These are some new photos of Katie Holmes and Suri in NYC. Katie took Suri out for some “late-night ice cream”. Xenu may come and go, but Katie will never put Suri on any kind of child-like schedule, I guess. Well, the photo agency doesn’t say exactly what constitutes “late-night” – maybe it’s just 8 pm or 9 pm? Even then, that sounds more like the time when a mother should be winding her kid down for bed, not hopping her up with ice cream. Maybe it’s a unique occasion. Maybe Suri is getting a special treat for adjusting so well to the new apartment and being without her dad (and Xenu). I hope Katie knows that if Tom really puts the screws to her in a custody hearing, this could possible become evidence against Katie – “Katie doesn’t keep our daughter on an appropriate schedule. She takes her out for ice cream late at night. Bad mothering!!” Or maybe this is a show of strength on Katie’s part – she’s just provided more photos where she looks like a hands-on mom, the stable parent to Tom’s workaholic Xenu-lover.
I do think that all of this – the divorce filing, the ballsy PR campaign, painting Tom and CoS into a corner – all of it is FOR Suri. It’s so Katie can determine what kind of childhood and life Suri has, and Katie (at long last) is thinking about what’s best for her daughter. Radar reports that Katie “is determined not to end up like Nicole Kidman” in this situation. Katie is treating Tom’s divorce to Nicole (and Nicole’s subsequent estrangement from Isabella and Connor) as a cautionary tale:
Cruise’s two children with Kidman, Connor and Bella, “lived with their father and Katie during the marriage full-time. They aren’t that close to Nicole, and Katie is determined that she won’t be cut out of Suri’s life,” a source close to the situation tells us.
“Bella and Connor are devoted to their father and Scientology, and Katie saw this firsthand, and this is one of the reasons she filed for sole custody. Katie will not be relegated to a secondary role in her daughter’s life, period, and she is prepared to fight Tom in court. Katie isn’t going to back down, and she will do whatever it takes to ensure that she raises Suri herself,” the insider added.
Kidman revealed in a 2007 interview that her kids referred to her as Nicole, and not mom, and Holmes said Connor and Bella called her mom. Isabella, 19, is living with her Scientologist boyfriend, Eddie Frencher, in an apartment in downtown Los Angeles and is pursuing a career as an artist. “We are very proud to be Scientologists,” she recently told New Idea.
Connor has set his sights on becoming a DJ and was with his father last week on set in Iceland when Holmes filed for divorce.
Meanwhile, TMZ has another “It’s all about Suri” story this morning – and this one is heavy on the Ick Factor. Katie doesn’t want Suri to be interrogated/audited by CoS.
Katie Holmes desperately wanted to save Suri from a form of interrogation practiced by the Church of Scientology that she was steadfastly against … TMZ has learned.
Sources close to Katie tell TMZ, back in 2005 she had witnessed Tom’s other kids participating in a Scientology ritual she found to be troubling … and feared Tom would drag Suri through the same process.
Ex-Scientologists call the process “sec checking.” Here’s the way it works. The subject holds electrode handles on a device called an e-meter and is then asked a series of personal questions that help the Church locate “areas of spiritual distress.”
Some ex-Scientologists claim the questions include:
— What has somebody told you not to tell?
— Have you ever decided you did not like some member of your family?
— Have you ever bullied a smaller child?
— Have you ever lied to a teacher?
— Have you ever done something you were very much ashamed of?
— Have you ever refused to obey an order from someone you should obey?
— Have you ever gotten yourself dirty on purpose?During the process, a person called an “auditor” collects e-meter readings.
Several ex-Scientologists have come out against “sec checking,” claiming it’s a mild form of psychological terrorism designed, in part, to get children to report on their parents.
We’re told Katie would have none of it and it is one of the reasons she broke from the Church and ultimately Tom.
Eh. Of course, children shouldn’t be “audited” and the whole thing is extremely creepy, weird and wrong. But I don’t think it should be deemed “psychological terrorism”. And it also seems a bit weird because… I’m guessing Suri has already been audited. Katie has been audited for sure, and I’m sure Katie knows exactly what goes down at these things. First they get out the tin can…
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
the guy behind them looks worried about Suri, too (last pic)
bodyguard?
He sure does, doesn’t he? If that isn’t a look of concern, I don’t know what is.
Seriously lol
Both TMZ and the Daily Mail say that Katie had 4 bodyguards along…and both also say that she was meeting friends at the ice cream parlour. It appears the friends had a child, maybe two, with them. (A boy is visible in some pics, a girl in another.)
i think he’s looking past her at the crowd of paps awaiting them. and that’s also why she’s carrying suri; those friggin flashes terrorize her. not to mention all the creepy adult men screaming at her.
You know, maybe Katie carries Suri so often because she’s afraid of her being snatched and has been for a long time. Just a thought.
I never really thought of it like that until you mentioned it but it makes sense. And there are other parenting decisions that would make more sense under thst umbrella.
Maybe it is to protect her from all the paps camera flashes as well?
I think she carries her because she can move faster
That and it seems Suri is really holding on. Those paps probably freak her out, I know they would me.
On another note, give that girl a headband or a ponytail. Jeez.
I see another kid there as well, so maybe it wasn’t that late? Suri needs a haircut or some pins, that’s for sure.
Yes. That hair!
Our kids are up late all summer. About the last few weeks of school when the sun is still up I feel awful for sending them to bed in daylight. As soon as that lady bell rings, I completely relax all bedtime rules. Plus Suri does not go to school yet
Her hair is awful – get her a hair band! And some jeans…
I know! The hair! It probably has icecream in it all the time! LOL!!!
Wow — sec checking — More like a list of questions for blackmail.
Why don’t they ask if they have deviant sexual feeling and just be upfront with their wants.
Ever make a sex tape?
Lie on your taxes?
Cheat on a test?
I am still shocked that adults don’t see through this. Children I feel sorry for.
I always said the only good thing about Scientology is that it let you know who were the fools around you.
I think I may be guilty of getting myself ‘dirty on purpose’ but maybe I didn’t see it as on purpose. maybe it I did it w/o realizing I was doing it but really I wanted to. I’m afraid an auditor would really throw their hands up with me & run from the room I ask way to many stupid questions.
on a more serious note so happy Katie (yes Tom she has always been Katie) has made her move it’s tricky getting out of a controlled relationship. I know this for my own life. I didn’t have body guards & I lived in a hyper awareness state & slightly paranoid state for a few years. I did have family, friends & the law on my team but it’s real & scary & she only just begun. run Katie run & don’t look back!
I read the full list of questions on another website earlier this week. I think it’s sickening manipulation of a small child and it infuriates me that parents, PARENTS! would do that to their children. Obviously CO$ members really don’t care that much about their children. I guess they have them to keep the cult in members.
They don’t see them as children. CHildren don’t exist in co$ world, only adults. Children are merely adults in small bodies. SMH
Security Checking is not the same thing as auditing – it is a form of auditing, but it is not one in the same.
The auditing Katie did most likely was not a sec check, but rather more akin to therapy or possibly past life regression.
No one volunteers for a sec check – they are forced to do them. And if you don’t, you risk being deemed a Suppressive Person. Higher up Scientologists often order a person to do a sec check when the person is suspected of doing or thinking something they shouldn’t – or if they believe that person is in contact with someone that is not acting or thinking correctly. It is a form of forced interrogation, and the consequences for not submitting can be severe. So, in this way, it is a form of psychological terrorism.
And, they keep all of this recorded and written down. Many people’s auditing files, including the sec check, are used against them to blackmail them.
I’m just about finished with the book Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman. I highly, highly recommended it for a true, unbiased understanding of just what exactly goes on with Scientology.
Scientology = China under Mao? Stalin over Russia? Creepy.
Fast Forward 20 yrs = Suri________? Any thoughts? This child’s getting a MOUTHFULL of crazy experiences at such a formidable age.
Remember when you were 6? Imagine if all of this happened to you!?!?!
Happy Independence Day Katie & Suri!
Hear, hear!
+2!
It is so lovely to see pictures of her looking happy, I think she has got a twinkle in her eyes again, good for her!
So glad Katie has finally escaped. She never really looked comfortable while she was with Tommy Girl. CoS are freaks.
Well the boy in the pic appears to be the same age as Suri so it may not be too late.Also with my kids its more important that the get ten hours of sleep .During summer they go to bed later and wake up later.Im sure I’ll be called a bad mother.
No. I don’t understand making your children sleep early during the summer at all. Why can’t they stay up? Why does that make you a bad parent? Why not surprise them with an occasional late night trip to the ice cream parlor. What is with the ‘they must go to sleep early all of the time?’ During the school year, I get it. They need sleep before school so they are not tired in class. During summer or holidays, no way. BTW: I don’t have kids yet. 🙂
I think it’s more about keeping kids on a predictable routine because they don’t adjust to changes like adults do.
I agree with you. A routine is important but you shouldn’t be a slave to it. That’s not good for kids either because they don’t learn how to adjust to change. The rules around here are different in the summer too because your body adjusts to the change in light patterns. Typically my kids sleep more in winter and less in summer. It’s natural. We still have bedtime routines, but the time they start changes in the summer.
Then I’m a bad one, too! 🙂 One of the best parts of summer, for me as a kid, was getting to stay up later. It gets dark later and its hard to get a child to bed with the sun still up.
I would imagine, getting a child to go to sleep with the sun still up IN NYC would be even more difficult. Let her have a nice summer.
I cannot even tell you how much I cursed the school district when they decided on a “year-round” schedule.
Try explaining to a child that “yes, it’s still light outside; and yes, your friends are still playing outside, but you have school tomorrow and they’re off-track.”
(Thank God the schools finally recognised that “year round” proved more expensive and switched to “traditional” or “modified year-round.” Dumbasses.)
not to mention that its a zillion degrees on the east coast right now! its not even possible to be outside until 8 or 9. its inhuman out. i’d wait for icecream for a 5 or 6 year old til 9 or 10-BFD! who cares.
Wow. The times have really changed. My bedtime was 8:00 pm (9:00 pm on Friday and Saturdays), no excuses, until I was 10-years-old. Of course, that was also back in the mid-late 1960’s when kids actually played outside all day, too.
I think Tom is ‘deep’ in the closet and is a bit nuts, but I also think people here are giving Katie a BIG pass. I hear the Scientologists believe in treating children like adults, but Suri hasn’t spoiled herself. Katie–not Tom–has been dressing Suri like a small adult for years. Do you really think Tom cares if Suri wears nothing but designer labels and has her own private designer? Do you think Tom’s the one who breaks down to demands (or whining) and buys Suri heels, makeup, and a mini mink coat?
Katie seems to be more like a big sister to Suri rather than a mother, with Suri well and completely in control.
Absolutely hated going to bed when the sun was up. One of the great injustices of being a child. I tossed bedtime rules for my boy summer and holidays too.
I tricked him once into going to bed an hour sooner using the time change. I was tired, I needed him in bed. He was about 7 and when he figured it out the next morning, he was so angry he cried. I felt like such a sh-t.
Heck, if you’re a bad parent, mine were monsters! I never had a bed time and can remember watching Johnny Carson with my parents when I was six or seven. On a school night!
One of my earliest childhood memories is of watching Sonny & Cher with my Mom. 😀
I remember Sonny & Cher too – wasn’t it on Sunday night? I think I liked Donny & Marie more though. I was allowed to watch it on my grandparents’ color TV (we only had B/W). Good memories.
NYC_girl – I think it was. I LOVED Donnie & Marie! *hangs head in shame* I still have my Donnie & Marie dolls, in full white and purple regalia, complete with microphones.
@Bella, I had the dolls too…wish I kept them!
Scroll down: http://tresorsmarche.blogspot.com/2008/01/if-you-were-little-girl-in-1970s.html
Now I’m singing the end song – “May tomorrow be a perfect day… may you find love and laughter along the way…”
I need to detour though – I just figured out from other shots that Suri is wearing Roger Vivier shoes, and I’m extremely jealous!! I promised myself when I find a job the first thing I’m going to do is buy myself a pair.
Ladies! I love that you remember a childhood that I remember.
I must add that watching Laurence Welk at Grandma’s was a regular feature of my earliest years. Boom, boom, didum dadum waddum choo!
OMG. Don’t even get me started on Hee Haw which I was FAR too young to understand.
Mich – Lawrence Welk Show at my great aunt & uncle’s house. RELIGIOUSLY. And Hee-Haw? OMG, I didn’t get it either, but my parents sure did laugh!
What about Sha-Na-Na? I watched that with my dad weekly. It taught me a love and appreciation for the songs my dad listened to on the radio in the car.
My favorites were the Flip Wilson Show and the Carol Burnette Show. Early Muppets were on Flip Wilson and they were hilarious.
my little man would be up with me watching arsenial hall. He had the whoowhoo fist roll down. Count me in as bad mom. ah he’s 28 now he survived it!
Agree as a matter of fact I took my daughter out for ice cream at 8 pm last night she’s 7 and she to goes to bed later since its summer and no school not to late but I see no problem with taken ur child out for ice cream it’s a way to spend time together no to mention good comfort food at least she wasn’t taking Suri to a bar
Thanks so much for the “Oh My God, I’m so old” flashbacks. Fantastic!!
Does anyone remember the phenom that was Shields and Yarnell?
To be fair, she didn’t say she was making them go to bed early! She said they go to bed late and sleep late. I do the same thing with my 8 year old. My 15 year old is another story! He sleeps all day during the summer. *rolls eyes* We are trying to get his clock back on track, but it’s a struggle. I don’t understand how you can sleep while it’s beautiful out and we are within walking distance of the beach.
