lonsdale ended up “committing suicide” under suspicious circumstances in 2008.

Tommy Davis goes off again at :30

Scientologist blame psychiatry for the Holocaust at 3:40. After that Sweeney goes off on Tommy Davis.

There’s some chatter that Tommy Davis has not been seen in public in some time. I could not confirm that, but he’s been replaced as cult spokesperson by a woman named Karin Pouw.

Here’s Juliette and her new boyfriend, Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes, at an event on 5-27-12. Credit: WENN.com

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Last night, Rock Center with Brian Williams aired a 10 minute segment featuring two very high ranking ex Scientologists, former second in command Marty Rathbun and former Scientology spokesperson, Mike Rinder. (That video is above.) Rathbun and Rinder detailed the harassment, stalking, abuse and disconnection from family members that they endured after leaving the church. It was an incredible look into how the church intimidates members in order to maintain a culture of fear. One of the best moments was when they showed an 1998 interview that Rinder himself did with NBC in which he claimed that Scientology doesn’t make family members disconnect from people who leave the fold. (That’s at 7:30 in the video above.) Now the shoe is definitely on the other foot, and Rinder admitted that his 1998 self looked “like a sleazeball” and that he was lying back then. (We’ve covered these type of stories in the past, so rather than recap them, I’ll just include these links to Rinder’s story and Rathbun’s story.)

After learning all this about how they treat people who leave, how easy is it to believe that Tom freaked out and screamed at Katie for days when she dared question Scientology?

Getting back to NBC’s coverage, they later ran about a four minute background on the history of Scientology and the beliefs of practitioners. (You can watch that segment here) It was a way of legitimizing the cult by drawing comparisons to other religions. It’s worth noting that Rathbun and at least 60 other parishioners call themselves “Independent Scientologists” and still practice apart from the Scientology organization. Die hard Scientologist call people who practice independently “squirrels.” Rathbun was harassed for nearly a year by a team of Scientologists who rented a house across the street from him, wore T-shirts with his head superimposed on top of a squirrel, and called themselves “squirrel busters.” (You can read more about that here, and watch videos of them here. His experiences are also covered in the video above.)

Needless to say the “church” of Scientology wasn’t pleased that this story was about to air, even though NBC attempted to be fair and did include all of Scientology’s ridiculous claims trying to discredit their sources. The most telling part for me was at the end of the “What is Scientology” segment. Correspondent Kate Snow described how she’s been inundated with letters and emails since they started working on this story:

Kate Snow: They made it very difficult for us to do this story tonight.

Brian Williams: They were not thrilled to know this was coming.

Kate Snow: That’s an understatement. In the past 24 hours we have received letter after letter from attorneys from the church, attorneys for Tom Cruise, family members. Within the past hour I got two more letters from family members of Mike Rinder saying that he’s a liar.

And they asked us not to run this story tonight.

Brian Williams: Of course because of this divorce case they are squarely in the spotlight.

Scientology is in the spotlight, as Williams mentioned. We’ve heard Marty Rathbun predict Cruise’s every move in the divorce, down to the PR blitz that Scientology is conducting now. The latest? “Someone” told the LA Times that “Scientology officials stayed out of ‘Kate’ Holmes – Tom Cruise divorce.”

Maybe they did, but it’s not like Cruise hasn’t internalized every single Scientology concept by now. It’s not like he wasn’t calling up Miscavige for personal advice.

“Kate” Holmes, really? How much more transparent can they be? Everyone knows that’s Tom’s pet name for her. It wasn’t enough to give her a whole new life and separate her from her friends and family, he had to rename her too. Well now she’s taking all that back, and Cruise’s cult is getting exposed by the mainstream media. Finally. I’m just waiting for 60 Minutes to do something on Scientology*. You know it will be epic.

Oh and after I wrote this story I found this other fluff piece on Scientology in the LA Times, as pointed out by The Village Voice.

*60 Minutes did do a report on Scientology in 1997. Transcript is here and video is here. It was about the way that Scientology took over the Cult Awareness Network.

This photobomb is awesome, right?

Update: The photo above is from the Super 8 premiere in June, 2011. As you can see from where Tom is standing, the crowd would have been right behind him. So that’s a random guy photobombing in the image above.

Photo credit: WENN.com