There have been rumors that Demi Moore went off to in-patient rehab, as you might expect a celebrity to do in so high profile an overdose case as Demi’s. According to a new report on E! Online that’s not true, and Demi has just been seeking “spiritual” help. Demi is a longterm member of the Kabbalah cult. She supposedly went on a couples Kabbalah weekend in the woods with Ashton during their marriage crisis. We know how that turned out, and we also know that Kabbalah is just as money-grubbing, and probably as ineffective, as any other cult run by people who are in it to get rich.

This is what Demi does when she’s in crisis, she turns to Kabbalah and probably drinks some expensive phony blessed water mixed with Red Bull, with which she washes down Adderall. She’s not ready to get help yet, so she’s turning to people she pays a lot of money to give her a religious experience that probably in no way challenges her. I’m making assumptions based on how she’s done under Kabbalah so far, along with some things that Madonna’s estranged brother, Christopher Ciccone, said about Kabbalah. He said that”Kabbalah in many ways has validated some of [Madonna's] bad behavior. Now it’s her way or no one’s way because she’s got God on her side… she has a tendency to use it like a weapon.” Demi is less aggressive than Madonna (like almost everyone on the planet), but I could see Kabbalah enabling their celebrity members. It’s not like they’re going to question one of their main donors. Here’s E!’s report, which also states that Demi’s youngest daughter, Tallulah, has been living with her dad, Bruce Willis. Tallulah turns 18 on Friday. Bruce’s second wife, Emma Heming, is pregnant. They made the announcement in late October so she’s probably at least six months along now. Rumer has been seen out and about and seems to have confirmed that Demi is not in rehab.

While rumors have surfaced suggesting she’s already entered a residential rehab facility (with Utah’s Cirque Lodge among the most speculated upon), sources tell E! News that as of last week, at least, Moore was not enrolled in such a program. Her exact whereabouts are uncertain, as she has yet to surface in public since her dramatic hospitalization, though as of Sunday she was not yet back at her Beverly Hills home.

However, sources close to the Striptease star tell E! News that Moore has been receiving some sort of “spiritual counseling.”

Meanwhile, Demi’s daughters are getting back to their usual routines, with both Rumer and Tallulah turning up at the Four Seasons Hotel Sunday afternoon, possibly for a spa day. On Saturday night, Rumer was also out and about, dining with friends at a French restaurant.

Their sister, Scout, is currently at Brown University and hasn’t been back in L.A. since the hospitalization.

[From E! Online]

I would say that Demi should have someone close to her advising her that she needs to go to rehab at least for the sake of her image, but she didn’t have anyone advising her not to push the “sexy and single” angle she’s been playing since the split. Demi doesn’t have anyone around her who is able to get through to her, and if she’s been hopped up on Red Bull and ADHD stimulants for months, it’s probably impossible to talk to her anyway. I want to see her get sober and healthy and gain some necessary weight. She’s not ready yet though. I really hope that she will come to the realization on her own without sliding even further downhill. Wasn’t it humiliating enough for her to have all these details leaked to the press? Pride can be a fragile and harmful thing.

These photos are from 9-23, 9-26 and 10-17-11. Credit: WENN.com

Tom Cruise’s BFF, cult leader David Miscavige

This story is somewhat complicated for non-Scientology people to understand, but I’ll try to explain it as I’ve come to understand it. A very high-up member of the Scientology cult, a woman whose photo and editorials were featured in their magazine every month for years, has written a mass e-mail questioning the “religion’s” direction under leader David Miscavige. The thing that makes this letter different is that unlike other prominent Scientologists, like the Oscar winning director/writer Paul Haggis, the author isn’t defecting from Scientology or urging other members to leave. Author Debbie Cook is using the basic tenets of their religion, as laid out by founder L. Hubbard, to emphasize that Miscavige is abusing his position and violating the church’s teachings by squeezing money out of parishioners and hoarding it. Cook is appealing to true believers not to leave but to question their leadership. This signifies a potential civil war inside this very criminal cult, between the people who are devoted followers and the people who are abusing their power.

A woman named Debbie Cook dropped something of an atom bomb on the membership of the Church of Scientology last night, and as of this minute — about noon on New Year’s Day — her Facebook page is still going a bit crazy as her fellow church members deal with the fallout.