Good luck, lulu. When I was teen, I worked full-time (2 – 10 p.m., during my senior year) and moved on to a promotion two days after graduation. I went to school from 6:30 a.m. to noon, then went to work, came home, and did homework until 2 or 3 a.m.
Fast forward to my oldest: senior year; independent study; went to school one whole day a week; no job; slept til whenever I roused him or 2 p.m., whichever was sooner.
I’m with you. We’ll be bad mothers together, I suppose. On the flip side, I believe that mothers who regiment everything in their children’s lives do them a disservice. I make sure my daughter gets at least 10 hours of sleep (she’s still a young’n), and during the school year, she has a set bedtime and wake-up time. That’s regimented enough. She’s a person…and a child; not a soldier or a British train. Children who “don’t adjust to changes” well probably don’t adjust because they have parents who micromanage every second of their day!! Letting a kid stay up past sundown in the middle of a really hot summer to go and have ice cream an hour after dinner is bad parenting? Seriously? That’s freakin’ nuts.
I gave up trying to care about anal retentive mothers who have read one too many self-help books instead of interacting with their kids developing opinions about my parenting.
Katie, I’m on your side. All the way. I believe you are the only sane parent Suri has ever known, and I truly hope you will be able to save her from that cult full of crazies and her father, one of their Top Loons.
But for the love of all things holy, get one of those pony tail elastics I know that you own and use it on your child’s hair.
Haha, I totally agree!
I couldn’t agree more!
However, it is possible Suri just yanks the damn thing out. I have a 9 year old neice and she has never, ever liked things in her hair. If her mom put in a pony, she’d rip it out. Same as far as barettes and other hair stuff went. The only thing she would sometimes wear (and still does) is a headband.
No one will deny that Katie is a very hands on mother. Unfortunately, she will never be able to fully cut Cruise out of her daughter’s life. That is what happens when one lies in bed and has a child with a maniac. Eventually, Suri will be old enough to spend nights with dad and who knows what he and the COS will try to brainwash her with. Katie will have these worries for the rest of her life because as long as Cruise is alive, he will try to convert Suri into becoming a COS member. Katie has her work cut out for her. Cruise’s millions are definitely not worth what she will have to go through to save her daughter from this cult.
Yep. That’s what I’ve been thinking.
I do wish Katie and Suri luck, but Tom’s tiny, ominous shadow will always be haunting them.
“tiny, ominous shadow…” LOL. Thanks for that laugh!
😀
Except she’s not getting any of Cruise’s millions. She gets nothing but child support.
That’s fine! Take the child support and your child and GO. Some shit just isn’t worth the money, you know?
There have been some reports that she will get $3 million for each year of marriage which would total $18 million. Other reports say she will get nothing but child support. Katie has her own money – an estimated $25 million – so money is not her concern although it is likely that she will try to get enough child support money to keep up the lavish lifestyle she has been accustomed to during her marriage. Her main concern will be Suri and making sure that she is kept from the COS.
Presumably she didn’t know that Tom was a maniac to begin with it. Let’s face it, before internet gossip and until his odd behaviour became public (ie Oprah interview), who did, except those who were closest to him? And who would be close to him? CoS.
Secondly, I don’t buy that she only hooked up with him for money, career and fame. None of her behaviour prior to meeting him indicated obvious famewhoring tendencies. If money was so important to her – then she wouldn’t file for divorce now.
Irrespective of public knwledge of co$, Tom’s overbearing Character was pretty well known in Hollywood circles.
That said, it started to leak out from 2001 when he divorced Kidman. By the time he was couch jumping, he had already been seen for the crazy he was. Those co$ videos were a year before the couch jumping.
From that perspective, i can’t believe that a person who had been working in Hollywood for better part of ten years like Katie did, had not heard about Tom Cruise’s manner and church. Hollywood is a very small town that thrives on gossip. Plus, many, many people in the business are scientologists. It doesn’t take away from her decision now, but let’s not push her as completely uninformed either.
For once Suri is not wearing those awful gold shoes!
And Katie’s shoes match Suri’s dress. All these photo retrospectives make me wish that both Katie and Suri would go back to I think that they would look less fatigued, and a day at the salon may make them feel better.
I love Katie’s flowery heels though!
I love her shoes too!
Great shoes!
LOVE!
Poor Suri. 🙁 I really, truly hope she hasn’t already had to go through that. Those are the kinds of loaded questions prospective employers give out in those “truthfulness tests” (or whatever they’re called). They use absolutes (try explaining absolutes to a 6 year-old) designed to TRY to trip you up!
And damn SMSTCFBCM for putting Suri in that position. In fact, damn him for putting Isabella, Connor, and Nicole in that position, too!
(I apologise – I’m on CO$ divorce overload – blame the thetans, I guess.)
The pics of this late-night ice cream date in the Mirror show Katie and Suri catching a cab home–how can this be? Odd, considering all her security concerns.
Ok so this is my problem with the whole argument about Katie not wanting the Scientology life for her kid, she already knew about it. She didnt just know about Scientology she also knew that there were two children from her husband’s 1st marriage that were so alienated from their mother that they called her Nicole and Katie mom. Im not trying to side
with crazy Tom but let’s not forget Katie’s got to
be pretty crazy herself.
I’m quite sure Tom feed her a ton of lies that quieted all her natural questions about the situation with Nicole and his other children. There’s no denying he is a good actor.
I also wonder if she was out in public as a short escape from him. Isn’t he back in NYC? Sometimes when your being abused like I’m sure she is, going out in public is the only way to get a break from him. BTW a maniac who controls your every move is abusing you, seen it before.
No. Aside from one interview (W) where she made a complete ass of herself early in the relationship, she didn’t. Saying ‘amazing’ every other word when walking such a tight rope does not equate with ‘going crazy herself’.
Beyond that, gossip has been out since 2009 that she has been trying to get away but that she would have had a much more difficult custody battle.
I completely agree with you. She knew exactly what she was getting into when she married Tom so I am not going all gaga now that she left him but still good for her.
THANK YOU! All of these go Katie comments are annoying as hell. She knew what this man was about from the very beginning. TC never hid the fact that he is a COS member. Katie didn’t have any problem allowing another woman’s children CALL HER MOM. I’m not jumping on the go Katie wagon. something is up with her and I can’t help but think she orchestrated this …Marry Tom, have a child, blind side him and file for divorce , and have the biggest career boost known to man. I never liked what she did to Nicole and people are forgetting that she was a willing and able participant in that.
THANK YOU! All of these go Katie comments are annoying as hell. She knew what this man was about from the very beginning. TC never hid the fact that he is a COS member. Katie didn’t have any problem allowing another woman’s children CALL HER MOM. I’m not jumping on the go Katie wagon. something is up with her and I can’t help but think she orchestrated this. Marry Tom, have a child, blind side him and file for divorce , and have the biggest career boost known to man. I never liked what she did to Nicole and people are forgetting that she was a willing and able participant in that.
I think that what all of you are failing to take into account is that Katie got sucked in by lovebombing and a brainwashing cult. She was most likely aware that Tom was involved in Scientology, but purposely kept from the implications of that until after she was married.
“Sources close to Katie tell TMZ, back in 2005 she had witnessed Tom’s other kids participating in a Scientology ritual she found to be troubling … and feared Tom would drag Suri through the same process”
I’m sure she has witnessed all kind of disturbing things early in their relationship, but she was too infatuated with all the attention and the lavish life style to care. She also helped Cruise in his mission to remove her adpoted kids from their mom influence , remember how she said Connor and Isabella called her mom. I highly doubt Nicole Kidman is on her side now.
Something that I found soooo disturbing:
after Katie auditioned for the role of Tom Cruise’s wife (yes, he held auditions: officially for a role in a movie but really to find a suitable next robo-wife. The auditions were in a $ci-center) she disappeared for weeks from everyone’s radar. Her parents, friends and relations, with whom she was in contact daily, did not hear or see her for three weeks.
Then she got back, fired her management and PR team and went on the “Cruise is great” parade like a friggin’ brain washed zombie.
I don’t even want to know what they did to her in those three weeks. I wouldn’t even put it past them to friggin’ drug her and inseminate her artificially with Hubbard’s frozen sperm, just like a modern “Rosemary’s baby”.
They do have a “special plan” for Suri. When Katie got a whiff of it, I guess she panicked at first and then planned an escape. Which is GOOD.
Well, all of this is the price she has to pay for the custom-made Louboutain shoes she had made for Suri, the highly publicized wedding in the Italian castle, her revived career, etc. I don’t feel sorry for her at all. We all make our choices in life and everything has a price!
Ok. Po and Lena are making my radar go up. Anyone else see it?
ah, yup. most likely CO$ members trying to start a grass roots movement against katie
Lol @ Mich,
I just don’t think she’s a victim. And even if she were a victim of COS, wouldn’t that make him one also? There was a story out there that Nicole did good job from keeping TC getting too deep with COS. I also don’t agree with her keeping Suri away from her father. She willingly participated in keeping Nicole’s kids from her now all of sudden Suri doesn’t need her dad in her life anymore? By all accounts, Tom is a good dad, so why keep him out of her life? She’s just not a victim to me.
Lol @ Mich,
I just don’t think she’s a victim. And even if she were a victim of COS, wouldn’t that make him one also? There was a story out there that Nicole did good job from keeping TC getting too deep with COS. I also don’t agree with her keeping Suri away from her father. She willingly participated in keeping Nicole’s kids from her now all of sudden Suri doesn’t need her dad in her life anymore? By all accounts, Tom is a good dad, so why keep him out of her life? She’s just not a victim to me.
Lena, I’m just not buying into you as an authentic “I just think” contributor.
The fact that you equate a 26 year old with someone who was 17 years her senior and far more worldly and powerful at the time says that you are either very young or a plant.
If it is the latter, know that there are people on the outside, good people at that, who have been down the path and have come out ok.
If it is the former, grow up.
I’m sorry Lena, but Tom is anything BUT a good dad when he is this involved in a dangerous cult and puts it above family. A cult mind you that is no doubt following his soon to be ex-wife and child as we speak, because THAT is what they do. So no, he does not deserve to see Suri so he can brainwash her the way Connor and Isabella were brainwashed. The best thing for that child is to be as you say ‘kept from her father.’ He is a DAMAGING influence on her life, she needs to get the hell out. FAIL for you, try again.
Yep, I thought that too.
@ Mich: MmmHmmm….
Would be interesting to see when certain people first registered to post here. CO$ has a pretty broad reach, and anti-Katie posts from brand new “members” should be expected from now on.
Also, @Lena: Would appreciate AWFULLY the favour of no more double postings. I’m sure you think that what you’re saying is dreadfully important, but no need to post comments TWICE.
@ Mich,
Let me make this perfectly clear. I’m not asking you to buy into anything. Furthermore, I am grown woman who was expressing her opinion, so your grow up comment was not warranted. Your condescending tone is not welcome so I will politely ask you to fall back. Just because I don’t buy Katie as some type of “victim” in all of this does not mean I’m a “plant” or “young”. Why a twice divorced man would be attractive to ANY woman of ANY age would be red flag from the jump. A man who supposedly alienated his two older children from their own mother would be another MAJOR red flag. Furthermore, she was a GROWN woman when she chose to get involved with the twice divorced TC. I’m just not buying her as a victim and that’s my opinion which I am well entitled to, now if you do not agree with that, that is all well and good, but I will not be talked down to because you do not agree. Now if you would like to politely discuss your opinion on the TOPIC at hand with me, feel free to do so, but keep the personal comments about MY opinion to yourself and take your own advice and “grow up” and handle different opinions like an adult.
@ Genevieve,
I would appreciate AWFULLY if you use a little common sense. I do not think my OPINIONS are any more important than anyone else. Sometimes cell phones act wonky and do things that you do not have any control over. If it didn’t bother the moderators of this site I would advise you not to concern yourself with it. That’s what the scroll buttons are for.
@ Jamie,
It’s called an opinion. So fail on you for not being able to recognize it as such. Katie witnessed what he did to Nicole correct? Katie let another woman’s children call her Mom correct? Katie knew Tom was in very deep with the COS correct? So why with all these red flags would a grown woman decide to embark on a relationship with a twice divorced man who treats the mother of his children like crap and who belongs to extremely questionable “church”? I don’t THINK she’s a victim. I THINK she was a willing participant who has had a change of heart. And despite his religious beliefs, you have never heard of him doing harm to his kids. I also THINK that Nicole throwing in the towel and giving up on having a relationship with her kids was BS to, but that’s for another day.
Gosh Lena –
It sounds like you are telling us to put our manners back in…
I think Tom probably convinced her that their kid would never have to go through those things as he was the *amazing, superpowerful* Tom Cruise and their child would be super special.
I would also not be surprised if the cult is screwing over Tom too, first telling him Suri will get special treatment as she’s the Chosen One or whatever, and then they ask for more and more (first auditing,then sending her to the Sea Org place and so on) and Tom’s too deep in to realize it. So in a way I do think he’s a victim too (as I think almost all cult members are) but I also think he’s a shit parent for not putting his child first.
My Dad would never approve of Tom Cruise, no matter how rich & famous he is. TC weird private life is a bizarre freakshow, surely Katie`s Dad had the resources to investigate Tom. I feel so badly for Suri..do not feel sorry for Katie or her family at all. I guess this sham of a marriage will keep Katie`s family financially secure for decades to come. Now Katie is doing the I Am A Wonderful Mom Parade all over New York City. I am disgusted with both Kate & Tom.
I don’t know, I’ve seen smart, strong, educated women from good families (good as in caring, loving and supporting) fall head over heals for abusing assholes (not saying Tom is nessesarily abusive, but the cult most definitly is). Love makes smart rational people blind, naive and often stupid and it doesn’t matter what anyone else says or do, they just won’t see the truth before they’re too deep in the relationship.
