Read Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief Online

Authors: Lawrence Wright

Tags: #Social Science, #Scientology, #Christianity, #Religion, #Sociology of Religion, #History

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (69 page)

BOOK: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
7.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

83
friends or clients of Fields:
Bertram Fields, response to Lauren Wolf queries.

84
“fact-finding mission”:
David Hudson, “Scientology’s ‘Holocaust,’ ”
Salon Daily Clicks
, Feb. 25, 1997.

85
“Individuals and businesses throughout”:
Testimony of John Travolta, “Religious Intolerance in Europe Today,” hearing before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), Sept. 18, 1997.

86
“He said he wanted to help”:
Josh Young, “Bill Clinton’s Grand Seduction,”
George
, March 1998.

87
“Scientology point person”:
Ibid.

88
The Germans were puzzled:
Stephen A. Kent, “Hollywood’s Celebrity-Lobbyists and the Clinton Administration’s American Foreign Policy toward German Scientology,”
Journal of Religion and Popular Culture
1 (Spring 2002).

89
“This is not a church”:
Jennifer Tanaka, “Hollywood versus Germany over Scientology,”
Maclean’s
, Jan. 20, 1997.

8. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

1
“mother school”:
Interview with Lauren Haggis.

2
“I guess I’m not supposed”:
Ibid.

3
“Oh, yeah”:
Interview with Alissa Haggis.

4
Miscavige was hopeful:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun. Anna Schecter, “Tom Cruise’s Former Scientology Auditor Speaks about Cruise/Kidman Divorce,”
Rock Center with Brian Williams
, July 11, 2012. The church issued a denial that Kidman was considered a Suppressive Person; see Maureen Orth, “What Katie Didn’t Know: Marriage, Scientology-Style,”
Vanity Fair
, October 2012.

5
“He was not in good shape”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

6
She had suffered a miscarriage:
Meryl Gordon, “Nicole Kidman Tells It Like It Is,”
Marie Claire
, Nov. 11, 2007.

7
“Nic knows exactly”:
Dickerson,
Nicole Kidman
, pp. 146–47.

8
He paired Cruise with:
Interview with Jason Beghe. Cruise’s attorney says, “Mr.
Cruise may have had a chance encounter with Jason Beghe at the Celebrity Center, but had no meeting with him.”

9
He had known Cruise:
Interview with Tommy Davis.

10
reporting directly to Shelly Miscavige:
Interview with Claire Headley.

11
Rathbun assigned Davis to:
Interview with Jason Beghe.

12
One of the issues:
One Day One Destiny
, French documentary produced by Magneto Presse, 2009.

13
“Tommy told them over and over”:
Dana Kennedy, “Katie Holmes ‘Biggest Nightmare’ in Scientology History, Say Experts,”
Hollywood Reporter
, July 4, 2012.

14
Rathbun’s auditing sessions:
Interview with Tom De Vocht. Marc Headley told
Vanity Fair
that there were cameras behind a piece of furniture and in a lamp recording Cruise’s sessions: “There were two views—one close-up of the E-Meter dial and the other a long shot over Marty’s shoulder, showing Tom Cruise holding the cans.” Maureen Orth, “What Katie Didn’t Know,”
Vanity Fair
, Oct. 2012.

15
“I think I’m done”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

16
“I have never met”:
2004 International Association of Scientologists Freedom Medal of Valor Ceremony.

17
Cruise poured millions:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 290.

18
“would understand the details”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun;
www.themortonreport.com/celebrity/notables/exclusive-bill-clinton-tom-cruise-plotted-to-use-tony-blair-to-gain-tax-breaks-for-scientology/
.

19
Later, Cruise went to:
Interview with Mike Rinder.

20
In 2003, he met:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 286.

21
“Bush may be an idiot”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

22
“They don’t die easily”:
Interview with Paul Haggis.

23
“I think you’ll discover”:
Ibid.

24
“You’ll win an Academy Award”:
Interview with Deborah Rennard Haggis.

25
“That’s great”:
Interview with Paul Haggis

26
While he was still editing:
Haggis would share screen credit with William D. Broyles, Jr.

27
“It’s really remarkable to me”:
Interview with Paul Haggis.

28
He accompanied the star:
Headley,
Blown for Good
, p. 118.

29
“It was a joke”:
Interview with Tommy Davis, who said Haggis “apologized profusely.”

30
funded a school:
Jana Winter, “Will Smith Funds Private Scientology School,”
FoxNews.com
, May 30, 2008.

