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.

A friend of Will Ferrell’s who works as a struggling actor recently got married. According to Mike Walker’s column in the National Enquirer, Will arranged for a scam to get the guy and his new bride a first class European honeymoon without letting him know that Will was footing the bill. He set it up with the actor’s agent to tell him he had an audition in Paris and that all expenses would be paid. Then they told him the audition was postponed for a week, then moved to Rome. Once a few days passed in Italy with no audition, the guy called his agent and was told Will had arranged for his vacation:

Knowing his just-married pal would never accept a big cash wedding gift - or anything that smacked of charity - Will staged a scam a con man would envy! First, he had the guy’s agent call with good news: He’d landed a movie audition in Paris - and could even take his wife with him, courtesy of the producers. “The script will be waiting for you at the hotel,” said the agent. After Will’s pal and his new bride arrived in Paris, the agent phoned and said: “The audition’s postponed a week, so just stay and enjoy the city!” Five days later, another call: “The audition’s been moved to Rome. They’re sending over plane tickets, and you’ll find a revised script at your hotel.” Finally, after days in Rome and still no audition, Will’s friend got suspicious and phone his agent, demanding to know what was up. That’s when Will finally contacted his old buddy - and told him the truth: There’d never been a movie audition! He just wanted him to enjoy a great honeymoon without sweating the dough. Touched and teary-eyed, the guy couldn’t stop thanking Will, who cracked: “Hey, don’t kid me - you’re just bummed you’re not getting the movie job!”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker’s column, March 24, 2008]

That’s a great story, but it sounds like one of those “too good to be true” tales of celebrity heroism that Walker loves to write. If it’s true, it’s a very inventive way to give someone the gift of a lifetime and that was generous of Ferrell. Maybe the poor guy was sweating his upcoming audition though, and the more time passed on that sweet free vacation the more pressure he felt about the film role that never materialized.

Ferrell’s latest film, the 70s pro basketball comedy Semi Pro, was a disappointment at the box office compared to his other blockbusters. It was released on February 29 and has taken in $33 million total at the box office, which brings it below his other comedies like Talledega Nights and Blades of Glory, which each earned more in their opening weekends than Semi Pro has to date. Ferrell will next appear in Step Brothers with John C. Reilly, which is due for release in July, and is currently filming Land of The Lost.

Will Ferrell is shown on 2/25/08 outside of MTV’s TRL, thanks to PRPhotos.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney were supposedly both in NY filming Burn After Reading when they heard a production assistant talking about her depressed granny, whose refused to leave the house after the recent death of husband. George and Brad convinced the woman to take them to her granny thinking they could cheer her up. The rest sounds like a scene from a movie:

The next day, the girl knocked on Granny’s door - and the woman nearly fainted when she opened up and saw not one, but two Hollywood leading men grinning like idiots. George and Brad sat down for a quick cup of tea, then told her to go get herself dolled up - and walked her to hte hairdressers, where they spent half an hour gossiping with her pals and a gaggle of ga-ga gals, generously dispensing autographs, hugs and kisses.

[From the National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker’s column, October 8, 2007]

There’s no way this story is true, because if it was it would have been picked up by several news outlets and not just the National Enquirer. Pitt and Clooney supposedly went to a hair salon and schmoozed with the ladies for a half an hour! Someone would have blabbed and taken cell phone pics.

Plus that guy Mike Walker’s column in the Enquirer has a questionable hero story about a celebrity just about every week, many of which go unverified. I want to believe, though, because this story is just too good to pass up. The only thing it’s missing is a medical rescue in which Clooney and Pitt swoop in just in time to call paramedics as the old lady is having a stroke, saving her life with their excellent timing and dashing good looks.

Clooney did tell his girlfriend not to move after their motorcycle accident. That’s heroic enough for me.

More details have come out about George Clooney’s motorcycle accident in New Jersey a week and a half ago. Clooney and his girlfriend of the moment, Sarah Larson, a 28 year-old former cocktail waitress were thrown from his Harley Davidson after a collision with a car.