Cook was once a very high ranking executive in Scientology’s Sea Org. She led the Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, Florida, which made her one of the most important executives at the spiritual headquarters of the worldwide organization. Several years ago, she left that position and the Sea Org, but she is still a member of the church in good standing.

That will probably change after the e-mail she sent out, reportedly to 12,000 members of her religion, which condemns church leader David Miscavige for turning Scientology into little more than a money-hungry fundraising machine.

Some things to keep in mind as you read her message. (New to Scientology watching? Here’s an introduction to the religion.)

– Debbie is aware that her fellow church members are not used to hearing criticism of church management, and would automatically suspect that such a message would be sent from someone outside the church, or from a disaffected member who had been declared a “suppressive person” (excommunicated). So she stresses repeatedly that she is still a member in good standing, is writing only for her fellow church members, and does not want her message to be seen outside the church (a very naive notion).

– She, like many other longtime church members who have been leaving Scientology, is fed up with the intense pressure under leader David Miscavige to raise money from people who are already giving every penny they can. As we saw in the recent blockbuster series in the St. Petersburg Times, “The Money Machine,” even very loyal longtime members are simply becoming exhausted from constant pressure to donate large sums.

– What really makes this document unique is the way that Debbie appeals to her fellow church members by going to the “Source” — L. Ron Hubbard’s own words — to show how “out-ethics” (outside of policy) Miscavige is with his emphasis on fundraising.

– We are left with a lot of questions after reading this clearly heartfelt appeal by a longtime Scientologist who is alarmed at what her church has turned into: what will become of Debbie Cook? Will she be declared a suppressive person for raising these questions, and will her many friends be told to disconnect from her? Will her e-mail generate an actual discussion among longtime church members about these problems and foster even more defections to Marty Rathbun’s blog and the independence movement? Or, will Miscavige finally begin to see the light and start making critical changes to save Scientology from problems that seem to be splitting it apart?

[From The Village Voice]

In the past, we would be very concerned about Cook’s well being at this point, considering all the ways that Scientologists have harassed, followed and intimidated defectors, often to the point of “suicide.” The story has received a ton of international press, which protects Cook from immediate reprisal. High ranking former member Mark Rathbun writes that Cook is not in imminent danger and that we can expect to see Scientologists and Miscavige pitifully try and spin this. You can read her full letter on Rathbun’s blog, and he has more information about how the cult is trying to discredit her.

Personally I would love to see Tom Cruise’s little buddy Miscavige implode and/or step down. We’ve heard so many truly scary stories about what a abusive, mean, vindictive despot Miscavige can be. Cruise is probably still a member in good standing behind the scenes, but he’s had to keep absolutely quiet about it following his nearly career-killing antics supporting the cult in 2005.

Thanks to a member of anonymous for the tip! These photos are of Cruise and Miscavige at a Sci event several years ago and at Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes

Last year, CB did a lot of coverage on Kristie Alley’s “weight loss program” called Organic Liaison. According to CB and an overwhelming majority of people who can read, Organic Liaison is pretty much a Church of Scientology front in which people are overcharged for what amounts to vitamin supplements, and then the “program” attempts to indoctrinate the people in the cult of Scientology. The evidence is pretty straight-forward – Organic Liaison’s billing address is the same Florida address of CoS’s accountant, and the language used on the Organic Liaison website is pretty much the language of Xenu. You too can lose weight if you don’t mind being audited by someone holding a pair of lifts and a tin can. But although it’s a pretty straight-forward connection, Kirstie Alley still denied it and when questioned about the connection, she claimed her interrogators were “bigots.”

Anyway, Organic Liaison has a new spokeswoman, and it’s Xenu’s favorite beard, Kelly Preston. Kelly credits Organic Liaison for helping her shed the weight she gained while pregnant with her son Ben. Xenu’s vitamin supplements… and tennis.

When Kelly Preston gave birth to her son Benjamin Travolta a year ago, she knew losing the baby weight wouldn’t be easy.

“When I got pregnant at 48, I didn’t know if my body would bounce back,” the actress tells PEOPLE.

Turns out, Preston had no need to worry. Not only did she shed the baby weight, but over the past year she’s dipped below her pre-pregnancy weight – and is relishing a new figure and renewed vitality as she approaches the mid-century mark.