31
Cruise called a meeting:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 289.

32
Erika Christensen:
www.zimbio.com/Erika+Christensen/articles/3/Surprising+Celebrity+Scientologist+9+Erika
.

33
No one had been more instrumental:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 266.

34
“Have a good show”:
Interview with Allen Barton.

35
“Scientological McCarthyism”:
Allen Barton letter to Jenna Elfman, June 1, 2004.

36
After Cruise rallied the:
Interviews with Tom McCafferty and Art Cohan.

37
Katselas refused:
Interviews with Art Cohan and Allen Barton.

38
Miscavige even wondered:
Morton,
Tom Cruise
, p. 337.

39
“He’d say that Tom Cruise”:
Jeff Hawkins, quoted in Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 290.

40
“Miscavige convinced Cruise”:
Rathbun,
The Scientology Reformation
, p. 77.

41
“He didn’t have”:
Interview with Marshall Herskovitz.

42
“Well, John, if you have powers”:
Interview with Josh Brolin. Travolta, through a lawyer, agreed that the incident with Brando occurred, but characterized it as “tabloid-esque.”

43
The cook was summarily sent:
Lana Mitchell, personal correspondence.

44
“At Flag”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

45
showed him how to shoot:
Ibid.

46
“I am writing this public announcement”:
Marty Rathbun, “Public Announcement,” Sept. 28, 2003.
Freedom
, “The Posse of Lunatics,” undated.

47
forty or fifty people:
Mariette Lindstein, personal communication.

48
the Hole:
Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Clearwater Scientology Officer Debbie Cook Testifies She Was Put in ‘The Hole,’ Abused for Weeks,”
Tampa Bay Times
, Feb. 10, 2012.

49
“Org Board”:
Lauren Wolf interview with Mike Rinder.

50
nine hundred positions:
Ibid.

51
for four years:
Mariette Lindstein, personal communication. Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 340.

52
The entire base became paralyzed:
Mariette Lindstein and Tom De Vocht, personal communication.

53
Mike Rinder was in the Hole:
Interview with Mike Rinder; Rathbun,
The Scientology Reformation
, p. 88.

54
open scabs:
Mark “Marty” Rathbun, personal communication.

55
“he’s just an SP”:
Interview with Tom De Vocht.

56
When another executive spoke up:
Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Clearwater Scientology Officer Debbie Cook Testifies She Was Put in ‘The Hole,’ Abused for Weeks,”
Tampa Bay Times
, Feb. 10, 2012.

57
“Pie Faces”:
Interview with Tom De Vocht.

58
“punch you guys out”:
markrathbun.wordpress.com/category/debbie-cook/
; also, Rathbun,
The Scientology Reformation
, p. 81.

59
“homosexual tendencies”:
http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/category/debbie-cook/
; Debbie Cook testimony,
Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., vs. Debra J. Baumgarten, AKA Debbie Cook Baumgarten, AKA Debbie Cook, and Wayne Baumgarten
. Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Clearwater Scientology Officer Debbie Cook Testifies She Was Put in ‘The Hole,’ Abused for Weeks,”
Tampa Bay Times
, Feb. 10, 2012. When Cook later complained to other Scientologists about the relentless fund-raising of the church, despite what she said was a $1 billion cash reserve, the church sued her for at least $300,000 in damages. Like many former Sea Org executives, Debbie Cook and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, signed nondisclosure agreements with the church when they left the staff. They were paid $50,000 each to remain silent in perpetuity. In return, they waived their First Amendment rights to free speech, agreeing to pay a minimum of $50,000 for any such remark made in private and $100,000 for every disparaging statement they might make in any medium. If such a statement happens to be published in a newspaper, or a magazine, they are required to pay $20 for each copy printed—i.e., more than $20 million each if they spoke to
The New Yorker
. They also relinquished any claim to ownership of their preclear folders. “Agreement and General Release,” signed by Debbie Cook and Wayne Baumgarten, Oct. 19, 2007. Cook was in the Sea Org for twenty-nine years. In her seventeen years as Scientology’s top executive at the Clearwater base, she oversaw an operation that brought in more than $1.7 billion. Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Church of Scientology Sues Longtime Clearwater Leader over New Year’s Eve Email,”
Tampa Bay Times
, Jan. 31, 2012. Cook and Baumgarten settled with the church, agreeing not to speak about it in the future, and moved to the Caribbean island of Guadaloupe. Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Scientology Leader Debbie Cook Moving to Caribbean Island,”
Tampa Bay Times
, June 20, 2012.