A witness tells The National Enquirer that Clooney kept his cool and was careful to tell Larson not to move after the accident. This is key in the case of a potential spinal injury and if their injuries were worse Clooney’s advice could have saved her from being paralyzed:

“I saw the bike hit the curb, and then Clooney and girl hit the ground. If they hadn’t been wearing helmets, they would have been killed instantly,” eyewitness David Sciumbata told The Enquirer.

“They were pinned under the bike, and it looked like her leg had been crushed.”

David, a guitarist, watched the mishap from his front proch in Weehawken, N.J., around 3 p.m. on Sept. 21. He called an ambulance and then rushed to aid the couple.

“Clooney was clearly in pain, but he kept asking the girl about her spine,” David said. “He was afraid she might have been paralyzed.

“He tried to keep her clam. I heard him say ‘Please don’t move. You are going to be fine. I don’t want you to move your leg or your back.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, October 8, 2007]

Clooney did absolutely the right thing. Medline says that “If you are in doubt about whether a person has a spinal injury, assume that he or she DOES have one” and that you should not move a person after an accident unless it is absolutely necessary as in the case of getting them out of a burning vehicle.

Both Clooney and Larson escaped from the accident with minor injuries after being treated at a nearby hospital. Larson suffered a broken toe while Clooney fractured a rib and had road rash.

Clooney was quite level-headed and smart to tell Larson not to move and to stay calm after the accident. As much as I like to rip on Clooney for being an incurable womanizer, he gets points for this one. There was a report in a NJ paper that claims he also told he loved her in the moments after the accident.

Clooney and Larson are still together, and she was seen hobbling outside of his hotel in NY on crutches for a night out on the town last night. In one picture he’s shown smoothing her hair or picking something off her face. Her eyes are closed and she’s clearly relishing the attention. Thanks to Splash News for those pictures.

Clooney is also shown in NY filming Burn After Reading. Thanks to PRPhotos.

Sometimes a star has something that I am crazy jealous of, like Reese Witherspoon’s Oscar dress. I am crazy jealous of this, as I could never get close to having something this cool named after me.

Star Trek actor George Takei has been chosen as the namesake of the asteroid formerly known as the 1994 GT9.

The asteroid, located between Mars and Jupiter, has been renamed 7307 Takei in honour of the actor, who is best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series.

“I am now a heavenly body,” Takei said today, laughing.

“I found out about it yesterday. … I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky - just like an asteroid.”

The celestial rock, discovered by two Japanese astronomers in 1994, joins the 4659 Roddenberry (named for the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry) and the 68410 Nichols (for co-star Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura).

Sydney Morning Herald

Now, I know you can have naming rights to stars – you can buy them at your local observatory. The Auckland observatory claim you can actually see the star you adopt, but that’s just probably because the stars you can see from new Zealand aren’t popular. They certainly aren’t as cool as having an asteroid named after you because you used to pretend to be on a space ship - the star ship Enterprise - which also has an asteroid named after it.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) point out that purchasing or adopting a star means very little in their community, but being given one by them means that astronomers themselves will use the name given.

Whoever discovers an asteroid, for you amateur stargazers out there, has ten years to give it a name. After that the IAU consider other suggestions, where it strongly warns against names in questionable taste, or military and political leaders less than 100 years dead. I guess George Bush has a few years before we can hurtle him through the universe…

In case you were wondering, some other famous names to grace our skies include Elvis, Lennon, McCartney, and Shakespeare.

And that’s your daily dose of space trivia.

For those of you who, like myself, aren’t Star Trek fans, George Takei is now seen on Heroes, as Hiro Nakamura’s father.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Header image is not Takei’s specific asteroid, and was found at Space-Travel.com. Picture of George Takei via MSNBC.

Which fictional character would you want to help you in the case of a natural disaster? Whose on-screen persona would you trust your life to?

