Nick Nolte’s girlfriend introduced him to a strange way to stop drinking. She invited her Hare Krishna friends over to their house and they started having drum circles and chanting. The four principles of the Hindu Hare Krishna movement are strict vegetarianism with no meat, fish or eggs, no sex for non-procreation purposes, no gambling and no intoxication which includes alcohol, caffeine and tobacco. Nolte, 67, was photographed passed out drunk on the floor of an airport in Hawaii last July, and has had a lifelong battle with alcoholism. The Hare Krishna’s have come to his rescue though, and he’s found that their chanting relaxes him and helps him stay away from booze:

Nick’s live-in girlfriend, Clytie, 39, introduced the star to the Hare Krishna group, hoping they could help him beat the bottle, confide soruces. “As strange as it may sound, the religious cult seems to have done the trick,” revealed the pal.

“The Hare Krishnas come to Nick’s Malibu property at night, hold drum circles and chant for him.

“Nick always joins in, and it makes him feel better. It relaxes him.

“Since the Krishnas came into his life, he’s completely lost his desire to drink.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 12, 2008]

The Hare Krishnas, or International Society for Krishna Consciousness, are one of the most controversial cults in the world. They were exposed in huge scandals in the 1980s when it came out that children were being sexually and physically abused in their boarding schools. They’ve been accused of brainwashing young converts and turning them against their families and loved ones, forcing them to live in abject poverty as slaves to the movement.

Good for Nolte for being able to quit drinking. The Hare Krishnas are dangerous, though, and have been involved in murder and abuse scandals that rival even the more hardcore cults. You wonder how much it’s going to cost Nolte in the long run if he gets involved with a cult.

Nolte’s girlfriend Clytie Lane was once his Pilate’s teacher and they now have a seven month-old baby daughter together.

Update: A lot of people from different sources are vouching for the Krishnas and are saying it’s not fair to judge them based on the rampant child abuse at their boarding schools in the 70s and 80s. A similar child abuse scandal happened within the Catholic Church and it is fair criticism to say that I am biased in this article. The ISCON organization has arguably changed considerably since then and is willing to discuss their past issues with cult experts as well as change their practices.

Here is a discussion thread I found which I think helps explain my original position on this issue. I would still be reluctant to get involved with a group with this type of history.

Nick Nolte is shown on 1/31/08 at the premiere of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” thanks to PRPhotos.

As nice as it must be to be famous and wealthy, I really think I’d rather be a platypus than Katie Holmesbot. Which is ironic, because Tom Cruise tends to treat his wife the way I imagine a wayward platypus should be treated. Katie has been forced to go to Scientology “boot camp” according to Star magazine. Though boot camp sounds a lot more like what cult experts call “reprogramming.” Apparently Katie had an original, independent thought, and that freaked Tom out. So he shipped her off to have her circuits rewired – though we’re not sure if she’s as good as new yet.

In the new issue of Star, we report exclusively on how Katie was recently secluded for three days at Gold Base, the remote, supersecret Scientology compound in Hemet, Calif., where she was put through a demanding schedule.

“It included various tests, confession sessions, tons of reading and physically challenging purification processes,” a Scientology insider reveals. “Tom insists that auditing and purification practices are incredibly beneficial to Scientologists at all levels.”

Katie’s intensive Scientology training and treatments have been accelerated in recent weeks, says another source, because she wanted to go to New York City without Tom to star in a Broadway play. But Tom stepped in and put the kibosh on her plans. And now Katie’s been going in for a series of intensive auditing sessions, some which have lasted for 36 hours straight — with little sleep or food.

[From Star]

I’m pretty sure that along with her GPS tracking chip, Tom also had some kind of Frankenstein-esq nodules installed onto Katie’s neck while she was at “Gold Base.” He can hook her up whenever he wants, charge her batteries, and reprogram her wiring to revert Katie to her factory default settings of “Blank.” And then fill her with whatever information or personality he wants. Though from recent interviews, it seems like she must be low on disk space or something, because Tom hasn’t installed much personality onto Holmesbot. Luckily she’s been reprogrammed, so I’m guessing that whole New York thing isn’t going to happen.