60
“Once on a phone call”:
“The Rathbun Family: Madness, Mayhem, and Mysterious Death,”
Freedom
, undated, unsigned.

61
“Get away with murder”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

62
abortions were common:
Interview with Dan Garvin.

63
pushed to have two abortions:
Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “No Kids Allowed,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 12, 2010.

64
“It’s a constant practice”:
Interview with Claire Headley.

65
Worried about pillow talk:
Interviews with Tom De Vocht and Janela Webster. Hubbard also imposed divorces on Sea Org members at times, according to Gerald Armstrong, who says that Hubbard ordered his wife, Terri, to divorce him in 1979 if she wanted to continue as a Commodore’s Messenger. Gerald Armstrong, Complaint Report to the US Department of Justice.

66
were billed more than $150,000:
Claire Headley, personal communication.

67
“Marty, I don’t want”:
Interview with Mike Rinder.

68
“musical chairs”:
Interviews with Mark “Marty” Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Mariette Lindstein, Tom De Vocht, Marc Headley; Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Scientology: The Truth Rundown, Part 1,”
St. Petersburg Times
, June 21, 2009.

69
“Is it real to you now?”:
Interviews with Mike Rinder, Mark “Marty” Rathbun, Noriyuki Matsumaru, Mariette Lindstein, Marc Headley, and Tom De Vocht. Headley,
Blown for Good
, pp. 225–31;
www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/rathbun.shtml
.

70
“I am the ecclesiastical leader”:
Declaration of David Miscavige,
Church of Scientology International vs. Steven Fishman and Uwe Geertz
, USS District Court, Central District of California, Feb. 8, 1994.

71
“Now here I am, being beat up”:
Interview with Tom De Vocht.

9. TC AND COB

1
There are cottages built for:
Affidavit of Andre Tabayoyon, Aug. 19, 1994.

2
salute Cruise when he arrived:
Interview with Noriyuki Matsumaru.

3
directed not to speak to Cruise:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 290.

4
Miscavige’s life began to reflect:
Ibid.

5
He normally awakens:
Interviews with Tom De Vocht and Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

6
The coffee is fresh-ground:
Information about David Miscavige’s diet comes from his former chefs, Sinar Parman and Lana Mitchell.

7
“three squares and a snack”:
Interview with Sinar Parman.

8
“get ripped”:
Ibid.

9
between 2000 and 2004, the food costs:
Interview with Claire Headley. The church disputes this figure without offering an alternative number.

10
drinks Macallan Scotch:
Reitman,
Inside Scientology
, p. 319.

11
his favorite films:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

12
He usually turns in:
Interview with Tom De Vocht. Lana Mitchell, “Hot and Cold Running Servants,” June 27, 2011,
www/scientology-cult.com/hot-and-cold-running-servants.html
. Sinar Parman says that when Miscavige is in Clearwater, he generally rises at nine a.m.

13
Miscavige enjoys shooting pool:
Sinar Parman, personal communication.

14
He collects guns, maintains:
Interview with Mike Rinder; John Brousseau, personal correspondence.

15
Richard Lim:
richardlimtailoring.com
.

16
His shoes are custom-made:
Interviews with Janela Webster and Mike Rinder; Mariette Lindstein, personal correspondence.

17
His wardrobe:
Lana Mitchell, “Hot and Cold Running Servants,” June 27, 2011,
www/scientology-cult.com/hot-and-cold-running-servants.html
.

18
Cruise admired the housecleaning:
Interview with John Brousseau.

19
Until 2007, when he:
Ibid.

20
at a cost of thirty to fifty thousand dollars:
Ibid.; Marc Headley, personal communication; interview with Noriyuki Matsumaru.

21
He brings along his:
markrathbun.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/transcript_of_bryan_seymour_interview_with_lana_mitchell_17b1u9r-17b1u9t.pdf
.

22
He loves underwater photography:
Mike Rinder and Mariette Lindstein, personal correspondence.

23
issued two sets of pants:
Dan Koon, personal correspondence.

24
as little as thirteen or fourteen dollars:
Interview with Janela Webster.

25
Married couples at Gold Base:
Mariette Lindstein, personal communication. Lana Mitchell,
markrathbun.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/transcript_of_bryan_seymour_interview_with_lana_mitchell_17b1u9r-17b1u9t.pdf
.