MacGyver probably.

That was one result in a survey released today, in which participants were given a choice among seven fictional heroes for help in an emergency.

The poll, commissioned by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, has a serious purpose: Urging Americans to become better prepared for disasters.

Still, the fact that a television character who triumphed by using everyday objects and scientific principles was the favourite surprised and delighted Don Cooke, the foundation’s senior vice president for philanthropy.

“I love MacGyver. You could give him a sock and a piece of string and he could somehow create electricity for the whole city,” joked Cooke, an astronomer by training.

Sydney Morning Herald

I wonder if MacGyver is remembered as Richard Dean Anderson is still on television on Stargate? Or because of the love some Simpsons characters have for him? I have to say I think I’m on side with this – how great would it be watching him rescue entire cities from destruction using only a rubber band and a toothpick?

The other seven possible choices, in case you were wondering, were Indiana Jones (16 per cent); John McClane from the Die Hard films (14 per cent); James Bond and Jason Bourne (eight per cent each); and Lara Croft of Tomb Raider and Jack Bauer of 24 (seven per cent each). MacGyver scored 27 per cent of the vote.

In other questions, seven in 10 respondents said it was very or somewhat likely that their community would suffer some kind of disaster during the next 10 years.

About a quarter of respondents thought the most likely disaster to hit their community would be a tornado; about six per cent said a terrorist attack.

Six in 10 respondents said they had set aside an emergency kit featuring a torch, a portable radio and water, among other items.

Less than a third said they had a plan on where to meet family members if a disaster prevented them from going home or contacting each other.

Sydney Morning Herald

I really hope that the popularity of MacGyver in this poll leads them to make a movie, starring Richard Dean Anderson, where he does in fact help people trapped in a disaster zone. Rather than uncovering a terrorist plot, or saving babies from collapsing buildings, he just does all the boring stuff a regular rescue worker would, like giving out bottles of water. Except he delivers them to people on the upper stories of buildings using a clever contraption made entirely of clothes pegs and twigs.

Simon Cowell may ridicule mentally challenged contestants on American Idol, but he’s not always that cruel offscreen. A maid cut her hand on a broken glass in his hotel room and he wrapped a towel around her gash and had a friend rush her to the hospital. The rude British reality show star even paid the injured woman’s hospital bill:

In Manhattan before jetting to LA for his smash show’s season opener, Simon was in his hotel suite… when he heard the crash of glass in his bathroom - and a woman screaming! Racing into the john, he found a hotel housekeeper writhing in pain on the floor, gushing blood where her hand had been ripped by a broken drinking glass. Grabbing a towel, Simon wrapped it around her wound and hustled her down the elevator to his waiting limo - yelling at hotel staff for help. A colleague drove with the housekeeper to the emergency room, then Simon’s driver chauffered her home after she was patched up…

Mr. Nasty-But-Nice [even] paid for her treatment - which included several stitches - and told the hotel to bill him for any pay she’d lose.

[From The National Enquirer print edition, Mike Walker’s column, January 29, 2007]

That guy Mike Walker of the Enquirer has a lot of hero stories involving TV stars, but it could be true. I would bet Cowell was motivated by a desire not to get sued rather than humanitarian reasons, but it’s still a nice story.

In a recent interview with television-focused site MeeVee, Cowell said that he knew Jennifer Hudson would make it big the first time he saw her, and said “When that girl came into the room, I went, ‘Oscar.’” Yeah, right.

Simon also said that he couldn’t make American Idol without his fellow judges wacky Paula and yes-man Randy. He said that without Paula’s colorful behavior, the show would be boring.

Mike Walker in the Enquirer manages to have hero stories about your favorite TV stars every week, and his latest news is no exception.