Header photo thanks to Popbytes.

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.

Jason Beghe is a former Scientologist and successful actor who is putting his reputation and most likely his life at risk by speaking out about his negative experiences with the cult. Earlier this week he had a segment of an interview on Scientology up on YouTube. He is very upset about the way his money and free will were stripped for over 12 years as he worked his way up the organization, calling it a destructive rip off and saying that Scientology’s methods are not effective at all. He says he’s speaking out for all the people who are still stuck in Scientology.

Beghe has an in depth interview with The Village Voice in which he reveals secrets of the cult and explained the way he was hoodwinked by Scientology. He was encouraged to criticize the cult publicly after getting in touch with the operator of the amazing Operation Clambake site, who met with him along with a guy known as “wise beard man,” a well known Scientology critic who regularly posts videos on YouTube. (Wise Beard Man’s account has been suspended by YouTube, most likely due to cease and desists by the Scientology.)

I’ve read a lot on Scientology and many of their induction methods that Beghe mentions are covered on Scientology and cult awareness websites like Operation Clambake, WhyAreTheyDead.net, and RickRoss.com. Here’s an overview of Beghe’s story in The Village Voice, and I recommend you read the entire article if you have time.

Beghe spent a million dollars on Scientology, got farther than Travolta
Beghe says he threw himself into the levels of Scientology trying to work his way up the organization and gain more access to the self awareness and command of the physical world that Scientology promises faithful devotees. He says it was addictive at first and that the way he was brainwashed and led to feel in control of his life made him strive harder to progress, with little payoff and at an extreme cost:

His move to clear was so rapid, Beghe was told that diminutive Scientology leader David Miscavige considered him a “poster boy” for the religion.

“I was Miscavige’s favorite boy, so they were doing all kinds of things to keep me happy,” he says. “I moved up the Bridge faster than anyone in history. I went at it 24/7 for about a year. I went clear. Got to OT V. I was a trained auditor.” (OT stands for “operating thetan,” and the highest level in the church is said to be OT VIII.)

“I’m farther up the Bridge than Travolta, and he’s been in there a thousand years. He’s not a trained auditor.” To Beghe, some of the celebrities “seemed like dilettantes,” enjoying the perks but not really working hard at being Scientologists.

“I was on a spiritual journey. I wasn’t trying to make money, or influence people. I just wanted to try it.”

His wife also trained as a Scientologist and, like Beghe, reached OT V. Over his twelve years in the church, Beghe estimates that he gave Scientology about a million dollars.

[From The Village Voice]

Tom Cruise was not involved with Scientology for 10 years, but head Miscaviage brought him back
Beghe was in the upper levels of Scientology at a time when Tom Cruise was not involved. He said that Cruise was “out” for ten years, which was just about the length of his marriage to Nicole Kidman. To me this sounds like Cruise curtailed his involvement in Scientology during the time he was married to Kidman from 1990 to 2001. Scientology was generally rumored to have led to the demise of their marriage, and maybe when he was getting brainwashed again he was convinced that she was a negative influence.

Beghe claims that the religion’s top star, Tom Cruise, was actually mostly separated from the church for several years. Other celebrities, he points out, go through similar periods of no longer auditing or moving up the Bridge, but are still considered members. Bringing Cruise back into a more active role, Beghe says, was a major Miscavige project.

“He was out for like ten years. There are people who just aren’t doing anything Some are out but don’t talk about it. Why? The church is scary. These are bad motherfuckers.”

[From Village Voice]

All auditing sessions are videotaped and cult members regularly gossip about celebrity members’ personal business
Beghe says that all “auditing” sessions, which are like crude psychotherapy sessions in which people are encouraged to reveal their deepest secrets and problems, are videotaped. He also said that cult members routinely gossip about the private details learned about celebrities in these sessions:

“Not one auditing session—which are supposed to be private—is not recorded on film,” he says, and claims that secret cameras are used at every session at the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, recording sessions that for Scientologists are supposed to be something like confessionals in the Catholic church.