“I lost 39 lbs., have more energy than I had 20 years ago – and I feel amazing,” Preston says. “I’m going to be turning 50 next year – holy s–––! Hey, 50 is the new 30.”

So besides tennis and keeping up with an active baby, what’s her secret? The Organic Liaison weight-loss program created by Preston and John Travolta’s close friend Kirstie Alley, who cleared her own hurdle this summer when she dropped 100 lbs.

“I was so excited when my best friend created Rescue Me,” says Preston of the diet plan’s organic supplement system that targets cravings and “boosts natural energy,” according to the Organic Liaison website.

“It’s pretty much the most genius thing ever,” says Preston, who recently signed on as the weight-loss system’s spokesperson.

But a rocking a new body is not the only cause for joy in the Travolta household.

“We just celebrated Ben’s first birthday,” she says. “I can’t believe it’s already been a year.”

[From People]

Vitamins and Xenu = “pretty much the most genius thing ever”??? I give up. I mean, good for Kelly Preston for losing the weight and doing it in a somewhat healthy way – I guess. Vitamins, tennis and Xenu is healthier than coke, cigarettes and an eating disorder, right? RIGHT?!? But… considering Kirstie is so delusional about her size and her weight, what does any of this even matter? Kirstie can’t even get any of her numbers right. Who’s to say Kelly has gotten her “39 pounds” number correct?

I can’t wait for Kirstie to come up with a line of Xenu-approved wiglets so John Travolta can become the spokesman for something.

Photos courtesy of Fame & WENN.

Remember that 2005 “Trapped in the Closet” Southpark episode that made a mockery out of Scientology and Tom Cruise? (You can watch it here.) Back then people weren’t making as much fun of Scientology as they are now and it caused a big stir at the time. Cruise threw a fit and pulled rank by refusing to promote Mission Impossible III if the show re-aired on Comedy Central. (Viacom was the parent company of both MI’s Paramount and Comedy Central.) Scientologist Isaac Hayes, who played Chef, also quit the show amid rumors that he was pressured to do so by his higher-ups in his “religion.”

Not only did “Trapped” hilariously mock Cruise as gay, it also revealed “secret” details of the science fiction-type beliefs only told to followers who achieve the upper levels in Scientology. The “knowledge” of Scientology as told on South Park was something that cult members pay dearly for both monetarily and in terms of years of servitude and brainwashing. The Xenu volcano lost-souls stuff isn’t known to the vast majority of Scientologists under their system of indoctrination, but it’s quite easily googled and made fun of.

Well Scientologists targeted South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker after that, even going so far as to dig through their trash to find out information about them. This story is consistent with everything we know about Scientology, including their doctrine of “fair game” in which they ruthlessly go after everyone who dares question them.

Scientology launched an intense investigation into the lives of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, The Village Voice is reporting.

According to Marty Rathbun, the famous 2005 South Park episode called Out of the Closet which spoofed Scientology, so enraged the hierarchy, a witch hunt was ordered.

Rathbun was himself once a high ranking Scientology official. He defected from the organization and in 2009 began blogging about Scientology secrets.

Even friends of Parker and Stone, including the formerly married John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn, were targeted, Rathbun told The Voice.

“These connections are being PRC’d,” reads a document Rathbun made public on Sunday, explaining that PRC stands for “public records check.”

In other words, a private eye was ordered to conduct a complete check of these people and their property through public records. If they owed taxes, or had been in messy divorces, or had been arrested, Scientology wanted to know about it, Rathbun said.

“There are some strings that will be pulled on the PRC on Stone,” the document reads, without further explanation.

“Otherwise the special collections will be debugged in order to get some viable strings that can be pulled,” the document then says “Special collections,” Rathbun explains, is Scientology code for “trash digging.”

What exactly were they looking for, The Voice asked Rathbun?

“Phone records. Bank records. Personal letters that expose some kind of vulnerability. They’ll read stuff into the kind of alcohol you’re drinking and how much. Prescriptions. They’ll figure out your diet. They can find out a lot about you through your trash,” said Rathbun.

Rathbun himself claims he has been a target of Scientology ever since he began his revealing blog. As RadarOnline.com recently reported, a Scientology video crew called Squirrel Busters followed his every move for months.