Keifer Sutherland was said to have been out hiking when he came across a frightened 9 year-old on a rocky cliff. The boy’s older brothers had jumped from the cliff to the water below, but he was too scared to join them and was stuck there cowering. Sutherland came to the rescue! He carried him down to his brothers and then told them what’s what:

Out hiking with a pal, the “24″ star suddenly heard loud cries - and moments later found a frightened youngster standing on the cliff, paralyzed with fear. Turns out the kid and his brothers had climbed the cliff to jump into the creek far below. The older brothers jumped first, then yelled, “Come on in, the water’s fine!” The kid lost his nerve, couldn’t jump - and was afraid to climb back down the hill alone. Kiefer piggy-backed the boy down to his brothers, then read them the riot act.

[From The National Enquirer print edition, January 29, 2007]

Like I said, this guy Mike Walker has hero news every week so I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets stories fed to him by the TV networks. He had two separate stories about medical heroics by Dr. McDreamy Patrick Dempsey that sounded a little too good to be true.

Sutherland could have helped this boy, but it probably wasn’t as big a deal as he’s making it out to be.

This is the second story from The National Enquirer’s Mike Walker in which Patrick Dempsey stars at the hero of a supposed real-life medical drama, so take it for what it is. In October he was said to have saved a Grey’s Anatomy crewmember who was suffering from a blood clot by calling 911 after he noticed that the guy looked sick.

Supposedly some kids were engaging in a bizarre practice I’ve never heard of, in which they let the car roll while dancing beside or on it. (I doubted anyone would actually do this, but there’s a clip on YouTube so at least some idiot has tried it.) A kid predictably had his foot run over, and Depsey, who was randomly driving by and witnessed the dumbass scene, stayed with him and called 911.

Shocking moment for PATRICK DEMPSEY, who slowed down on a Hollywood street when he spotted teenagers playing that exciting new game, Ghost Riding the Whip – in which driver and passengers get out of a car while it’s still idling slowly down the street and dance beside it. Suddenly … YEEEOW!…one dancing punk got too close to the tires – and the car ran over his foot! The “Grey’s Anatomy” doc pulled over to help, and made a medical decision by calling 911…STAT! The teens were stunned to find Dr. McDreamy suddenly in their midst, but he told them he’s not a doctor – he just plays one on TV. He stayed with the kid until the ambulance arrived – and real medics diagnosed a broken foot.

If I saw this in a regular newspaper I might believe it, but since it’s the second hero story from Mike Walker about Patrick Dempsey I’m thinking it’s either fabricated PR or grossly exaggerated. How often do people pull this stupid Ghostriding the Whip stunt and have you guys ever heard of it before?

Leonardo DiCaprio was out to lunch in Africa with Djimon Hounsou, his costar in the upcoming film “Blood Diamond.” Djimon Hounsou is the hot guy who starred in “Amistad” and played the tormented artist in “In America.” A man approached Hounsou with a gun and seemed to want to shoot him for no reason. Dicaprio stepped in front of the shooter, causing him to run away! Leo earns even more points by refusing to talk about the incident, which only adds to the mystique:

Hounsou remains puzzled as to why the gunman took exception to him while he was filming the new action film in Mozambique, but he’s sure he’d be wounded or dead if it wasn’t for the heroics of DiCaprio.

He explains, “He stood in the way of somebody who was trying to shoot me.”

“We went to eat somewhere and apparently somebody was threatening to kill me there. Leo said, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to go through me.’”

That was enough to make the gunman think twice and he fled the scene, leading a grateful Hounsou pouring praise on his pal.

Modest DiCaprio has refused to even discuss the matter during promotional interviews for the new film. He will only talk about his great friendship with Hounsou.

He explains, “We became like brothers on this movie… We were together for six months.”

Leo, one of People’s sexiest men alive, is also donating to help a South African orphanage where he met a girl who touched his heart. He says he wants to help her and the other orphans but that “he’s not married” and does not intend to have children of his own at this point.

Thanks to Viv for sending me this article.

Leo and Djimon are shown from a scene in “Blood Diamond,” above. Header image from About.com.