“Will Smith is supposedly dabbling in Scientology. Let Will Smith know that his shit was fucking recorded. And tell him to look them in the eye and see if he believes it when they deny it.”

Even worse, he says, is that behind the backs of celebrities, Scientology officials gossip about what transpires in those supposedly private sessions. “Everything’s supposed to be confidential. But all they do is chat about it,” he says.

At a church center in Hemet, California where the church has movie studios, Beghe helped make videos. “I did movies for them. I remember asking, who do we cast in this thing? How about this dude?” referring to another scientologist actor. “No, he’s been cheating on his wife,” Beghe says he was told.

[From The Village Voice]

Where I now live in Germany, the government does not consider Scientology a religion and has had them under surveillance for over 10 years. Maybe the group Anonymous and brave souls like Beghe will help convince that US government that Scientology is a money making scam of massive proportions and does not deserve tax exempt status.

Any celebrity that gets involved with the cult at this point does so at his or her own risk. They do those auditing sessions just to get dirt on people in case they want to leave. It’s even more telling that everything is videotaped and that they talk about the celebrity members’ personal business. I hope that Beghe is in an undisclosed location and I would not be surprised if there are all sorts of defamatory stories spread about him now that he’s dared to expose Scientology for what it is.

Ruggedly handsome actor Jason Beghe was best man at the wedding of “X-Files” star David Duchovny (his childhood pal) and actress Tea Leoni. In 1998, he starred as Demi Moore’s love interest in “G.I. Jane.” He’s been featured in numerous TV dramas such as “Criminal Minds,” “Numb3rs” and “CSI.”

In 2005, Beghe appeared in promotional spots for the Church of Scientology. But now, Beghe has escaped the church after taking courses since 1994. He’s made a video that’s up on YouTube.

This is what he has to say: “Scientology is destructive and a rip-off.”

He also says: “It’s very, very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution. I think it stunts your evolution. If Scientology is real, then something’s f—ed up.”

You can see from the video that Beghe does not mince words. But his refreshing candor about the religion he joined in 1994 should shake the Celebrity Center to its core.

“It ain’t deliverin’ what it’s promised. It sure has not.”

The video is billed as a three-minute teaser to a longer interview with Beghe that’s on its way. But the short video packs a powerful punch. Beghe still uses a lot of Scientology lingo like “OT” and “clear.” Still, it’s quite easy to understand the point he’s making. After 14 years and a tremendous amount of money, he’s seeing Scientology in a different light.

[From Foxnews.com via The Huffington Post]

Beghe says that it’s all a crock of shit and that being brainwashed to be happy is worse than being depressed. He says that he is lucky to be out of it now:

Warning if you’re at work with speakers - this has a lot of f bombs:

Thanks to the group Anonymous, which has been protesting Scientology and leading the cause online, people are feeling comfortable enough to speak out against it. This is a cult that has a lot of its detractors die in suspicious “suicides” so it does take a tremendous amount of courage to publicly talk about any negative experiences. Maybe Beghe’s story will encourage other people scammed by this deceptive and deadly organization to speak out.

Beghe’s testimonial is still up on one of Scientology’s websites. His profile states that “It is a rocket ride to spiritual freedom.”

The Sun reports that Pete Doherty’s new girlfriend, DJ Nadine Ruddy, is into Scientology and that he has bought a bunch of books from the cult to try and learn more about it. If Doherty was just an average, unknown musician/former drug addict/low level criminal, he would simply be put on a mailing list after buying Scientology books. Now that the word is out that a semi-famous person is interested, those dead-eye creeps are going to after him with a vengeance.

The junkie rocker is hooked on the barmy religion which believes humans are an exiled race from outer space.

Babyshambles frontman Pete, 29 — who once dated supermodel KATE MOSS — has bought a pile of books on the subject since meeting Scientologist DJ NADINE RUDDY.

And he has been leaving his Wiltshire mansion to stay at her home in Reading, Berks, at least once a week.

A source said: “Nadine is really into Scientology. She takes her beliefs very seriously.

“Pete’s chatted a lot with her about it. He went out and bought some books to read up about it.

“He just wanted to find out more about Nadine and what she believes in.”