Mary, I mentioned this before but I’ll say it again ’cause it actually clears a bit how an intelligent woman would get involved with Tommy.
Katie “auditioned” for a Cruise movie (Mission Imp III, only made recently… curious, uh?).
The audition was at a $ci centre. The auditions were really only to find Tommy a suitable new bride. Tommy and his $ci fellows chose Katie.
After that, Katie was NOT seen nor heard from for THREE weeks. She used to be so close to family and friends that she talked to them and met them every day!
After those scary three weeks, her family and relations were relieved to finally see her again. Only to be told off. Katie went on to become the zombie-robogirlfriend that we used to know and FIRED her whole team, to go with the $ci team that manages Tommy.
I DO NOT want to know what they did to her in those three weeks. I’m just glad that somehow she got the hell out of there!
@RocketMerry, I should probably mention I haven’t really followed this story that closely over the years. How long has all this info about the CO$ been available? Because as I remember it, back when Tom and Katie got together Scientology was just known as some weird, kinda silly new thing all the Hollywood people were doing,not this crazy, bullying, dangerous cult we now know of…Or was I just badly informed back then?
That logic would work if not for the fact that even with all the horror stories coming out over the past several years, people STILL don’t know the full extent of the dangers of this cult. So, how the hell could she?
I completely agree. Katie knew what she was getting into; there were plenty of reports then that her parents did everything they could do pull her away from the wedding. She is going to walk away with a much higher profile than she ever would have had as an ex-Dawson Creek cast member. She is a mediocre actress on her best day.
Nah, I don’t think so. Before ever meeting Tom, Katie often came across as young and a bit naive in interviews. She once said that Tom was her childhood crush. That was all CO$ needed to audition her as his next bride. Of course she’d have stars in her eyes if her childhood crush pulled out all the stops to court her.
Her merits as an actress may be debatable, but she was cast in good films pre-TC: Go, Wonder Boys, The Gift, Pieces Of April, Batman Begins, Thank You For Smoking. Dawson’s Creek was already far behind her. Her marriage to him may have raised her tabloid profile, but it contributed zilch to her acting career.
She’s the hands-on parent with Suri, not Tom. Tom is the one with 3 failed marriages. Nicole is estranged from her two older children because of Tom. He’s revealed himself to be very different from his good guy image. As for money, she’s probably getting child support and not much else out of the divorce. If it was all about the money she would have stayed longer.
Yes, she’s so terrible for wanting out of an unhappy marriage. This Katie-bashing is getting ridiculous.
There’s that old saying “when you lie with dogs, you get fleas” and Katie knew damn well what TC was about before she married him. The question I have is why, but that will never be answered.
I’m so excited to see Katie wearing heels and look at her face she looks so happy. The old Katie is back!!!! She is starting to look gorgeous again.
Awww, look how nice Katie finally looks, fashion-wise! Pretty.
And yeah, I’d find auditing creepy and terrifying for an adult. For a child is just monstrous.
Edit: I agree with everyone saying that since there’s another child there, maybe it’s just an “ice-cream as dessert” outing, sorta 9 p.m.-ish. Also, I’d keep my child close to the chest too if I knew someone was going to try and snatch her away!
I’m glad I don’t live under such public scrutiny. When my oldest two were much younger (I’m thinking 9 and 5), it was hotter than Satan’s balls and there was NO WAY I was going to cook! (No one really wanted to eat in that heat anyway.)
So I took the kids to the mall (A/C – hee-hee), and we had ice cream for dinner. (And Macy’s had an AWESOME shoe sale.)
Coolest. Thing. Evah!
It happened rarely, but I LOVED ice cream for dinner (and breakfast) as a child! Such sweet memories.
Your kids probably remember that as a cool time 🙂
Rocket – From that point on, my daughter equated “going to Macy’s” with “ice cream for dinner.” (SO. CUTE!)
I have such fond memories of my childhood: I could have a grilled cheese for breakfast and pancakes and scrambled eggs for dinner. Mama is such a love! (She even cut the bottom out of a tuna can to make her own “healthier” Egg McMuffins!)
Awww, your mom must be so nice 🙂
For us it was dad, being the laid-back guy and suggesting we eat “unconventionally”. Drove my mother crazy! LOL
it’s time to start treating Suri like a child which means a regular schedule with bedtimes…let the 6 year walk and start to regulate the child’s life. It’s time to become the mother, Katie, you’re free, enjoy!
It is summer time-and they’re out with friends or (Katie’s family) with kids. I’m guessing once September comes and she is enrolled in an actual school, this late night stuff will be over.
Ice cream on a warm summer evening is being treated like a child and not a mini-adult. These are the memories of childhood.
Despite the fact that its ice cream and summer, Suri needs to be treated like a child. She needs a routine–and not one that includes roaming the streets of New York at her mother’s whim.
This ice cream date is not a one-time deal or even a once in a while deal. This is their routine. It’s habitual.
While I too am happy that KH is getting away or trying to distance herself and her daughter for COS, she may not have known to the extent to which she and her child(ren) would be envoyed in the COS but she knew “something” wasn’t quite right about TC. Surely, she wasn’t that young, naive, or even that much of a dullard. So, I think she gets kudos from snapping out of it and taking a stand but not free pass or even a get out of jail free card.
I know, I love it when mothers judge other mothers. It’s not even that late, taking your kid out for ice cream on a night in the summer IS treating them like a child. Geez, calm down people.
Suri is wearing a Merimeko dress.
Yup, it’s probably from the Merimekko store on the 23rd and 5th, close to their new apartment.
I don’t know the time of this shoot, but that child has seen a lot of changes lately, all the Scientolo-staff was fired, she has moved from old house, her routine is changing.
I think Katie is trying to distract her.
My mum did the same when my parents were divorcing: she started bringing us to eat ice creams, or having pizza in some special place. At the time I didn’t fully understand, now I get it. Thank you mum.
As crazy as folks think Tom is, Suri still called him daddy and probably wonders where he is and why all the changes. Granted he is away alot, but I am sure they spoke on the phone. This has to be a really hard time for this child and maybe a little late night ice cream helps. Though I hope the pap walks are not frequent. She needs shelter and calm right now.
How late could it have been? There is another kid in one of the pics.
I’m just now coming out of the Village Voice ‘Running Scared’ Scientology rabbit hole. I already knew a lot (thanks to Tom’s crazy 2008 rant getting me more than passingly interested) but, wow. So much has come out since then.
Forget just using KatIE’s auditing tapes, they are going to use her literal trash and the trash of everyone who knows her. They are going to deny, attack and launch lawsuits of their own. They are going to make things up and then disseminate the lies whenever and however they can. And they are going to be as intimidating as possible.
The CO$ minions live in a state of isolation, ignorance, paranoia and total fear but Tom doesn’t. The man is a big, gigantic a$$hole.
At first I wasn’t worried about KatIE because she is so public…but these people, under the direction of maniacal psychopath DM/COB know no bounds and fear no-one (IRS ring a bell?).
Wow Really interesting.
Sec checking is not the same as auditing though. Auditing is more a ‘confession’ where they look for weak spots (things you’re uncomfortable thinking or talking about) and get you to talk about them. Sec checking is a list of interrogative questions.
Don’t forget an e-meter is essentially a crude lie detector. Is it psychological terrorism to regularly hook people up to a lie detector and interrogate them, with the goal of using the information you gain? You bet it is.
wow, before all this I knew a little about Scientology-well enough to know it was creepy, but what I don’t and may never understand is how people sign up for this? I find out more and more and think “who in their right mind would agree to this”.. but that’s just it, people get conned by it daily.. (hopefully that stops with all this information coming out).. It just boggles my mind
Probably the same way people fall for any cult: false promises of a better life; fulfillment in love or career; those kinds of things.
And don’t you for one second think that those “auditing sessions” don’t hone in and pinpoint what you want, so they can tailor the false promises to your specific desires.
I’m just going to copy something I posted in an earlier topic, if you don’t mind. But basically getting sucked in by a cult is exactly the same as getting sucked in by an abusive relationship.
only those furthest along (have spent the most money) actually know about Xenu and the alien story. That’s how it works – it all sounds quite plausible at first, ridding yourself of past trauma – it even sort of works (in the sense that repeating a painful or embarrassing memory over and over makes it lose its power – of course, we get our conscience from past negative emotions!). The crazy stories and things like sec checking is introduced very gradually and not until you’ve spent a shitload of money, all your friends are insiders and you’ve alienated your external support network. Then you find out glimmers of crazyball, but you’re invested so deeply that you’ll be actively convincing yourself that it’s all true and that the final truth (when you finally make it ‘up the bridge’ to the highest level) will be all worth it.
In fact since the Xenu story started to leak out via the internet there’s a whole load of rules dedicated to making sure rank and file scientologists don’t hear it (they were supposed to get sick and die if they heard if before they’d reached that level and were ready for it). When protesters made use of that by reciting the story to scieno’s who were harrassing them (look up ‘bullbaiting’) so they’d leave, the story changed, and members are now told that the Xenu story is fake. Lovely surprise if they ever do finally reach that level and find out it isn’t, but by then they’re in so deep that they either won’t speak up, or won’t be believed.
In a way, I don’t think highlighting the alien crazyball story really helps the anti scientology cause. It makes people say “why, they’re all nuts, I would never fall for that, they deserve that they get” and ignore that there are very real, insidious ways to draw perfectly reasonable people into something as insane as this cult. Like any abusive relationship, it’s all lovely at the beginning and the crazy doesn’t come until you’re already deep inside.
I get what you guys are saying and it makes sense, never thought of it that way and I’m not sure why because I know better. how many sessions in before they do the “auditing” or whatever, that’s not something they’d do right away is it?
@Marie – I was one of those people who was firmly on the side of ‘co$ [and cults in general] is nuts, you can see them coming a mile away’. Then a curious thing happened to me 2yrs ago. A now ex-friend invited me to attend something called The Landmark Forum. I happened to have my copy of The New Yorker with the Paul Haggis interview which i read during the lunch break. I already knew that i didn’t want what the Forum was selling me, but the article set off alarm bells because it was a very similar softly, softly coersion process that he describes for beginners. If i had been open to The Forum, i’d now be in similar sort of cult. It certainly didn’t present itself as one, and yet there were so many similarities to co$ that i am now convinced it is an off-shoot.
This reply is for LAK, omg I know about the Landmark Forum, too, and have been thinking about it in the context of all this. Did you know that it was an offshoot of the est movement? Anyway, my roommate years ago tried to get me to sign up and at first I was intrigued but quickly got wigged out. We ended up drifting apart, but mostly because her boyfriend was psychotic and criminal.
Fast forward about 20 years…I was having coffee with some friends I’d known for a few years and one of them mentioned a conference call that two of them were having later. When I asked what it was about they casually mentioned it was related to the Landmark Forum. I inadvertently gasped and they immediately went on the defensive and starting right then a wedge was driven into our little group. Interestingly they didn’t seem to want to talk about it or promote it, instead they seemed to prefer being secretive about it.
One one hand I thought, well whatever it takes for them to feel mentally healthy and in control, but on the other hand I couldn’t quite look at them quite the same way again.
@LAK – I know what you mean! I have a bunch of cousins who have gone through Landmark Forum, and they all swear by it, but from my perspective it has honestly done nothing to help them. I had an acquaintance at my old job who got into Forum as well, tried to sucker me and a friend into it. Neither I nor my friend took the bait. Those Forum people are almost as cray-cray as Co$.
Anne de Vries:
Thank you for your explanation – I’ve been wondering how people get sucked in when the whole concept seems so ridiculous to begin with.
@Marie, @Izzy, @Esmom – see comment no 49. If you aren’t fully aware, THAT’s how they get you.
@ Anne, OBellaluna and the rest of you ladies…
You all make valid points about the cult (as I feel it rightly is) that is CO$. I thought I was somewhat worldly before I found this site. Brit-born, NC raised and currently rooted in Dallas. But I honestly have never met anyone connected with this cult; the time I spent in LA in and around the business, neither my friends nor my business associates ever discussed it. “Sec checking”, “lovebombing” were Greek to me, and the only audit I ever had to fear was from the IRS. Guess I am a CO$ virgin. :0
I think that all the hardcore Katie bashers are failing to realize the power of persuasion associated with cults, as well a the pull of utter infatuation. I was in a Katie-type marriage as well, and I didn’t even have to suffer a cult to keep me tied to a marriage where I was miserable, fearful and filled with dread every single day. Come on, people…did none of us ever make bad decisions based on gooey chemistry with a man who appeared to be impressive? That type of love is a double whammy. In retrospect, I could just puke Care Bears all over the place 🙁
I think she is and will continue to pay the price for her blind infatuation. A pity, that. My sympathies are all for Katie and Suri.
Auditing and sec checking sure sounds like “psychological terrorism” to me. Especially for a child.
It seems like they want the child to reveal emotions that they are confused about and infuse them with guilt, doubt and shame. This could be natural feelings concerning sexuality, jelousy, curiosity of self or others. In doing so they take the emotional development of the child as hostage to better control them imo.
It really is sick and twisted.
As I understand auditing they actually focus on the painful stuff and rehash it over and over until it loses its emotional load.
To a degree this is not a bad process – in less extreme forms various forms of psychotherapy do this too. You talk about the bad stuff until it doesn’t hold such power over you. The scienos take it a step further though and keep going until the bad memory loses all its meaning. Hurrah, you are no longer ashamed that you kicked a kitten! The engram (bad memory/mental image) is cleared. Success!