[From Radar Online]

At this point people aren’t as afraid of Scientology after a few high profile exposes, some defecting celebrities, and the hard work of Anonymous. Back in 2005, it was absolutely brave of Parker and Stone to mock them though. A lot of people have “committed suicide” after speaking out against this criminal organization or otherwise trying to leave. I hope that Scientology eventually loses its tax free status and is prosecuted in the US under the RICO act. In the mean time, the more stories like this that come out, the more people know what they’re up to and how to avoid them.

On another note, these guys are kind of nerdy hot, aren’t they?

Rose McGowan is in that Conan the Barbarian movie that totally tanked at the box office. So she did an interview with People, and she earned an inset on the cover featuring their Kim Kardashian wedding extravaganza this week. Yahoo! has the details of her “escape from a cult,” and while I was hoping it involved a recent tell-all scrape with the Co$, it’s actually about a polygamist cult her family was involved with when she was a child. The story is really harrowing, with Rose and her family leaving in the night and getting pursued by the cult members. Apparently her dad was worried that she would get sexually abused, because the cult advocated relations with children. That gives me the willies.

McGowan, 38, spoke with People about how she spent her childhood in the Children of God cult. The sect is a “polygamous cult that blended free-love attitudes with Christian proselytizing.” At age nine she escaped the cult with her father after he became fearful that Rose might be sexually abused.

While in the cult, McGowan tells People she was often either angry or terrified. “You weren’t allowed to have imperfections,” she explained. “I had a little wart on my thumb, and I remember walking down this hallway — a door opened and some adult grabbed me and just cut it off with a razor blade and stuck me back out in the hallway with it still bleeding.”

McGowan also describes watching how the men in the cult treated the women. “At a very early age I decided I did not want to be like those women. They were basically there to serve the men sexually — you were allowed to have more than one wife.” The cult’s women would sometimes travel to area bars to try to recruit, an act known as “flirty fishing.”

McGowan’s father realized he had to leave when he was asked to draw cartoon literature that advocated child-adult sexual relationships. Soon after, Rose, her father, and some siblings left the cult in the middle of the night. They hid in a stone house, and avoided the cult members who came looking for them. “I remember a man trying to break in with a hammer,” McGowan said. The Children of God sect has since been renamed The Family International and has “renounced its advocacy of sexual sharing” and adult-minor sexual relationships.

Eventually, McGowan settled with her father in Washington, where they worked on their relationship. “We became really close when he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis at age 60,” she said. Her father died in 2008. Today, she is close with her siblings, who she describes as “the most together, offbeat, funny, regular-ish people.” Her mom is also happily married.

But McGowan has no illusions that things could have ended very differently. “As strong as I like to think I’ve always been, I’m sure I could have been broken. I know I got out by the skin of my teeth.”

For the full article, pick up the September 5, 2011 issue of People magazine.

[From Yahoo!]

That’s creepy as hell! You wonder how seemingly well-adjusted people get involved in stuff like that. A while ago I read an excellent book called Cults in Our Midst that explained how cults recruit and operate. I would recommend that book to everyone. Cults offer a sense of instant belonging and often “love bomb” inductees to give them a feeling of unconditional acceptance before sucking them in and indoctrinating them. (Here’s a link to different cult characteristics that are pretty fascinating.)

I’m not a fan of Rose McGowan at all. She most likely hooked up with director Robert Rodriguez when he was still married, (they’re over now though) and she’s jacked up her face beyond recognition lately. She claims that she had to get repairs done to her eye after a car accident, but it clear there’s much more going on with her than just that. Plus she looks smug and stuck up her ass all the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has some kind of pill addiction. She doesn’t look sober at all to me. But she has a really compelling story, I’ll give her that. Thank goodness her family got out when they did.

Rose is shown on 8/14 at the Do Something Awards (polka dot dress, credit: WENN.com) and on 8/11 at the Conan premiere (mermaid dress, credit: WENN.com). She’s also shown looking really brown on 8/23/11. Credit: Fame

Placido Domingo, Jr. (left) with his dad

Placido Domingo, Jr. is the 45 year-old son of Spanish tenor and opera star Placido Domingo. Jr. was a member of Scientology for twenty years and recently told The Village Voice about the ways the cult tried to smear him when he tried to leave. They went as far as to post personal details online he had revealed in an auditing session (a Scientology ritual with a superficial resemblance to Catholicism’s confessions) and make it publicly known that he cheated on his wife.