[From The Sun]

Despite all of Doherty’s very public failings: injecting a passed out girl with drugs (he claimed he was taking her blood for his art, which is somewhat less creepy), giving his cat crack, squirting blood at an MTV camera, all the drugs he’s been busted with, I kind of have a soft spot for the guy. He doesn’t seem all that bad, and when you check out his boyish face and ignore the messed-up teeth and greasy hair you can sort of see how some skinny half-wit models fell for him.

Best wishes to Doherty to come out of this with his critical thinking skills and wallet intact. Dump that girl, Pete, there are other confused young women who are into harmless new-agey stuff who would be pleased to shag you.

Apparently being called a Scientologist is just about the worst name you can be called in Hollywood these days – aside from being called Lindsay Lohan or something. And while that makes a lot of sense, you’d think that if people didn’t want to be called Scientologists, they wouldn’t partake in so many Scientology-related activities. The internet is abuzz with the news that Radar magazine is about to publish a cover story on celebrities involved with the dreaded church. But instead of focusing on the usual targets (Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley), they’re focusing their article on some possible recent converts to the religion. The biggest suspects are Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith, though the magazine also mentions Kimora Lee Simmons – who has already denied any affiliation with the cult.

Will Smith, Jada Pinkett and Kimora Lee Simmons are loudly denying Radar magazine’s claims that they’ve been recruited into — dun dun dun! — the Church of Scientology. Smith, a good buddy of Scientology poster boy Tom Cruise, denies he is a church member. “You don’t have to be Jewish to be a friend of Steven Spielberg. You don’t have to be a Muslim to be a friend of Muhammad Ali. And you don’t have to be a Scientologist to be a friend of Tom Cruise,” Smith tells us. “I am a Christian. I am a student of all religions. And I respect all people and all paths.”

[From Rush & Molloy]

I cannot tell you how much Will Smith’s response annoys me… because it’s totally fair. He’s phrased it in such a way that I really can’t justify poking holes in it. That doesn’t necessarily mean I believe him, but he’s certainly right – being friends with someone of a different religion in no way means you’ve converted. One of the better arguments that Smith has converted is that Scientologists are generally encouraged to associate only with other Scientologists. The rest of us are supposed to have demon souls or something. But hanging out with someone open and accepting of the religion, as Smith claims to be, might be considered okay. But you’ll have a hard time convincing me that Tommy’s not putting the full court press on Will.

Here’s Will and Jada with their kids and Tom Cruise at the “I Am Legend” premiere on December 11th, 2007. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Gawker has a new video of Tom Cruise’s birthday party on the Scientology Cruise Ship. It features footage of the band playing the theme songs from Top Gun and Mission Impossible while Cruise whoops and claps in the front row. Then Cruise takes the stage to sing a duet of “That Old Time Rock and Roll.” He jams out with the singer, jumps around, and looks like he’s having a great time.

In the Church of Scientology’s statement on the Andrew Morton bio they say that Tom Cruise does not hold any position of authority in the church, but Gawker points out that they’re willing to spend what must be at least six figures on this party for him.

The thing is, this video is fun and not that damning if you forget that the Scientologists are involved. Watching this, I was thinking “I wonder if everyone who works on that ship is a damn Scientologist. Is that singer a Scientologist? Can anyone escape their love bomb?” You know if Tom Cruise were talking Scientology to me I would probably look down at his wild sexy eyes and just smile and nod, losing all that pent up suppressive knowledge and anger. Damn you, Gawker, for making cults look like they have fun in between taking money and making people disown their families.

The video seems to be taken from a DVD of Scientology moments, because you can see someone chose from a menu at the beginning and there are small icons of Tom Cruise. Maybe Gawker has their hands on that DVD and is going to release more clips next week. Please let that be the case. And no more party videos. We want more speeches we don’t understand about things we’ll never grasp unless we embrace the program and surrender all our worldly goods and critical thinking skills.

You can watch the Tom Cruise party video at Gawker.com.

Update: This clip is undated, and seems to pre-date Tom’s relationship with Katie Holmes.