Except that your personality and conscience is made up from lessons you’ve learned and the way you felt at the time. They guide you on how to act on new situations. By erasing those things, you’re erasing a significant and vital part of what makes up a personality, of what makes us human.
I’m sure you’ve seen the photos of Tom Cruise smiling or grinning. Ever feel that there’s nobody behind that expression, that it’s somehow empty? All long term scientologists have that fixed grin and those vacant eyes. That’s the result of many, many hours of auditing. Tom Cruise always comes across to me like his personality was completely removed and he spends all his time acting like Tom Cruise, Movie Star.
Anne, interesting. And fascinating observation/insight about Tom, you are so right. It’s sad, he’s like a robot.
I saw a recent interview with him on ET last night and he was talking about Katie and how special she was and while he was undoubtedly smooth and seemingly sort of humble, it seemed like he was just making up what he was saying about her as he went along with no real knowledge about her or love for her evident. He was most definitely acting for the interview.
Anne, interesting comment and perspective. My concern is that NONE of them are trained in any way in the practice of psychology and psychiatry (Co$ doesn’t believe in it, and why would they; it takes away from their income-producing potential). There is already plenty of evidence that this kind of treatment without proper medical supervision can lead to disastrous consequences (Google Landmark Forum; lots of interesting info comes up).
Agreed. It is absolutely psychological terrorism.
Love the fact she’s wearing high heels.
I hope she wears 6 inch pumps in Court when she hands Napoleon his legal Waterloo.
Awesome comment!! Me too 😀
Katie seems so much more put together in photos from the last few days. Good for her!
Getting divorced from a nut is very hard, if he’s your child’s father. He will have rights to see her forever. It is lucky that they are all huge celebrities; Cruise can’t really kidnap Suri due to everyone in the situation’s notoriety. Most regular people can melt into society, but none of this bunch.
On the plus side, when you divorce a nut, you are able to set up a normal home for your kid. Even though your kid has to go with your nutty ex, they have a normal home to return to. If you stay with the nut, you are implicitly endorsing the nuttiness — your home will be the nuthouse and your kid won’t ever see any different.
I can tell you that when I actually told my first husband I was leaving him, I had some kind of sense of watching myself from across the room.
I actually not only FELT but SAW a dark shadow LIFT from my shoulders and release into the universe.
I felt 20 lbs lighter and walked taller. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true.
I hear you.
I walked out on my ex last winter. He was treating me like sh*t. It felt good!
You’ve talked about this before and it sounds like your first marriage was truly awful. I’m mixing a FreeTini in your name.
p.s. I’m in a different time zone and it is ok at this hour:-)
Mich – A Free-tini! 😀 That sounds GREAT.
(My first marriage wasn’t a cake-walk, but the relationship prior to that – the abusive one – was worse.)
Should we mix Katie a FreefromTomini?
After I kicked my ex out of the house, everyone I met told me I looked like a weight rolled off of me.
When I left my ex-boyfriend within a month I had shed 10 years off of my face. Everyone commented about how young and relaxed I looked now that he was gone. I felt light, free and happy. Of course my ex did a lot to try to weasel his way back into my life (despite the restraining order) but the fact I didn’t have to put up with his b.s. day in and day out (and subsequently moved abroad less than 4 months later) really went a long way in relaxing me.
I know, Bella…I KNOW.
You are so right about the “normal home.” My ex had set up a win-lose dynamic (I’ll get the kids because you’ll be homeless, can’t wait to see you crash & burn…you get the drift).
When my then seven-year-old managed to engineer her way into living with me full-time, the first thing I did to try and make the transition as easy as possible for her was make an appointment with a child psychologist.
I told him that a not-very-noble part of me was jumping up and down and yelling “I won! I won! He did all this trying to buy her and slag me and she picked me!!!!”
I’ll never forget his words.
“She didn’t pick you,” he said. “She picked your value system.”
Hopefully Suri will be able to suss out the differences between Mom’s house and Dad’s house, and figure out who is respecting (that does not mean letting her do whatever she wants whenever she wants to – it means treating her with respect – two very different things) her feelings and boundaries and who isn’t….
I’m glad that your kid was smart enough to make the right choice at her age.
I think Suri is developmentally disabled. The affect is wrong. She might be language delayed. Something is way off.
It’s what isolation does to a child. She hasn’t been socialized in a normal way. Her developmental delay has to be social. Her mum has sheltered her (and herself) from the crazyazz COS families, and thus neither one of them has had a normal life with Cruise. Unfortunately, that five years of isolation has been all Suri has ever known. And all the designer frocks and shoes in the world can never make up for that in terms of how Suri relates to the world around her.
scientology is the cause?
The children are adults, and no smiling practice. (Sad way to grow up.)
Also, the paps are overwhelming I imagine.
And you base this on what?
I’m not sure a PhD in Gossip qualifies you to make this damning statement of a six year old.
No kidding. What an awful thing to say.
I know! That’s a mean thing to say..
I don’t think she meant that in a mean way. I saw a bunch of photos of Suri with Katie in the park. There were a lot of other children running around playing but Suri was just standing there as ifshe was at a total loss. I don’t think she knows how to play with another child.
@ Janet
I don’t think I misunderstood the original poster’s intent.
Is this different from spec that Suri is spoiled or damaged by her father/CoS? “Spoiled” condemns some flaw in her character. Some spec already projects that Suri will betray her mother and run back to CoS in a few years. “Damaged by family/CoS” is out of Suri’s control. “Struggling with some other issue” would also be beyond her control.
So many people judge this six-year-old’s character so harshly. Is delay truly that horrible a fate? Wouldn’t it be the one problem she might have, something she could work on, that ordinary people could actually relate to?
I have no idea what to think about Suri. The signs point to “bizarre, tragic childhood.” But many other celeb/CoS parents inflict bizarre, tragic childhoods on their kids. Suri doesn’t seem like a typical celeb child. Are there many others who present a portrait of public misery for so long, starting so young?
IF Suri has any personal issues, then her mother is doing the best possible thing for her, which is to get her the hell out out of there so she can seek real HELP. Katie’s worries may truly have been a general “Suri will be in CoS” or they may have been much more specific, about seeking help CoS would deny Suri.
Really. Because the child doesn’t like strange, pushy men surrounding her and snapping cameras in her face, she must be developmentally disabled? Please. What kid wouldn’t be scared, unhappy and reticent in those circumstances?
Who knows what the kid is like when not surrounded by paps.
I don’t think she is developmentally disabled. Her affect is fine. If anything, she may be socially delayed due to the whole “children are miniature adults” thing. She more than likely doesn’t have a lot of experience around children her own age apart from the occasional play date. Children acting like children is probably a bit distasteful to her at this point in time. But children are resilient and she will be fine if permitted to start behaving like the child she is.
I really believe Katie wants the best for Suri and I am fully in her corner BUT…I think she treats her like her BFF and has for a while. Now that she’s finally free from her obviously miserable marriage and isolated life I hope she starts treating Suri like the child she is and slowly builds boundaries for her. I’m sure it’s been a rough road .
Oops, I said it was the Mirror that had the pics of the cab, but it was the Daily Mail…and there are MANY more shots of this outing there:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2168497/Tom-Cruise-Katie-Holmes-divorce-2012-Suri-tenderly-strokes-mothers-cheek.html
While it has been said that scientologists treat their children like small adults, I am wondering how all this spoiling fits in. Suri seems like she is a very spoiled child with a crazy ass expensive wardrobe. After the divorce, will Katie tone it down and make Suri more age appropriate? It seems this child has a very luxurious lifestyle.
What I can tell you to be true, in the state of Cali, is that the child is “to be kept in the lifestyle to she has been accustomed.” (see: Nahla)
Now, should Katie decide to tone it down, that would be great. But she’s not legally required to do so.
(Did that help, or do I just sound like a bitch? I’m a little tired today.)
OT: I find it interesting that people outside of California refer to the state as “Cali.” As a native Californian I have never heard anyone inside the state refer to where we live as “Cali.” It’s always, “California” (or “So Cal” for those of us who live in the southern part.) … Not sure how Northern Californian’s refer to themselves. Maybe we are just so self-important we wouldn’t dream of abbreviating ourselves unless it’s to designate an area… LOL.
I’m a second generation SoCal native (kids are third), and we refer to ourselves that way. Now I’m in NoCal, and we refer to ourselves as that too. (Add the “i” or don’t – whatever.)
I will not deem to call myself what the “natives” up here call themselves. (Not a very flattering term, ’round these parts.)
I sometimes refer to it as Cali. Never when I was living there and when people ask where I am from its always SoCal.
Going back to Cali, Cali, Cali, going back to Cali, I don’t think so.
Well, if she’s an adult, she can decide for herself what she wants, right? Who are you to force her to go to bed when she doesn’t want to?
I imagine Katie is gradually going to introduce some more boundaries, but I think now, with all the upheaval and everything so fresh and raw, isn’t really the right time to suddenly start.
To Fuefina: My kids (in their 20’s) are fourth gen So Cal. They have been saying “Cali” for years. Now even a few of my own friends are using that term. Guess it’s the way of things now. 🙂
I have been following this since Friday when the story broke and I don’t understans this CO$ slagging off thing from Katie’s point of view as a strategy. Let me explain…
CO$ is a religious organization/group in the eyes of the law just like the Catholic church. Legally there is no difference and as such it really will not factor into the custody decision. And what if it would? Connor and Isabella are known to be well balanced young adults so it is more likely that Suri wold be alright as well. That is the way the judge will see it because let’s be honest any other testaments from people who quit would be classified as hearsay. Until the church is officially recognised as a legitimate religious organisation ans not a cult Katie can put these CO$ stories out in the media and get sympathy from the masses but in the courtroom it’ll amount to nothing. The judge cannot set a presedence with her and CO$ since then anyone can use that with other religious organisations. EG. I am an atheist but would marry a catholic and go through half a$$ed with baptism and wedding ceremony because I respect my husband wishes. But when it comes to my kid becoming an altar boy I’d make that as an excuse to quit and shelter my kid from possible abuse. Anyway you get my point, yes? This could be spinned to make Katie look as if she is trying to challenge the constitution and the very fabric of religious freedom which the US is built on. And if she keeps Suri away from Tom well she can be painted as a bad mother, not as a saviour… just saying. So whatever she has may be all but posturing and TOm may not have to do much.
I completely agree.
Also, because Suri is so young and won’t be in a home where two parents are involved a judge will not limit a “good” father from being equally involved in raising his child.
Maybe but there’s an awful lot of examples lately of very abusive and illegal behaviour coming out about CO$ (forcing people to lick bathroom floors? Making someone stand in a trash bin to humilate them while others throw cold water over them and hurl insults and homophobic slurs at them; making people sleep on a hard floor under their desk and only giving them the bare minimum of floor (watery slop 3x a day); and so on). Lots of ex-members waiting to testify under oath about beatings and abuse and children being forced to work from very early ages, taken away from the parents and kept away from them if they don’t go along with everything).
I think if a lot of this stuff starting coming out in a court of law and people starting hearing it in the headlines everyday instead of small articles here and there that people miss or brush off, it could be very bad news for them. Not only could they lose their status as a tax-free religious institution, but they could be arrested for a lot of the abuse and civil rights violations (and who knows what else…I heard some people go missing to never be heard from again including the head guy’s wife!).
I suspect that any court hearing how young children are usually treated and the “auditing” questions they are forced to answer (so the cult can get info. on them to use against them imo) will have grave reservations about them being good for the child. Religious freedom is one thing, but it isn’t supposed to injure or abuse anyone and this cult does. More and more evidence of that is coming out no matter how much Tom Cruise and other high profile types sing its praises!
I really hope this all does blow up in court, including how they stalk and threaten people. Reading about their tactics and how they abuse members makes me ill. How they have been able to get away with it for so long is mind boggling. Katie Holmes is too high profile to threaten the way they do “regular” people and they clearly don’t have enough dirt on her to make her go away the way they did Nicole.
TC is used to having everything his own way and it’ll be very interesting to see how this plays out. Katie has a strong advocate in her corner (her Dad) who I’m sure has been advising her and will continue to fight on her behalf. I’ve heard they have some ex-members who were very high up (one guy audited TC) who are willing to not only tell them dirt on CO$ and TC but willing to testify in court about it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if TC ends up giving Katie custody to avoid stuff coming out and ruining his beloved church.
I understand what you’re saying Suzy but unless there is a legitimate government finding into these issues presented at the custody hearing it’ll be no more than malicious hearsay against a religious institution in the eyes of the law and would not stand up against testimonies of Connor and Isabella. It’s just the way it is I’m afraid.
the courts here regularly sentence people to AA based “treatment” so i doubt they’ll mess with COS –
I wish that what you’re saying would hold water within the family court system, but Cali has gone on some sort of vertical tilt to keep everything “neutral and fair” (for lack of a better term).
The whole “no-fault” divorce thing (like our car insurance) is simply due to volume (lots of divorces; lots of car accidents), budget concerns (my non-contested divorce took 3 YEARS!), and a general “I have zero f*cks to give” attitude on the part of most parties involved.
(Don’t get me wrong; there are PLENTY of FCS employees, paralegals, attorneys, et al that actually CARE for the kids involved. But for many parties involved, it boils down to money. And then there’s all those pesky little sub-sections of laws and all the other BS that “govern” decisions. It’s a mess.)
I’ve said this already but it is really important and bares repeating. The U.S. government needs to tread carefully in how they handle Co$. If they bring the hammer down, David Miscavige can force the church to retreat further and take drastic actions. This is not only a cult but this is a cult that has more members than Al Qaeda and are more widespread. The potential for Co$ to turn into a national security threat is very real. There are an estimated 100,000 active members of $cientology and the organization has millions if not billions behind it. They have their own trained military (Sea Org) for Chrissakes!!