26
Every personal phone call is:
Interviews with Mike Rinder and Lana Mitchell; John Brousseau, personal communication;
markrathbun.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/transcript_of_bryan_seymour_interview_with_lana_mitchell_17b1u9r-17b1u9t.pdf
.

27
Bank records:
John Brousseau, personal communication.

28
They may not know:
Interviews with Daniel Montalvo and Sandy Kent Fuller.

29
Many Sea Org members:
Mariette Lindstein, personal communication.

30
On April 30 of each year:
Interviews with John Brousseau, Marc Headley, Mike Rinder, Janela Webster, and Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

31
Miscavige keeps a number of dogs:
Interviews with Marc Headley, Claire Headley, and John Brousseau.

32
A full-time staff member:
Interview with Marc Headley; Claire Headley, personal correspondence.

33
a charge of attempted rape:
Jason Nark, “From Here to Scientology: Worldwide Leader David Miscavige’s Philly-Area Roots,”
South Jersey News
, Jan. 3, 2012.

34
church resources were used:
Lawrence Wollersheim Interviews Jesse Prince, Tape 3, Aug. 25, 1998.
www.factnet.org/Scientology/jt3.txt
.

35
She worked as an accountant:
Mary Jacoby, “High Profile Couple Never Pairs Church and State,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Dec. 13, 1998.

36
“court jester”:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

37
“She was sick”:
Interview with Jenna Miscavige Hill.

38
women became physically aggressive:
Interview with Mariette Lindstein.

39
break Cook’s finger:
markrathbun.wordpress.com/category/debbie-cook/
; Debbie Cook testimony,
Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., vs. Debra J. Baumgarten, AKA Debbie Cook Baumgarten, AKA Debbie Cook, and Wayne Baumgarten
.

40
“The only thing I want”:
Interview with Jefferson Hawkins.

41
“in ignorance and darkness”:
Ibid. Hawkins is now affiliated with Anonymous, a hacktivist collective that has targeted Scientology. They often picket church offices, sometimes wearing Guy Fawkes masks. The group pugnaciously opposes any form of censorship, and became hostile to Scientology after the church invoked copyright claims in order to remove from the Internet the video of Tom Cruise extolling “KSW” The church terms Anonymous a “cyber-terrorist” group. Two Anonymous members pled guilty to participating in a 2008 attack on a Scientology Web site.

42
“He smelled of body odor”:
Yael Lustgarten affidavit.

43
“I gathered all the buttons”:
Interview with Amy Scobee. Scobee says she was used to Scientology’s methods of resolving internal conflicts. Twice, when she was fourteen and had just become a part of the church, she was sexually abused by an older man in Scientology. She never called the police. “We’re taught that
‘we handle our own,’ ” she told me. Because she failed to report the incidents of abuse to her auditor, after her abuser had confessed them, she was consigned to manual labor. Her abuser later became an Ethics Officer in the church.

44
He said that all of the abuse:
Deposition of Thomas Davis,
Marc Headley vs. Church of Scientology International
and
Claire Headley vs. Church of Scientology International
, US District Court, Central District of California, July 2, 2010.

45
“He had a weird”:
Interview with Tom De Vocht.

46
“gold bullion”:
Ibid.

47
“You’re the biggest”:
Ibid.

48
Donors are accorded higher:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun. A former Sea Org executive, Debbie Cook, confirmed the $1 billion figure in an e-mail she sent to other Scientologists. Tony Ortega, “Scientology in Turmoil: Debbie Cook’s E-mail, Annotated,”
Runnin’ Scared
(blog
), The Village Voice
, Jan. 6, 2012.

49
Nancy Cartwright:
David K. Li, “The Church of $impsontology,”
New York Post
, Jan. 31, 2008.

50
The IAS now holds:
Interview with Marty Rathbun; Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “In Letter, Former Scientology Leader Debbie Cook Renews Concerns about Church Fundraising,”
Tampa Bay Times
, Jan. 7, 2012. Rathbun has since doubled his estimate to “nearly two billion dollars—all offshore, out of the reach of tax authoritities or civil lawsuits.” Rathbun,
The Scientology Reformation
, p. 50.

51
Scientology coursework alone:
Urban,
The Church of Scientology
, p. 136.

52
ranges in price:
Interview with Bruce Hines. According to the church, “there are no ‘prices’ for auditing,” there are “fixed donations.” Karin Pouw, personal correspondence.

53
Services sold in Clearwater:
Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Former Scientology Insiders Describe a World of Closers, Prospects, Crushing Quotas and Coercion,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Nov. 13, 2011.