“Imagine if they did that to Tom Cruise or John Travolta?” That’s Placido Domingo Jr.’s reaction to the “attacks” he says he’s under after leaving Scientology.

The composer son of famed tenor Placido Domingo calls Scientology “scary and pathetic” in the ways it has been treating him since his decision to leave the controversial religion.

It began, Domingo told Village Voice when he was ordered to “disconnect” from his ex-wife Samantha and only communicate with their three daughters via an attorney.

Placido and Samantha met through Scientology in 1994. They later divorced but remained on excellent terms as they raised their three girls. Samantha left Scientology last year, and that’s when officials of the organization ordered Placido to have no contact with her.

He refused to “disconnect” from his family, and instead followed Samantha out the Scientology door.

Domingo says first a Facebook post went up telling other Scientologists to “unfriend” him. More than 120 did.

Then a blog was published with extensive personal information about him, details about his life Domingo said he’d revealed during Scientology “auditing” sessions, including that he’d been unfaithful to his wife.

“It’s an outrage,” Domingo said of the privacy intrusion. “Imagine if they did that to Tom Cruise or John Travolta. My God!

“The information about adultery. That was only mentioned in session.”

Samantha Domingo also spoke to the Voice, confirming what her ex-husband has been going through. Samantha has become a supporter of former Scientology officer Marty Rathbun.

[From Radar Online, more at the Village Voice]

Here’s the thing: Domingo never denounced the church. All he did was let it be known that someone told other cult members to unfriend him on Facebook. That was enough for the goons to go after him with a vengeance and reveal personally damaging information he gave to an auditor during a religious ritual. As he mentioned, can you imagine if someone did this to John Travolta or Tom Cruise? It just gives us that much more insight as to why they’ve never uttered a bad word about Scientology.

It does give me hope that the message about their cheap tactics is getting out at least. After Paul Haggis so publicly defected in 2009, and The St. Petersburg Times and The New Yorker ran exposes on the cult, they’re running scared. It’s lame that they’re releasing information that someone cheated on their wife. It’s nothing compared to people who “commit suicide” after leaving the cult or campaigning against them, though.

Nevermind that before OK! Magazine even went to print, Katie Holmes’ rep was denying the alleged pregnancy to E! News. Nevermind that this is not even close to being the first time Katie Holmes has been photographed looking slumpy and bumpy. The girl has bad posture and a little tiny tummy, and it gets exhausting always calling “BUMP” on her. But OK! Magazine is not tired of it – thus, this week’s cover. Katie’s rep has already gone to People Magazine to deny it again: “She is not pregnant.” End of story? Not really.

OK! Mag’s story is all about how Katie denied her pregnancy with Suri too (although I don’t remember many denials, honestly) so Katie could be denying a sure thing this time around too. The bulk of the article isn’t even worth transcribing, so I’ll just hit the highlights: Tom and Katie want a boy this time, Tom is being super-sweet to Katie lately, and Katie is “glowing.” Oh, and a doctor think the bump is about 18-20 weeks along (um, seriously?). So, why I am I even doing this story? Because of this interesting little side-story about what it’s like to be pregnant when you’re in the Church of Scientology. Sort of like, What To Expect When You’re Expecting Xenu.

“The mother’s body is a pure vessel for the soul to come through,” a Scientology insider tells OK!. “The baby’s soul must inhabit its pre-birth body with the clear intention that it wants to be born.”

According to the source, Scientology warns against any sexual activity, starting with the day a woman learns she’s pregnant.

Some Scientologists choose to follow an intense detox program to cleanse the body. The woman is required to run on a treadmill every day and have frequent sauna sessions to sweat profusely. She also takes “vitamin bombs” containing mega doses of niacin, calcium, magnesium and other vitamins; and she has regular colonics, says the source.

[From OK! Magazine, print edition]

Super-creepy. I mean, the vitamins sound like a good idea, but it sounds like Sea Org is obsessed with regulating bowel movements too. And the “no sex while pregnant” thing? I imagine Tom Cruise is all “SOLD!” John Travolta is all “Sign me up!” This explains so much…?