Also, lets not forget what happened when the government pushed The People’s Temple or the Branch Davidians. Who got blamed for those disasters? The United States government. The last thing the government needs is another Jonestown or Waco on its hands. Also, Co$ could potentially turn the Sea Org base and the entire surrounding community into a war zone. There could be civilian casualties. So I think the government is doing all it can to gather their information and find a way to dismantle the cult as gently and peacefully as possible. It’s better to let them go for now than to force their hand. No one wants to be holding the bag if and when Co$ does something drastic.
@leeloo “There are an estimated 100,000 active members of $cientology”
No there aren’t. There are at the very most most 40,000 Scientologists worldwide. In the U.S., there are more Rastafarians, Sikhs, or Eckankars (whatever that is) than Scientologists.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/07/scientologists_1.php
Hmmm…I swear I just read an article from Australia that said worldwide membership was estimated at 100,000. I hope 40,000 is correct as the smaller the number is the better. My point, however, was that the United States government has their hands tied due to the past experiences of Jonestown and Waco. They have to trade carefully when dealing with an even larger amount of people.
Edit: Okay my bad @Emily. You are correct. My brain gets a bit mushy when it comes to reading numbers and statistics. I saw that they have 10,000 outlets and “orgs” worldwide and added an extra zero in my head. Numbers get jumbled in my head. Whoops. 🙁
Most media blindly reports the numbers Scientology gives them. The Village Voice and St. Pete Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) are the only mainstream media I’ve seen who do their homework regarding Scientology.
Well I think it’s hard to lock down an exact number because Co$ is trying so hard to skew that number too.
Testimony from any former CoS member that has direct knowledge of their practices is not considered hearsay.
Even if those testimonies are not discredited (which if it ever comes up and if I were Tom’s lawyer I would discredit) in light of Tom’s other two children’s life, those represent a much more acurate and reasonaple expectation of what Suri’s life would be under joint/shared custody so again I don’t see this as an issue. Again not much to do with the church itself. Not to mention that being a follower or member of a church can mean very different life experiences within the said church. Eg. a Nigerian catholic and a Nothern Irish catholic life would show wast differences. Re Sea Org or Gold whatever can be equated by a good lawyer to evangelist summer camp so that is a dead end in my eyes.So this is difficult. Tom’s carreer will not take a hit. His target audience with his aaction movies don’t give a crrr about this. They see this as a would still bang her level.
Yassis. Stig. The needle isn’t floating. Give it up.
Tom’s career has already taken a hit as I’ve seen fans in droves stop paying for his movies and supporting his career because of his deep involvement with this crazy ass cult. That happened years ago, he’s digging his own grave. Rock of Ages tanked.
Nope. Everything is relevant in custody hearings. That includes religion. Just ask women who have escaped communities with misogynistic religious practices, who have lost their children because judges often favor keeping kids in the religion they were born in even when the way the community practices the religion is demonstrably harmful to female children.
That’s what I’m afraid of: that the judge will treat the Co$ like a legitimate religion. But to do that, they’ll have to learn about the Co$. And I don’t see any way for any family court judge to be okay with allowing any child to be raised in that environment.
Also, Tom Cruise’s best friend, the man who went with him on his honeymoon, is highly relevant to this custody hearing. “I don’t want my daughter anywhere near David Miscavige” is a totally legitimate concern Katie can bring up. She’s got all the cards, and if the Co$ and Tom Cruise oppose her, they will lose.
But can the judge treat CO$ as anything but a legitimate religious organization? I am not familiar with the law over the pond but I imagine that you do have to register such an institute, non? And I don’t know this Misgave person but has he been charged and convicted with anything?
I think I’ll butt out, this is doing my head in.
Child custody cases in NY:
When it comes to the child’s best interests “religion will play a role when a child has been raised in one religion and the parents are of different religions. The court will favor the parent who is better able to continue with the child’s religious upbringing. Needless to say, trying to change a child’s religion or interfering with a child’s religious instructions will not be looked upon favorably by the court.”
Other issues that are pivotal in NY custody cases: The ability of the parent to provide a safe home environment…and
any history of mental illness, substance abuse, child abuse or neglect in either or both parents. It is arguable that TC is mentally ill because he is under the influence of Co$, and that interrogating Suri may be abusive – and the door now is open for evidence of the Co$ crazy.
The court may restrict a parent’s rights if that parent’s religious practices might harm the child in the future. This is where Katie may put on evidence of Co$ crazy and abusive practices.
That’s all I got. It’s going to be the fight of the century – but TC has the most to lose if he can’t rein it in.
Questions:
1) How much has Suri been exposed to Scientology? Doesn’t most training sin Scientology start at 6? She may have had more exposure to Catholicism at her preschool.
2)If Katie is smart, she won’t even bring up religion. All she has to do is bring up Tom’s “controlling” nature and that she fears him. I know for a fact NY does not mess around with that shite (see Joel Steinburg). NY state has cracked down HARD on upper class domestic abuse.
Also, I think chances are pretty high that Katie can keep this case in NYC. She was a resident of NY before she met Tom, she has lived and maintained residences in NYC since at least 2009-if not before. I don’t think this was a random shopping around moment. I think Katie will be able to easily prove she is a NY resident and I think Tom knows it. Katie has proven she will play dirty and she has some NASTY lawyers who will not play nice. I think Tom knows that he can’t win. I think he knows he has to give Katie what she wants in regards to Suri. She tied his hands and Co$ hands. No one can touch her without looking horrid.
It’s not that late. There’s a window in the second picture, where you can see there’s still light outside. Also, in the last picture if it was dark out you wouldn’t be able to see into the shop through the doors. It would either be too dark or the camera flash would have rebounded. This is more like between 8 and 9 pm, but not later, and it’s summertime. Even though it’s dark when they’re leaving, it doesn’t seem to be the middle of the night. I live in NY and every very hot night I see kids jammed into ice cream stores at this hour.
And so what if it’s not that time, but later? What’s the big deal with that on summer vacation if they want to go get ice-cream late at night?
When I was a kid, a bed schedule flew out the window once summer hit. I remember staying up until 1 and 2 in the morning, eating ice cream and watching “The Late Show” (old movies) and eating bowls of ice cream while my parents were fast asleep. Once my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light ready to emerge from bed the next morning at 8am to start it all over again. I just don’t see the big deal that she’s having ice cream at (gasp) 9pm.
Summer vacation–and also a holiday! Katie was wearing red and white. Maybe they were doing a little pre-4th celebrating.
Exactly. I think it’s cute that they had a little summer night field trip together!
Let’s not forget that Tom is a ‘trained’ auditor who made it clear in the 2008 rant he wouldn’t hesitate to ‘put ethics’ on someone (i.e. rat them out for anything they said that he found off).
Early auditing apparently includes hours and hours of talking to inanimate objects like ashtrays, bottles and doorknobs and instructing those objects to do things like ‘go sit in that chair’. When the object doesn’t respond, the auditee might eventually be told to move it to the chair and then to say ‘thank you’ to the object for a job well done. As far as I can tell, it is all about breaking down the psyche and sense of rational self.
Was Tom starting to audit Suri himself? Trusted parent breaking down the rational development of a young mind, prompting and pressuring the child to tattle on Mommy…scary.
I bet he was asking Suri stuff about Mommy and what she was doing or saying. I can totally see that.
It’s not normal the way Connor and Isabella were kept away from Nicole and don’t even call her Mom or see her regularly. Maybe in cases where the parent is abusive, but I don’t think that was the case with Nicole. I think she was just considered a “suppressive person” by the cult and therefore TC felt it was perfectly fine to alienate her from her children.
Judging Katie for what time she takes Suri for ice-cream and what time she’s having her wind down? Seriously? Who cares if it’s even really late on summer vacation? Mothers judging mothers is my pet-peeve over such inane stuff.
Katie is always carrying her because she has fifty paps piled on them with flashing lights. I can’t imagine how celebs deal with it with children. There needs to be laws.
+1! Exactly right.
+2. Now that it’s summer, bedtime is a little later. It’s also a question of their internal clock imo. Until the sun goes down, good luck getting them to go to bed!
Katie looks so much happier in these pictures than she has for a very long time. Less haggard and worried…in these she looks like she is at peace and beaming, especially in the second last picture.
It must be a huge relief to finally be free of TC and that cult and not have to pretend anymore.
Plus in regards to the custody battle…Katie was seen constantly with Suri and mostly it was them alone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen pictures of Tom out with Suri alone. He is with Suri and Katie but never with Suri all by himself the way you see Ben Affleck out with his kids. I think that will play in Katie’s favour.
He recently brought her to something, can’t remember what, sans Katie. It was cute. Looking at old photos, it’s clear he’s a doting dad, no matter how much we (myself included) tend to demonize or at least mock him.
I don’t know about NY, but where I live, it isn’t “full dark” until almost 10 p.m. and it’s “full dawn” by 5:15 a.m.
I have a schedule for my Toddles, but he’s also at the mercy of his tiny little biorhythms. He’s only 3, after all, and he doesn’t have a school schedule to keep yet.
Are there nights when I wish he would go to sleep earlier? YES. Are there nights when I say “Enough is enough, you’re going to bed”? ABSOLUTELY.
And there are times when I accept that he’s on his own little programme, and as long as he’s not being a toddler-sized bag of dicks, it’s okay.
I don’t want my kids to think “Here lies bellaluna…blah, blah, blah” when I die. I want them to remember ice cream for dinner (as a treat) when it was Satan’s-ball-sack-hot; grilled cheeses for breakfast and pancakes for dinner; that I was the mom that let them and their friends finger-paint and glue & glitter and make bead jewelry because the other moms were worried about the mess; that we stomped in puddles together.
Hahaha, toddler- sized bag of dicks has got to be the funniest thing I’ve read in a while, thanks for that
… +1 … That was freaking hysterical.
Sunset in NYC is around 8:30 pm.
For some reason when I was Suri’s age I had to go to bed around 8-8:30 in summer. I guess it was to keep a consistent schedule. I’ll have to ask my older sisters what their bedtime was when they were young (if they were remember).
I know that their children had a much later bedtime during school holidays and seemed not to have suffered, and if I’d had children they’d not have had to go to bed at 8 during the summer.
My bedtime was a set-in-stone 7:30 during school, at least until I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade (Mama didn’t mess around). (All that changed when I got older though.)
During the summer/vacations, Mama had a regulation whistle. No matter where I was, if I heard that, I had 5 minutes or less to get my arse home.
We followed the whole “out at dawn; in when the streetlights came on” policy.
It sounds like those sec checking questions are designed to make people snitch on themselves & admit to things that could incriminate themselves. So I can see how it could be called ‘psychological terrorism’ since it’s against our nature not to use self-protection to keep us from harm from ourselves and others. It sounds like its basic purpose is to force people to give answers that CO$ could use to blackmail them at any point in their lives.
I don’t know what “late nite” means to the tabloids, but in one photo there’s another kid at the ice cream shop, so I’m thinking it’s not really all that late.
I keep thinking about how when tommygirl dropped his divorce bombshell on Nicole he probably kept the kids from her until the courts demanded or gave her legal right to see them. Now this a** knows what it feels like. Jerk off.
Go Katie!
I remember differently. I remember Nicole talking about in those initial dark days of the split that her kids were her absolute rock and supportive and kept her sane, along with her sister and best friend, Naomi Watts.
Usually in South America, at least in Argentina, kids go to bed around 10/11 pm. Having an ice cream around 8 pm it’s not a big deal. Just saying
OK, I just finished reading Marc Headley’s book Blown For Good, and if I wasn’t a Co$ hater before, I sure am now. Tom Cruise and his family are the shining pinnacles of the organization. David Miscavige basically pees himself every time Tom Cruise’s name is mentioned so neither Tom, nor his family, nor any of the “star” scientologists are treated the way the rank and file are. However, to be part of an organization that systematically controls, terrorizes, spies on and dictates to whatever their members can or can’t do is a CULT. These people are paid a pittance or nothing for long, grueling hours of work. They are beaten, often by Miscavige. They are kept apart from their spouses and families, sent off to what amounts to prison camp for the slightest transgression, humiliated and made to work in dangerous and unsanitary conditions. This is what they figure happened to Miscavige’s wife Shelley, who has been “disappeared” for years. She’s probably off scrubbing Co$ toilets with a toothbrush in some godforsaken location. When Headley finally managed to break out on his motorbike (he was run off the road by 2 Co$ vehicles and fortunately someone in a passing car called the police to escort him to town) he didn’t know how to use a bank card or credit card. He was malnourished and sleep deprived. He had $250 to his name. He and his wife had been married for 13 years but barely spent any time together due to conflicting work schedules (deliberate) and had been forbidden to have children. I think Katie started finding out about these horrific things bit by bit and realized that it was time to get herself and Suri out of it. In all fairness, she probably didn’t know anything but the superficial stuff about Co$ that Tom and that devil Miscavige were telling her at the beginning. But the truth is coming out, and anyone associated with scientology, no matter if it’s Tom Cruise or some other big star, will all be tainted with the same brush.
I just read an article in the UKDaily Mail about Miscaviges wife being missing and some video of a Co$ team of nutters harrasing a guy who left the “church”.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2168586/Mystery-Scientology-leaders-missing-wife-David-Miscaviges-ex-seen-2007.html
Well, after 7 years missing, he can have legally have her declared dead.
Doesn’t that give you chills?
@oxa…..also in that article are pics of CO$ harassing ex-CO$ member, Rathburn. One of the commenters pointed out that two of the CO$ folks in those pics look like those tailing (in the white SUV) Katie yesterday. Scary!