Thank goodness Scientology is around to cure all of society’s ills. Who needs a professional psychologist or addiction medicine expert to help you battle your increasingly debilitating drug addictions when Xenu can jiggle your brain juices around and spruce you right up? Jeff Conaway, star of such hits as “Grease,” “Taxi,” and more recently “Celebrity Rehab” has had quite the challenge sobering up on the reality show. In fact it’s been downright painful to watch him, and has served as a pretty brutal reminder why it’s a good idea to avoid drugs all together. Jeff was wheelchair-bound for much of the show, and suffered horrible convulsions. Most of his speech had to be subtitled for viewers, and it was nearly incomprehensible. He had to be admitted to the hospital for detox almost immediately. Unfortunately Jeff didn’t complete the program, and left after the seventh episode. Over the years he’s been a frequent patient of Dr. Drew Pinsky’s, the host of “Celebrity Rehab.” But apparently all Jeff really needed was a little help from Xenu’s brain-reading machines, because he claims Scientology has finally cured him.

Inside Edition sat down for an exclusive interview with former Taxi star Jeff Conaway, who says he has finally kicked his drug habit by practicing Scientology. According to Conaway, “I’ve been doing Scientology…my doctor was like, Holy cow, he says whatever you’ve been doing keep doing it because it’s really working.”

Conaway says his former Grease co-star John Travolta introduced him to the controversial religion. “John and I stayed friends but he couldn’t watch me going down the tubes…he gave me a whole library of Scientology books and he’s given me an auditor who comes almost every day.”

Conaway, who lost over 40 pounds while participating in VH1’s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, tells Inside Edition he can’t wait to get back in front of the camera. “I’m going to be strong and healthy and totally together. I’ve got to get ready for my Academy Award.”

[From Inside Edition]

Something tells me the doctor Conaway is referencing is not the good Dr. Drew – who I will admit I have a daddy-issue-based crush on, but I’m sure would spit in the face of Scientology regardless. It’s great that Conaway’s talking positively and expecting big things of himself, a la Academy Awards. But I seriously doubt something as illegitimate as Narconon (Scientology’s anti-drug program, which is named to make it sound legitimate – note that it’s “onon” not “anon” as in all the Alcoholics Anonymous-based programs) magically cured all of Conaway’s many complex addictions. The man was like a walking anti drug ad. Mostly because he literally couldn’t even walk. They should show clips of him to kids in the DARE program. As much as I’d champion anything that helps someone battle such life-destroying demons, let’s not be fooled into thinking drinking some barely water and popping some vitamins has cured the poor guy. Clearly he’s desperate for some kind of change, and that’s great. But it means it’s time to call up a good rehab facility, not John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.

Here is Jeff Conaway and his girlfriend Vikki Lizzi at the 18th Annual Night of 100 Stars Gala Viewing Party at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 24th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

There was a photo in this week’s OK! Magazine of Gwyneth Paltrow out with Apple, 3, and Moses, 22 months, on Feburary 9th in NY. It was captioned “Gwyneth Paltrow, 35, visits the Kabbalah Centre in NYC with her children.”

It was the second time that Paltrow had been seen at the Kabbalah Centre this month. She was photographed sneaking out a week earlier on February 1.

Is Paltrow about to get bilked by Hollywood’s second favorite cult? It’s possible. She might have just been visiting her good buddy Maddona there. The “Raising Malawai” star-studded fundraiser for Madonna’s charity was held on February 6, and Madonna would have been in town around that time. Paltrow didn’t wear a red string bracelet to the event, but since she went to the cult headquarters twice it makes it seem like something is up.

Back in 2004 there was a story that Paltrow had pissed off Madonna by rejecting Kabbalah, but maybe the bossy pop star gradually wore her down with promises of stress-free days and a newfound purpose in life. Paltrow seems susceptible to that type of spiritual hokum.

Paltrow has a new public service announcement out for UNICEF. She provides the voice over for a clip emphasizing the need for medication in the third world to prevent the mother to baby transmission of AIDS.

She is shown outside Madonna’s Raising Malawai fundraiser on February 6, thanks to PRPhotos.