54
“Bluntly, we are the”:
Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Scientology Amped Up Donation Requests to Save the Earth Starting in 2001,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Nov. 20, 2011.

55
a $1 million gift:
Interview with Mark “Mat” Pesch.

56
at least $145 million:
Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Giant ‘Super Power’ Building in Clearwater Takes a Pause, Yet Millions Keep Flowing In,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Nov. 21, 2011.

57
Ideal Orgs:
Interview with Guy White.

58
A number of the Ideal:
“Xenubarb, Scientology: Attack of the Ideal Orgs!”
Daily Kos
, Jan. 28, 2012.

59
Daniel Montalvo:
Interview with Daniel Montalvo.

60
According to Florida child labor:
“Child Labor Laws,” State of Florida and the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

61
According to California child labor:
“California Child Labor Laws,” State of California, 2000.

62
it was simply impossible:
Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Church of Scientology Runs Afoul of Widely Accepted Best Practices for Fundraising,”
Tampa Bay Times
, Nov. 20, [year tk].

63
who was a bank teller:
Interview with Garry Scarff.

64
Stephen E. Brackett:
American Safety Casualty Insurance Company and National American Insurance Company of California v. Nancy Cartwright and YO NANCY, INC
., Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, Sept. 21, 2010.

65
The biggest financial scandal:
Notice of Lodging of the Reporter’s Transcript
of Proceedings of the Sentencing Hearing in
United States v. Reed E. Slatkin
, United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California, Northern Division, Sept. 25, 2003.

66
Anne Archer and … Greta Van Susteren:
Rathbun,
The Scientology Reformation
, p. 26.

67
pay back $3.5 million:
E. Scott Reckard, “Scientology Groups to Pay Back $3.5 Million,”
Los Angeles Times
, Nov. 8, 2006.

68
Valeska Paris:
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XWJlEWWLvLM;markrathbun.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/keepin-it-real-on-fathers-day/
.

69
Shortly before Cruise arrived:
Tony Ortega, “Scientology’s Cruise Ship as Prison,”
Runnin’ Scared
(blog
), The Village Voice
, Nov. 29, 2011,
blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/11/valeska_paris_chris_guider_scientology_freewinds.php
.

70
“the most dedicated”:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh2uS-Om–Bs
.

71
Lana Mitchell, the cook:
Lana Mitchell, personal communication.

72
paying a significant portion:
Interview with Roger Christian.

73
“I told my manager”:
Glenn Whipp, “The Battle for ‘Earth’: Travolta’s Scientology Ties Raise Controversy over New Film,”
Los Angeles Daily News
, May 12, 2000.

74
His critiques would then be:
The head of Author Services International, Barbara Ruiz, was constantly with Travolta. Interview with Roger Christian.

75
He predicted it was:
Interview with Mike Rinder.

76
Even at the premiere, Sea:
Interviews with Spanky Taylor and Noriyuki Matsumaru.

77
“ ‘Battlefield Earth’ may well”:
Elvis Mitchell, “Earth Capitulates in 9 Minutes to Mean Entrepreneurs from Space,”
New York Times
, May 12, 2000.

78
There were false accusations:
Interview with Roger Christian.

79
Miscavige responded that it:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

80
“Why didn’t anyone watch”:
Mark McKinstry, personal communication.

81
Shelly Miscavige had been:
Interview with Claire Headley.

82
Penélope was suspect:
Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun. The church denied that they objected to Cruz’s religious beliefs; see Maureen Orth, “What Katie Didn’t Know: Marriage, Scientology-Style,”
Vanity Fair
, October 2012.

83
“I want you to look”:
Interview with Tom De Vocht.

84
Miscavige then assigned Greg:
Headley,
Blown for Good
, p. 279.

85
Shelly Miscavige, the leader’s:
Interviews with Claire Headley and Noriyuki Matsumaru.

86
Wilhere, who was actually in the Hole:
Ibid. According to
Vanity Fair
, Scientology denies that any clothes were purchased or that Wilhere was sent to New York “for this phantom project that never existed.”

BOOK: Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
7.62Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Clown Service by Adams, Guy
Anywhere (BBW Romance) by Christin Lovell
The NightMan by Mitchell, T.L.
The Sardonyx Net by Elizabeth A. Lynn
The Mind Field by Blaze Ward
Along Came A Prince by Carlyn Cade
Fox at the Front (Fox on the Rhine) by Douglas Niles, Michael Dobson
The Sunday Hangman by James Mcclure
Bound by Light by Anna Windsor