Wow, how horrible. I can just imagine Katie reading Headley’s book in secret, getting more scared and horrified by the moment.
I know! I haven’t read the book yet but am familiar with his life and his escape. He is the one who Tom Cruise did his auditing training (as in training to become an auditor) with, right?
Every time I see someone who might be a Scien-troll-ogist I now want to hug them and offer a safe hand to freedom. Their lives sound like a living hell of bull$hit, exhaustion and fear. And so many were so young when they signed up for a billion years of servitude.
As I said before, however, Tom Cruise is no heavily guarded, penniless, sometimes beaten slave living under constant threat of being disconnected from everyone he loves. He is an a$$hole.
This.
Jason Beghe said that Lisa Marie Presley and Kirstie Alley were “two hearts with one beat.” I love that line, and it sounds very sweet for those two people. (Escape with your friend, Kirstie!) I think Tom Cruise and David Miscavige are also two hearts with one beat. And that doesn’t say anything sweet about either of them.
I have heard rumblings/read that Tom’s house/yard staff are actually unpaid or lowly-paid CO$ members.
I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me. And that’s saying a lot.
so I guess it is ok to keep a child away from his father?!
yea, it is.
When the father is a member of a cult, yeah! I don’t care of Katie knew or not about CO$ in advance. I’m proud of her for standing up for the wellbeing of her child.
Depends on the father. In my case, YES. It was ABSOLUTELY okay to keep my son from his father.
Let’s take circumstance and paternal behaviour (or lack thereof) into consideration, shall we?
Don’t even start with that crap. When he’s a member of an extremely dangerous cult like this one and puts THAT above his family, you bet your ass it is. Protect the child, that is your responsibility as a mother. Not worrying about whether your ex will be butthurt about it.
I’m guessing Katie has family visiting for support too. One of those little boys is wearing a Detroit shirt-and her family is from Toledo-so it might be one of her nephews. I read somewhere that she is also enrolling Suri in a Catholic school in NYC (probably to try and counteract any COS training she’ll get from Tom Cruise and his crazy family/friends.) I think once September comes Suri will be on a “regular” schedule with a more low key life. Fingers crossed for this little girl. No matter how much Katie wants to shield her from COS I just don’t see how that’s possible.
Katie has had Suri in a Catholic pre-school before a while back.
Whoa. How much does Suri look like Tommy Davis (CO$ spokes/henchman) in those photos?
I know, it’s uncanny isn’t it. He hasn’t been heard of for some time BTW, I wonder if Miscavige has sent him off to the Co$ prison camp for some transgression??
I had that same thought – the latest statements have come from lawyers NOT via Tommy Davis. And I never really gave much credence to the Tommy Davis is Suri’s dad thing before, but holy cats.
Especially those Daily Mail pics from the link up thread. She looks JUST like him!
Watch the video at about 4:00. He looks just like her. He gets pissy with Bashir and walks out:
http://www.rickey.org/why-is-asking-a-question-about-the-galactic-emperor-xenu-offensive/
you need to google Tom pre-cosmetic enhancements for fair comparisons.
Mind you, you’d have to go back to 1981-1982, certainly pre-TOP GUN/
I think Suri mostly looks like Katie. However if you google Tom’s mother, she got slanting eyes, and not because of her age.
Agreed.
This is what really confuses me. Tommy D and Suri look soooo alike, and I have no problem believing that some crazy sci s#@$ went down to create an heir for the cult. But there’s also the idea that Katie was already pregnant when she and Tom hooked up (rumors Suri was born months earlier than we know, etc.). Both these things can’t be true. So what really happened?
Suri looks just like Tommy Davis. It’s erie, but then, everything about this story from the beginning has been erie.
Every time Lainey of Lainey Gossip refers to Katie Holmes as a “baller” for the way she’s handling the divorce I lose a brain cell. At this point I’m pretty sure my intellectual quotient is that of a rock. I get that this whole split is a celeb gossip blog cash cow, but we got it the first time Lainey called her a “baller”! And the second! And the tenth! And the fiftieth!
NYC_girl – I NEVER had a bike with a banana seat! I was a tom-boy (complete with both “pixie” – I cried – and “Dorothy Hamill” – makes me cry now) so I had a pink Huffy dirt bike! 😀 I was the ONLY girl with a dirt bike. (I don’t know what they’d call them now – mountain bikes, maybe? Cushioned seat; all terrain tires; etc…)
Good times. 😀 All these damn posts are making me wax nostalgic today! I gotta call my mom.
Yes, I had the “D.H.” haircut too! No bike, but I remember using my cousins’ Big Wheel.
Definitely call your mom. Mom’s the Word!!
Just got off the phone with her! 🙂 Yeah, I was a little bad-ass with that bike. I jumped the hills, foraged new trails (really not recommended on a Marine Corps base, btw), rode through creeks and rivers, rode to the pool every day, and crashed into all manner of things. I also climbed trees and played touch football with the neighbourhood boys.
thank god someone posted a link to Tony Ortega’s coverage of this in a previous post, without it i’d be lost with all that sciento jargon and would probably under-estimate how damaging this cult can be.
And therein lies the rub. That’s the exact problem with this matter. People only get the whole story (note I said “story” and not “truth”) when they “reach a certain level” in the CO$. (I don’t know if it’s a specific amount of monetary donation and/or an “acceptable” level of thetans.)
By that time, they’re too far gone.
What I find freaky is that even when people leave COS, their main “issue” seems to be that abusive freak, Miscavige-not the basic (insane) tenets of the “religion”.
Tom was Catholic before he became COS and said it was perfectly all right to study and be a member of another faith and fit in with their organization.. on tape.. in print, ..evidence.. blah hahahaha
And he was absolutely lying his ass off when he said that. He had Katie repeating it too, for a minute, until she wised up and saw she was being lied to and coerced for the smallest things.
Why doesn’t she do something with that kids hair? It’s such a mess and always hanging in her face.
I dont think Katie lives in fear. She and TC have been living seperate lives for a long time now. This divorce is simply a formality. As for Cos being a cult…..not much different than any other religion. They’re all cults imo.
Not nearly the same, apples and oranges. A RELIGION and a CULT are not the same, this argument is so flawed. When someone leaves a legitimate religion like Catholicism or Judaism, etc. they are not a) disconnected from their family never to see them again, b) stalked and harassed to living a lifetime of fear, c) people don’t go mysteriously missing like David Miscavige’s wife Shelly who’s been missing since 2006 and d) their personal confessions told in confidence to the church are not used against them as forms of blackmail should they dare to leave the organization. None of this occurs when you leave any other faith. These practices are only part of what sets apart Scientology as an ACTUAL cult. They use fear as a tactic to keep members trapped inside so they never leave. As someone who actually stuided comparitive religions and cult history in college, there is a HUGE difference between the two. They are NOT one in the same.
^THIS
Plus there is some truth to be found in any religion, even if it’s nestled in other stuff that’s not necessarily true. Scientology is nothing but hateful lies.
Atheist here, btw. No atheist I have ever known thinks all religions are the same. I’ve been hanging out at website that have a lot of atheist commenters for over a decade. Yet the only time I ever see anyone claim to be an atheist and “therefore” think all religions are the same or that all religions are cults is when they’re defending Scientology. Funny, that.
Jamie I am well aware there is a difference between a religion and a cult. There’s been so much evil in this world all because of extreme religious beliefs. Wars, rape and oppression of women, murder. I could go on but I’m sure you get my drift. Scientology doesnt seem to be any better or worse. People leave Scientology….Lisa Marie Presley left among others. People’s imaginations are on overdrive with this breakup.
Hey $cilon! There’s BACON over at TMZ for you!
Did you seriously just criticize a mother for not styling her 6-year old’s hair?
Well, now I’ve seen everything.
blonde has posted-without-thinking before this thread, so I can’t say I’m surprised by her comment.
Emily,
In answer to your snark I am simply pointing out the fact, and I’m not the first, that the child’s hair is in her face and it appears to be bothering her. Why not pull it back in a ponytail or a braid or a hairband?? I’m not critisizing KH mothering skills.
I feel for the position Katie is in..Suri loves her dad, and no doubt misses him, but Katie has to do what’s best and keep her away from Scicult…Its got to be very hard for both of them right now.
I wish them the best.
I’m thinking that Suri’s separation from Tom is normal and she’s probably not feeling it much at all. She’s young and resilient … and since divorce is such a normal thing these days, she’s probably thinking, “meh.”
I had to divorce my first husband, and had circumstances where I needed to ask for full custody also. I won custody, and that very day after court, I picked up the children and took them to McDonalds, bought burgers & ice cream and let them play. My best friend was with me, and we didn’t discuss the court or divorce, etc, not once. It was over, and no need to dwell or selfishly celebrate. However, I do know that look on her face in these pics, very well first hand. Very, peaceful, in love with your child. The quiet joy of being able to get ice cream just because. My situation was more common, the affects of drugs and alcohol on a person, and the terror and unstablility that brings. Hers is just as bad. Apples & Oranges. (not to bash TC personally, I am sure he would be fine without the cult strongholds). But the peace of freedom after restraints of fear…undescribable. I felt like crying watching the children eat ice cream, we stayed over an hour..unheard of before. I am sure she is starting to feel the same thing. At least I hope so.
I usually cannot stand Lainey but she brought up an excellent point when she asked how f***ed is this situation if Katie and Suri have to run to the tabloids and not away from them?
Personally, I think Katie’s PR team needs to cool it a little and allow the public to digest all of this information. The last thing they need or want to happen is that everyone gets tired or suspicious of what’s going on. By that I mean stop with the leaks of information, especially since it’s gotten to the point of regurgitation of what we already know. Allow the paps to keep taking photos of a smiling and relaxed Katie doting on Suri and just wait for Tom to drop his petition and see how badly he’s going to ruin his career by fighting this. Katie has public opinion on her side but the last thing she needs or wants to do is lose it. Let people breathe. There are plenty of people like myself who are using this time to scrutinize Scientology and find out more damaging information about the cult.
I don’t think it’s Katie’s PR team any more, if it ever was. This thing has taken on a life of its own. Rupert Murdoch wants to take Scientology down. Even Tony Ortega’s updates have been all about this divorce for the past couple days, and he is definitely not going on leaks from any celebrity’s camp. Also, lots of people are absolutely fascinated by the entire situation, ravenous to learn more about the cult of Co$. That’s where the pagehits are, so that’s what media’s gonna talk about — and people in media are as likely to become fascinated by stuff as anyone else.
True. I think this is giving the media the perfect excuse to run their various exposés on Scientology. There’s been a lot of info building for some time now and this is the perfect opportunity to expose it all.
Atually I would call auditing a child ‘psychological terrorism’. Interogating a young mind whilst they are wired up to some kind of recording device. Asking then questions like have they ever got dirty on purpose, making a child feel scared and ashamed. That would scar any child for life.
You guys are gonna laugh at the timing of this. 2 days ago, on Monday, I was walking my dog back to my apartment and noticed flyers shoved between the gate. This happens a lot (pizza joint, local Chinese place, carpet cleaning, etc.) So, this flyer says:
HOW TO MAKE A LIVING IN COMEDY
With Comedian Evan Wecksell
It gives all these bullet points about what the seminar will teach you. Then at the bottom it says what the flyer is REALLY trying to sell you:
http://i47.tinypic.com/24mu6b5.jpg
I took one of the flyers and wrote a goofy note on the back of it and left it on my neighbor’s doorstep. She and I have been texting back and forth about how absolutely ENTHRALLED we are with the TomKat/Scientology stuff. LOL
I threw the rest away. My neighbors don’t need to see this crap!
O M G!!!!!!
Actually that’s refreshingly straightforward! It says ‘scientology’ right there on the leaflet. They have plenty of shell organisations that don’t seem to be connected at all right up ’till the point they shove a Dianetics book into your hands.
You know, that might actually work. Imagine how much material you could mine from that crazy Co$ crap! 🙂
This is so scary and will probably haunt her the rest of her life! So scary!!
I wonder when Suri will emerge having had an adorable little bob. For some reason, I feel like that would be in some way a step that Katie (and Suri) will take to assert themselves. I often wonder if that long hair was one of Tom’s rules.
Katie’s outfit is so much better! Those shoes are to die for.
Ballsy Holmes just filed and emergency motion to make the divorce public. Sounds to me like she is scared beyond belief. FREE KATY!
Hmmm…so what’s the lesson to take home? If you are a celebrity and if you want a divorce from your partner, you better get a jump start in the media before your partner does. Katie has been smart in firing Tom’s PR team and hiring back her old PR team. It has taken her PR all of four days to paint Tom as a monster and gain enormous public sympathy. CO$ not having a good image has only increased the public backing for Katie. My guess is that Katie didn’t want to do this in private because Tom would have obviously had the upper hand. She has tied his hands by going public.
Being a celebrity is a lot about understanding how to work the media. The Brange is another great example (NOTE: I am not dissing The Brange. It’s an observation). Jolie and Pitt got a head start in the media despite all the accusations hurled at them, and they reinvented themselves as world travelers and philanthropists within a year of their affair. JA, on the other hand, waited for more than six months and when she did the Vanity Fair interview, she was branded as a complainer. She’s still stuck with that image.
I’m liking Katie. Her PR should however tone down the Tom-is-a-monster overdrive. I think a part of it is because I’m also feeling sorry for Tom. Watched Jerry Maguire last night, and he did have me at hello then 🙁
As they used to say, who ever got to Oprah’s sofa first, won!!!
Hollywood, or anyone famous whose career is dependant on public goodwill has to get to Oprah’s sofa immediately for any major life event.
Katie did, plus she’s tied co$ hands in the process.