In case you think the other tabloids are jumping on the bump train, they’re not. Life & Style (via Jezebel) reports this week that Katie isn’t “ready for another baby.” Apparently, when Katie and Tom went to some event last week, they “barely spoke” to each other and a source says, “There was a definite chill between them. They looked like they weren’t even friends.” Fascinating. Contract renegotiations are stalled…?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Just days after a report came out in NY Magazine detailing the many ways that the founders of the Kabbalah cult were living large while screwing their congregationalists (metaphorically I guess), comes news that they’re under investigation for tax evasion. Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity, which is closely tied to Kabbalah, recently scrapped plans to build a $15 million school in Malawi and there are rumors of financial misdoing. Raising Malawi, The Kabbalah Centre, and several others Kabbalah-based charities have been named in a subpoena by the IRS as the subject of a grand jury probe.

The Kabbalah Centre, the Los Angeles-based spiritual organization that mingles ancient Jewish mysticism with the glamour of its celebrity devotees, is the focus of a federal tax evasion investigation probing, among other things, the finances of two charities connected to Madonna, the center’s most famous adherent.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the criminal division of the IRS is looking into whether nonprofit funds were used for the personal enrichment of the Berg family, which has controlled the Kabbalah Centre for more than four decades, a period in which it expanded from one school of a little-known strain of Judaism to a global brand with A-list followers like Ashton Kutcher and Gwyneth Paltrow and assets that may top $260 million.

Those cooperating with the IRS include representatives of one of Madonna’s charities, Raising Malawi. The nonprofit is named in subpoenas as a subject of the grand jury probe alongside the Bergs and Kabbalah Centre organizations despite having cut its ties with the center this spring.

“We have tried to provide as much information as we can as quickly as possible to the people who are investigating and are very actively cooperating in every way we can,” said Trevor Neilson of Global Philanthropy Group, a consulting firm now managing Raising Malawi.

In a statement in response to questions about the probe, the Kabbalah Centre acknowledged that it and one of its charities, Spirituality for Kids, “have received subpoenas from the government concerning tax-related issues.”

“The Centre and SFK intend to work closely with the IRS and the government, and are in the process of providing responsive information to the subpoenas,” according to the statement.

The IRS and the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York declined to comment. People with knowledge of the investigation said it began last year and is playing out on two coasts. A federal grand jury in Manhattan, where the Kabbalah Centre has a large branch and real estate holdings, is gathering evidence there, according to the subpoenas. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, where the center is headquartered on Robertson Boulevard, a team of IRS agents dispatched from the agency’s New York criminal division is interviewing people connected to the organization, said individuals familiar with the agents’ activities.

Among the items that investigators have reviewed, according to one source, is an August 2010 email in which a former chief financial officer of the center complained that he had been fired for pointing out financial improprieties and warned that the center was in danger of “committing suicide.”

Former CFO: Income tax fraud… I have little choice… but to bring down the entire Kabbalah Centre
“I recently uncovered instances of income tax fraud at the Kabbalah Centre — instances which could bankrupt several of the directors involved … this is very serious business,” the former CFO, Nicholas Vakkur, wrote in an email that circulated among high-level officials at the center. “I have little choice but to cooperate with the IRS and bring down the entire Kabbalah Centre,” Vakkur wrote, adding a plea that “someone in authority” try to “reason” with center Chief Executive Karen Berg.

[From The La Times]

The article goes on to say that The Spirituality for Kids Kabbalah-based charity is also being investigated. Madonna was the chairwoman of the board on that charity and donated $600,000 of her own money. She put $11 million into Raising Malawi with hardly any results. Do you think she’ll cut ties with Kabbalah now that they’re under the gun? Madonna throws people under the bus when they make her look bad, so I’m just waiting for some kind of statement from her distancing herself from the organization and stating that she had no idea about any wrongdoing.

This just makes me wonder how Scientology has avoided tax evasion charges in the US up until now, and I believe the answer is intimidation and litigation. Still, this is definitely a start.