@LAK – I usually pick a side when it comes to celebrity gossip. This time, however, I’m not able to go anti-Cruise all the way. I don’t know, it’s just a feeling. I’m also uncomfortable about how quickly this has turned into an anti-Cruise campaign. There’s more to this than just Cruise’s crazy and CO$, imo.
Mira: unless there is a clear cut situation eg person 100% [insert negative], there are always shades of grey.
The point about Oprah’s sofa is that it is never about truth but public relations. In this situation, even if it turns out that Tom was a sweetheart and Katie was the monster, SHE got to the sofa FIRST and therefore any evidence or stance that Tom takes will always be greeted with a degree of skepticism. By contrast, whatever Katie says or does, she will be given the benefit of the doubt.
As for her tactics, of course she used his greatest weakness, wouldn’t you?. Tom Cruise has always been an over bearing controlling calculating person. She could have run with all of that and still have some public sympathy, but that would have faded in time. The fact that she went for co$ means the sympathy will always be in her favour no matter what we find out latter on. It may even get her a pass for any future bad behaviour because she’s a S.U.R.V.I.V.O.R!!
Did anyone else notice a glut of pro-Tom stuff that came out yesterday? I’ve seen a lot of his face everywhere.
So it begins…..
We’re rooting for you, Katie.
Yes, and I find it unsettling: suddenly the original explanation from Tom’s camp that Tom had planned to spend his bday on set in Iceland or wherever he is, have morphed into “He had planned to spend his bday in NYC with Katie and Suri” and ” He had planned to spend his bday in LA with Katie and Suri.” Added to that is the inevitable infusion of heart- wrenching adjectives to wring our hearts with pity for poor, helpless Tom’s current state: “devastated,” “heartbroken,” “sad,” “blindsided,” “broken,” etc. his camp is working overtime to turn Katie into the powerful and unfeeling villainess and portray him as the innocent and hapless victim of her wickedness, cruelty, and shameless lack of compassion. It’s a bit scary to see how the story is morphing right before our eyes. Money talks.
You forgot to list the oft-used “Katie’s treachery”!
These people usually have horrific writing skills and archaic verbiage they lernD in $cilon SKooL.
OoooH!
i love, love, LOVE the matching Mommy/Daughter Marimekko dress & espadrilles! so summer cute & chic. Red & White looks so cool and fresh together. AW! 😀
Coo-ool! I would have never noticed that! What a perfect small touch. I noticed she brushed her hair and put on a little makeup also. Purposely papped or not, she sure does look great.
Excellent link … wicked !!
http://www.dlisted.com/
MK IS RIDONKULOUS! LMMMAO!!!! 😀
She doesn’t seem afraid of anything and I applaud her bravery on going up against something like this. Wow. I only hope that Scientology gets the shite beat out of it for the idiotic, greedy sham that it is, a cult in every sense of the word. Every sense. I hope TC ends up looking like a simple-minded moron in all of this. Silly little man. He looks like a weasel.
Oooooh!Emergency public divorce trial! Katie’s getting tough!!
http://www.christianpost.com/news/katie-holmes-files-for-emergency-public-divorce-trial-77676/
YO! Jaded thanx for the link!
holy-crap! chick is comin’ out guns-a-BLAZIN! :-O
i love it.
‘I AM WOM-AN HEAR ME ROAR’ goddamit!
i hate to admit this but, this is gonna MAKE my summer. 🙂
I’m a family law attorney (in Cali)and a lot of the headlines have been misleading. I read the link you posted. Despite the headline the reality is that Katie filed a motion for temporary custody and support. The RESULT of filing such a motion is that their divorce will be played out in open court. To me the motion itself is more interesting. Katie is forcing the custody issue to be addressed ASAP instead of down the road a bit.
Also, in Katie’s initial filing she did not ask for sole custody. She asked for sole LEGAL custody. Legal custody addresses religious, education and medical decisions. Obviously, this cover the COS. Katie asked for primary PHYSICAL custody. In other words Tom would get visitation. In Cali this would typically mean the child spends every other weekend with the non-custodial parent and some form of visitation during the week.
@HannahF – Does this require Cruise to be present in NY? How will this affect his filing in CA?
This is going downhill and fast. Though the source of this story is the worst blog in existence, Hollywoodlife or as the other blog says “grainofsalt.org”.
Now on People, Tom has started his PR campaign, but it is coming across as more of a pity party talking about his somber, sad birthday with his two older children and family after being “blindsided” by this tragedy. Again, if this dude did not see how unhappy his spouse was, he was not paying attenion or ignored what was going on. But this is just starting and is nastier than many others.
His birthday story is ambiguous. They said he was planning on flying in to NYC and spend it with Katie and Suri, but they had previously said they would celeberate it with him in Iceland then his PR teams says he had to fly to LA to drop the kids off and that was his plan all along and he will spend it with his cult children and family. So were his older children not going to celeberate his 50th with him but now that Katie and suri are out they are his second choice? a 50th brithday is a big deal why wouldn’t he want to spend it with all his kids?
@TG, yeah, this birthday thing is very fluid it seems. First Iceland, then NYC with his “real” family, then he had to settle for being with his other children. They need to be consistent with their stories. If I were his other children, I would feel slighted, but since Tom’s sister is the one that raised them in the COS beliefs, it should not come as a a surprise. Katie has been very consistent in her story and today being seen with her parents.
People also apparently debunked the other story about the emergency filing. Hollywoodlife is never right, so everything they say should always be in doubt. People seems to be the go to publication for both sides, so the next cover will probably be Tom and his side of the story.
What if the best thing happened and Tom just decided to walk away or even take a sabbatical from CO$. Even if he and Katy didn’t get back together. Strange and shocking things happen sometimes.
Oh wow, nevermind…I just read those links. I thought her the first post about her ’emergency filing’ was a funny joke, but she really did it. wow.
Tom Cruise is dead. He died a long time ago. All that’s left is this shell that hocks Xenu. He’s so horribly brainwashed. We should mourn the loss of this Tom Cruise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0uy8oiRSI8&feature=player_embedded
My parents used to take me swimming after midnight when I was Suri’s age. A little ice cream at 9 PM in the summer is nothing, and I doubt it’s even that late. New York City closes shop earlier than the suburbs. Kids do not have to have 100% regimented lives at all times — and if they do, they’re most likely gonna run wild as teenagers, or as young adults at the latest.
As for auditing and sec checking, I wouldn’t call it “psychological terrorism” because “terrorism” is the wrong word for the situation. However, it is absolutely psychological torture. It is designed to separate families destroy the victim’s sense of self. Auditing doesn’t exist to help people. It exists to replace people’s personalities with Scientology, and to make people loyal to the Co$ and nothing else. Also for blackmail material.
See? Compare that to us teenage “bad-asses” who snuck into public pools at O’Dark-Thirty to skinny dip and drink in the locker rooms. (I knew people.)
We used the guise of “slumber parties” and, as we were Girl Scouts in tents on a Marine Base, we were free to do what we chose.
“Church” of Scientology must be shitting bricks right about now (“Katie and Tom are now going to have an open court room, which means that anyone can walk in and see what’s happening,”).
@Mira , Yes, it says both Katie and Tom will have to be present in court on July 17 (in New York) and that “Tom is going to have to hire a New York lawyer – he can’t use his Calif. lawyer anymore.”
They were photographed again this morning, in Whole Foods. Katie told Daily News “I’m alright”.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/tom-cruise-katie-holmes-divorce-holmes-suri-hit-foods-stock-fourth-july-bbq-article-1.1107697
A lot of this stuff seems pretty one-sided against Tom, which is logical at this point. I think we need to hear from his other ex-wives to see what their opinion is. I never heard Nicole or Mimi bad mouth Tom. What do his other two children have to say about him. A lot of people get custody of kids and never let them see the biological parents. My sister has done this on behalf of two of her kids, so it’s not just celebrities that can wield that kind of power.
I don’t believe in Scientology for myself because it is too extreme and controlling but I’d like to hear Tom’s side and some other objective people’s opinions about Tom.
I just need more objective info before coming to a negative conclusion about Tom.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/09/tom_cruise_top_25_crippling_scientology.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFBZ_uAbxS0
And if all else fails: http://www.google.com
I know you’re capable of doing your own research and thinking for yourself, no matter who’s standing over your shoulder.
I think we need to hear from his other ex-wives to see what their opinion is. I never heard Nicole or Mimi bad mouth Tom.
And you never will, because the cult has shit on them and will ruin whoever badmouthes TC. I imagine if Nicole Kidman wasn’t too worried that speaking out would cause a slew of black PR about her to be released or her children to be told to disconnect from her, she might have something to say about how Tom and his cult, you know, brainwashed her children and caused them to turn against her.
What do his other two children have to say about him.
They’ve been raised in the cult, what do you think? Even if they didn’t like him, why the hell would they say so in public?
Who would you consider objective enough? The tooth fairy?
(You doing okay in there? How are the stats today? Stay safe)
EXACTLY!
I’m going to chime in on the “Katie knew what she was getting into” discussion.
First, are any of you married? Did you realize all that marriage was about BEFORE you got married? Did you have a different idea of what married life would be like–and then experience showed that your idea of it and the reality of it were not quite the same?
Or how about this: any of you have children? When you decided to have children, did you realize exactly what you were getting into, or did it take actual experience with your own child to enlighten you as to the reality of motherhood?
I rest my case.
I agree with you totally. I always cringed when people acted like Katie’s misery was her own fault, that she knew what she was getting into. I don’t believe that anymore than you do. Who does? Katie was young and blinded by Tom’s fame. He didn’t really start showing the extreme crazy until Katie came on board. Before that he was just the A-list star with a string of Number One Box Office Hits.
As for all the Sci-bots surrounding him? All stars have an entourage. They are surrounded by their publicist, agent, body guards, etc. He would have shown Katie that they were all just one big happy family, that these Sci-bots were there for more than paychecks, that they truly cared about Tom and would her too. And they all would have been on their best behavior.
It was a bad choice on her part, but one she couldn’t see at the time. All she can do now is what she is doing. Get out and take Suri with her. I wish them both the best.
^This!
Thanks, Boo and Jaxx, for pointing out what should be apparent to people.
+3 Besides, I always felt that the constant traveling during their courtship, the lovebombing and the immediate pregnancy (no comment on paternity)probably clouded her judgement.
She said at some point that she felt ‘so honoured’ to be with him.
That right there said everything about what was wrong with the relationship, I think.
Personally I think she was played by the cult who wanted to find their cash cow another wife and by Tom Cruise who went along with it. She was swept off her feet, lovebombed by her childhood idol, and almost immediately pregnant – she was certainly left no time to think or reflect. Then once she was ‘in the bag’ TC stopped trying. I doubt he was ever in love with her, though I’m sure there was affection – but it was essentially an arranged marriage for him.
I think that’s the reason why he seemed so ridiculous and ‘off’ in his actions (couch jumping etc) when he claimed to be in love – he wasn’t really feeling it, so he was trying to act how he imagined somebody madly in love would act, and never quite succeeding.
It has been very clear for a couple of years that Suri hates being papped. We’ve seen her freaking out and screaming at the lights and cameramen and they have to carry her so she can hide her face. I blamed Tom wanting publicity on his little family (proving he is young and hip) but now that’s over.
So tell me why Katie is still putting her through it?
Everyone hates being papped, she’s not different. However why should they be forced to hide away? Why should Suri be sequestered for the forseeable future? Katie is just trying to get on with their life together, doing normal mom/daughter stuff instead of scaring her even more about hiding from the big bad men now that daddy isn’t there. Daddy wasn’t actually there for much of the time as it appears that obsessively making movie after movie is how he likes to live. Keeping with normal patterns would actually be less stressful on her. Suri looked pretty happy about going for ice cream, shopping, she wasn’t freaking out. She’s at an active, curious age where keeping her under lock and key (a.k.a. at Sea Org school) would screw her up even more.
I think that hiding would be one of the worst things Katie could do right now. It would send the wrong message to both Suri AND the CO$.
Now, in some instances (my former one included) hiding was a GOOD thing. But they are way too high-profile, and that cult has too many secrets as it is.
Katie probably doesn’t have too much control over this anymore. I doubt she willingly wants to get papped this much but let’s face it this divorce is huge. Besides, these photos are probably helping Katie win over public sentiment in her favor.
Yes, you guys are right. If she hides now, she loses public support, which she very much needs. After it is all over she can gradually withdraw Suri from all the attention.
So Cal family law attorney checking back in. With respect to the ‘open court room anyone can sit in’ statements–that’s not necessarily so. I don’t know NY law but in California a judge can clear a courtroom. How many people are sitting in on Halle Berry’s custody drama?
@Mira–Regarding jurisdiction, in order to file for divorce in California one has to have been a resident of Cali for a year and the particular county for 3 months. Thus the argument will be where the parties actually lived. The fact that Katie filed in NY does not preclude Tom from filing in CA. It will be determined which court has jurisdiction and only that case will proceed.
Absent the jurisdictional issue would Tom have to show up for the custody hearing? No, he doesn’t have to. But, if Dad doesn’t show for a custody hearing Mom typically gets everything she’s requested.
I wonder if Katie can file a restraining order against this creep? Also, google recent pics of Conner, esp. the ones about his Birthday and you will see he has the same intense, I Am Always Right look that his dad has. It is quite eery. You just know that these two older kids haven’t had free thought in a long, long time. Run Katie run. Read Lainey’s updates. I get chills reading that lawyer’s statement. We really need the Feds to get involved and shut this cult down. Oh and comments above gave me new insight into why Katie always seems to be coddling her daughter and being a friend rather than a parent. I am sure she has great love for her daughter and now imagine living 24/7 around people you can’t 100% trust I would think anyone would naturally turn to their child as a safe haven and the lines of parent/child could get crossed. I hope they escape this maniac.
My understanding is that restraining orders in NY are tricky animals. Plus he would have to threaten Katie directly or put her in immediate danger in order for that to happen.
“intense, I Am Always Right look that his dad has”
Lisa Marie Presley calls this “heartfelt people with no heart” in her song announcing her split from Scientology.
“intense, I Am Always Right look that his dad has”
Lisa Marie Presley calls this “heartfelt people with no heart” in her song announcing her split from Scientology.
You know, I will happily admit I have become COMPLETELY obsessed with this story.
I think I’m not alone in this.
The reason? It seems to be a fable that epitomises the triumph of good over evil. Well, at least that is what we are hoping for.
I see these people pop up on this site (and over at Daily Mail) who are CLEARLY Co$ minions, trying to paint Katie as a gold digger, saying all religions are the same, or painting Tom as a victim of HER cunning and design.
Gimme a break. I don’t comment at DM but I sure as hell know who does here. And when people like Kortni, diana, po et al pop up here WHEN THEYVE NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE, I’m pretty sure they are working for that evil cult. Plus, they ALWAYS have terrible grammar and borderline literacy. Weird.
Anyhoo, I am so, so happy that that wicked old curmudgeon Rupert is friends with Nicole, because I think he is gonna be instrumental in blowing apart this old whole evil, shady cult. (And they are both Australians – verrrrrrry interesting).
This is what his Australian online media arm is reporting. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember the whole Miscavige wife disappearance being mainstream news?
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/scientology-leader-david-miscavige-the-third-person-in-cruise-holmes-marriage/story-e6frfmqi-1226416851180
Good ALWAYS triumphs over evil. Miscavige, watch your back. Your retribution has begun.
Me too Snowpea – the injustice that this organization has been allowed to perpetrate is mind-boggling. My suspicious mind is thinking that someone in the US government must be complicit in turning a blind eye to mysteries like Miscavige’s missing wife, refusing to revoke its tax-exempt status, not following up on many of the more serious complaints of intimidation and harassment. Miscavige only has one or two more years to go until his wife can be officially declared “missing”, investigation closed, and he can marry his next victim. The more information that can get out there, the bigger the groundswell of public opinion to get government to shut this monstrous industry down. I hear bits about the FBI investigating various issues but it’s been going on for years. So we know that Tom Cruise is Miscavige’s BFF, he HAS to know a TON of inside information on how badly Co$ treats its members. And if anyone can blast this whole thing open it’s Rupert Murdoch – Nicole Kidman may be a valuable secret source of info if he chooses to redeem his tarnished reputation and make it happen.
I honestly believe that Rupert Murdoch would help Katie and match Tom dollar in this divorce.
When the Scientologists pop up here, I always laugh and think of what these people could have been with a formal education.
But I am right there with you in becoming obsessed with this story. I’ve loved doing my research on Co$. Just to understand how much retribution David Miscavige is about to get please read this:
http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologypart1.html
Yes to all of this.
About the people obviously doing this for Co$: they’re being paid nearly nothing, and the threat of punishment is always over their heads. Plus they’re in contact with the public, seeing everything we say, forced to read all our arguments. These people have an extremely high “blow” rate (Scientology calls leaving their cult “blowing”.) The person (or people) behind those aliases isn’t gonna be a Scientologist for very long. I hope they get out before anything horrific happens to them.
btw, isn’t News Corp is currently having problems?
this is Harvard’s Neiman Foundation recap of the News Corp problem.
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/the-newsonomics-of-the-news-corp-split/
It’s not like a huge problem, but a headache nonetheless.
I wonder if taking up this cause is a distraction for Mr Murdoch in this current headachy situation, or whether this issue is suddenly a boon for Mr. Murdoch.
(btw, this is just a comment specifically on Rupert Murdoch and nothing about Katie/Suri and the ongoing Battle).
This, exactly Snowpea. I think part of it is that Katie represents the stupid mistakes we’ve all made, and the idea that there can be redemption and justice in spite of them. Even if it’s a monumental mistake, even if it takes five years, things can be made right in the end. This, anyway, is what we hope, and are cheering for so loudly: that if someone can be fooled by and marry a crazy person and create a life with him, and then get out, our mistakes can be overcome too.
Whatever the reason, I am transfixed by what’s unfolding. I agree about good v. evil, and it is a totally fascinating plot.
Here here!
I second what everyone is saying.
The minions do seem fairly transparent (especially when they are immediately backed up by another name I have never seen before) and, while I find them obnoxious, I also see them as victims.
I was looking forward to how Gawker/Jez were going to cover this but with the new commenting systems, the minions are impossible to avoid:-(
The CO$ activity on these threads seems a little hypocritical. Aren’t many of us ultimate ‘Suppressives’? Shouldn’t they being staying away from us?
Miscavige’s “missing” wife was never mainstream news (as far as I know) until now.
She’s been “missing” since 2006; was supposedly seen in 2007; then…nothing.
Dependent upon when she actually went missing, Miscavige can have her legally declared dead in the year or two (after 7 years) and inherit her estate, life insurance, etc…
Sorry guys I just can’t stay away from this discussion. I think as someone said above it is the good vs evil that is so entrancing and we all want good to trump evil. I think that is also why so many of us are on the Halle Barry Custody articles because she is a narcissist freak too. Anyway, People did an article on Katie’s dad the other day and he supposedly gave this effusive toast at their wedding about how awesome Tom is for Katie. So he must have been sold, at least for a brief period. Because there are plenty of fathers out there who have to swallow the bile and give over their daughters to creeps but there are ways of giving a graceful toast without going overboard and he is a lawyer so he would be skilled with words.
i hope that katie gets full custody of suri – this scientology stuff is way too creepy for any child
I don’t think Katie’s dad could have toasted and said don’t worry Katie we will be here when you realise it’s a cult! Of course he would say something good about Tom he had too or Tom would have used any of those negative feelings to keep Katie away from her family. That is how cult’s get so much power over people they cut them off from everybody outside the cult. I think Katie’s mom and dad were both smart enough to work out a game plan early on. Katie was clearly in love early on with Tom and they didn’t want to lose her so they watched over. I have been in a similar situation with a sister who was married to an abusive husband. You knew what was going to happen but not getting cut out of their lives was the only way you could be sure you could help.
So Katie has filed for emergency custody? Good she needs to without a piece of paper Tom can take Suri and not give her back. I don’t think Tom will be seeing Suri until Katie has it in writing that she has sole custody and they have worked when Tom can and can’t see her. That is actually a very important thing to do. My sister’s ex would break in her house and take off with her two children and the police would do nothing because there was no custody agreement and he was the dad. Tom is in CA by report’s probably trying to work out his strategy having seen a few poor Tom he is heartbroken stories I expect to start hearing some negative Katie stuff. But with everyone being pro Katie whoever publishes it will be in for a lot of angry letters!
I’ve always stayed away from all the Suri conspiracy theories – but I came across this photo of L Ron Hubbard as a boy:
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/attachments/017/press_release_distribution_0173945_31862.jpg
And the more I look at it the more all I see is freakin’ SURI. Er, let’s just hope she grows up nothing like the hot mess that was L Ron.
Boyoboy, have the worms ever turned now! Just a day or two ago, TMZ was reporting Katie’s side of things, and HAD been since she filed…now, their last two posts on the divorce are headlined, respectively, “Tom Says Katie is Using Suri as a Weapon,” and “Katie Laughs Off Divorce” (that one accompanied by a cropped pic of Katie in the ice cream parlor last night with Suri, only Suri is now cropped out and Katie is laughing a wide-open-mouthed laugh that we are to presume is her laughing wickedly at the divorce. Money talks, and CO$ has a shitload of that. Watch your back, Katie. No telling what’s next.
…and the thing I can’t believe is how, in the wake of this programme of pity parties for Tom, their readers have suddenly turned against Katie, whereas a day ago they were all You Go Girl! Now it’s all about how cruel Katie has been to poor heartbroken Tom, who never hurt a soul and only wanted to be a loving dad and husband. People are such sheep!
… not ALL people …
There are plenty of people around that can suss wrong from right. Proud to say most of the regular posters here are folk I’d invite into my own house. Some very smart people.
On one side it’s kind of cruel to take away daughter from loving father. They lived together for 5 years and Suri is just a child and she loves her father….
But other the other side this is Tom Cruise who took away children from Nicole Kidman. He took mother from Isabella and Connor. Now he can feel it by himself when Katie will take away Suri from him. How does it feel now Tom?
And Nicole Kidman looks very-very bad now. We see Katie who went with public war with that cult to save her daughter. And we saw Nicole who just abandoned her adopted children to that cult.
She was run off by the cult. She did not just say, “okay, you can have them” and take off. That is BS. The Cult had them and still refuses to let them loose mentally.
Um, this freakin’ Co$ caper is just getting more and more sinister. This story I’m about to relate to you happened to me TODAY.
I work in aged care and look after an elderly German lady three times a week. We’ll call her Heidi. To put her into context, she was a holocaust survivor and spent four years at Auschwitz, before escaping, aged 16.
Anyhoo, fast forward to last year, when Heidi’s husband died. Heidi adored her husband, who she had met as a 17 year old. They had been married for almost 70 years and had accrued moderate wealth and property.
Heidi notified the death notices of the local paper, mourning the death of her husband. THAT SAME DAY, she received a phone call from someone purporting to offer her grief and bereavement counselling. Heidi was a little perturbed, not least because she had an UNLISTED NUMBER. She declined the offer and thought nothing else of it.
The next day, the phone calls began in earnest. The person/s offered financial advice, grief counselling and companionship. She asked who they represented. They admitted the Church of Scientology. Heidi was not to be swayed.
Then it started to get sinister. They started phoning at midnight, whispering down the phone. At her wit’s end, she rang the local police and they told her they were powerless to do anything but suggested she change her number, and register it in a relative’s name.
And that my friends, is why Co$ are a bunch of goons, hustlers, crooks and conmen.
BECAUSE THEY WILL HARASS AND HARANGUE AN ELDERLY WOMAN WITHOUT MERCY, all in the name of making a quick buck.
Church schmurch. Revoke their tax free status immediately and launch a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the families that have had their lives destroyed by these evil goons.
Poor Heidi. She is a precious thing – listen to her stories if she’s willing to tell you. One of the things I miss most about my long-dead grandparents and my Alzheimer’s patients are their stories.
Grandpa was Old World Italian, fought in WWII, was MIA, and Grandma didn’t find out he was still alive until over a year later.
My patients were both moneyed ladies who had chosen a life of marriage and travel over children, and they had wonderful stories about rubbing elbows with Ronald Reagan and Gene Autry and Bob Hope – WONDERFUL stuff! (Nothing sinister or gossipy, just fun to hear.)
There is stuff going on we obviously could know nothing about and Tom is an easy target because of the Scientology thing. Katie has her own agenda and her own pr team to put a spin on this. But I think she caught him completely unaware … and her timing was probably about money. I’m guessing she gets more for having stayed past the five-year mark in some prenup agreement they had.
I’ve noticed that many people have been commenting that Katie should have known what she was getting into, or that it’s impossible to understand how normal adults could be suckered into something like CO$ that’s so obviously bizarre.
The fact is that New Religious Movements (a.k.a. cults) are often quite sophisticated in the methods they use to draw people in. They can present themselves outwardly as just another organization–maybe something that will help you get your life in order, or give you some books and tools for making a success out of something you want to try doing.
There is often quite a divide with cults between the so-called “exoteric” (or outward presentation) and “esoteric” (for inner/advanced members only) elements of the cult.
If anyone is at all interested in digging deeper, there are two quite excellent scholarly books on New Religious Movements, both of which help explain how cults work, the strategies they use, the kinds of people they target, the ways they keep people loyal…
1. Violence and New Religious Movements by James R. Lewis. Came out in 2011, and it’s an *excellent* look in particular at why so many New Religious Movements seem inclined to use violence as part of their modus operandi.
2. The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements (edited by the same guy, James Lewis–he’s a professor of religious studies at a major university in Norway, and is pretty well-respected as an expert on NRMs).
Both of these books are aimed more at a scholarly audience, but neither of them is too lofty or incomprehensible for non-scholars.
I know the Tomkat divorce has sparked a TON of really great questions about NRMs–these two books are great resources for anyone who has time and would like to explore the sociology, economics, etc. behind cults.
Just FYI, I’m not in any way affiliated with Oxford U. Press, or the editor. Just a professor of religion myself who has found both books to be very interesting and informative.
Obviously Katie has been unhappy but does anyone else notice how she purposely had that miserable face in all her paparazzi pics the past year and now she is ALL smiles. Yes Im sure because she is happy BUT the not smiling was very much done on purpose.
Oh, I definitely believe Katie was bona fide miserable before, and is bona fide happy now. Who wouldn’t be?
what is up with the anti-Scientology bashing in the Cruise / Holmes posts ?? it all seems a little inappropriate and prejudiced. in the narrow-minded way people use to speak about Jews or blacks or gays. i thought we live in modern time where we respect other people’s religious views and personal preferences.
Ahah, you’re kidding right? We don’t feed the $cilon trolls here lady.
We live in a modern time where people are wise enough to spot a mind controlling Cult when we see one and slam it to the curb! It’s NOT a religion. It’s an untaxed Crime Organization.
This will be ugly: He is POWERFUL. He has a FORTUNE to hire the BEST attorneys ANYWHERE in addition to those he already has on the payroll. She is determined, so is he. SHE has the CO$ in the crosshairs. This is his child too. And he will fight for her with every ounce in him. SO WILL SHE. Yikes.