Meanwhile, Madonna, 54, and her latest 24 year-old boytoy, Brahim Zaibat (pronounced “Jailbait”) have split up, reportedly over religion. Zaibat is Muslim and Madonna of course belongs to a mystical Jewish-based cult. I would speculate that maybe Zaibat refused to get circumcised for Madonna, but from what I can find male circumcision is common among Muslims. So he had that going for him.

Madonna is shown on 5/2 and 2/27/11. Credit: WENN.com

Here’s a weird (disturbing) fact that the Daily Mail found buried in a long piece in NY Magazine about Madonna’s involvement in the Kabbalah cult. The NY Magazine story centers on the cult’s sketchy business practices. We’ve already heard that millions have gone missing from Madonna’s Kabbalah-based charity, Raising Malawi, and that plans to build a school there had to be scrapped. The piece goes further into that, exposing the rock star lifestyle of the Kabbalah founders and how multiple charity projects they’ve started have gone bad. There are some wonderfully bitchy observations from the journalist, Vanessa Grigoriadis. She notes that Madonna is the queen in Kabbalah and never mixes with the other congregationalists and that her belief system matches nicely with the cult. This quote is my favorite “These thoughts resonated with Madonna, who has, traditionally, been more interested in power than almost any other pop star.”

Anyway the real meat of the story is in this quote from Kabbalah co-founder Karen Berg about how Madonna had Guy Ritchie circumcised:

Karen has even noted that Madonna “keeps a kosher home, she observes Shabbat, she circumcised her son and had her [ex-] husband circumcised.” (Yes, you read the last part correctly.) ­

[From NY Mag]

I’m married to a German guy, and once men get to that age (probably once they notice) it’s not a simple prospect to get circumcised. I asked my husband for a quote in regards to this story and he said “f$#& that, no f$#&ing way” and added “that is ridiculous.” He insisted I quote him like that too. So is this the ultimate example of being p-whipped, getting circumcised for your wife? (We can’t forget that Swept Away movie, that was a close second.) I wonder if Ritchie ever regrets it. This isn’t about a baby getting circumcised, this is a full grown man who is used to the way things are.

These photos are from 2007 and 2008. Credit: WENN

Back in January, Star Magazine ran a front page cover story (image below) suggesting that Katie Holmes was a drug addict. The inside story (detailed here if you’re interested) was about how the auditing sessions in Katie and Tom’s Scientology cult could be addicting like drugs. The real details of Scientology’s scary brainwashing practices are more shocking than a drug addiction, but I understand Star going for a bait and switch cover with a more accessible angle. The cult stuff has been covered quite a bit before.

Well “Katie” aka the Sci Goons, sued Star Magazine for $50 million for libel as a result. That was back in early March. Since then, Star canned their editor and it doesn’t seem like a coincidence. Star has now issued a front page apology for insinuating that Katie was addicted to drugs and they’re giving an undisclosed donation to a charity of her choice. I was assuming Katie’s charity would be Scientology-related, but according to Reuters it’s the “Dizzy Feet Foundation,” which Katie co-founded and helps give dance classes to underprivileged youth.

Star Magazine just issued a MASSIVE mea culpa to Katie Holmes — publishing an apology on the COVER of its latest issue … after the tabloid printed a headline suggesting Katie was a drug addict.

Katie filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against the magazine last month, claiming Star’s January headline — “ADDICTION NIGHTMARE! Katie DRUG SHOCKER! — was “untrue, unethical and unlawful.”

Katie’s rep tells TMZ, the lawsuit is now water under the bridge … that it’s been settled … and Star’s publisher American Media even made a “substantial” donation to Katie’s charity.

As for Star’s in-mag apology — it reads in part, “Star did not intend to suggest that Ms. Holmes was a drug addict or was undergoing treatment for a drug addiction. Star apologizes to Ms. Holmes for any misperception …”

Katie released her own statement today, saying, “I’m pleased that this lawsuit could be resolved amicably and accept American Media’s apology.”

[From TMZ]

At least the money is going to decent charity. Maybe Star will clean up its act a little under Radar Online editor David Perel, who is taking over for former editor Candace Trunzo. I hope they stay trashy but get a little more truthful.

Star Scan via CoverAwards.

The cover in which they apologize (see title across the top)

The cover that Star was sued over from January, 2011

Katie is shown out in Beverly Hills on 4/27/11. Credit: Fame