CAN TOM SAVE SCIENTOLOGY?
The church is in crisis as more Hollywood stars turn their back on the controversial religion
Tom Cruise is being urged to end his extended stay in the United Kingdom on his latest Mission: Impossible movie set and return to American soil to wage his biggest battle ever – saving Scientology.
Insiders within the Floridabased church say its leader David Miscavige has pleaded with Tom to come home and help him on “the most aggressive recruiting drive yet” after a swathe of A-list followers either defected or became “unmarketable” in recent years.
“David has built Scientology into the glitzy organisation it is today thanks to his celeb followers – Tom being the biggest name of all,” says a source. “But lately, the stars have been dropping like flies.”
Indeed, Orange Is The New Black star Laura Prepon revealed recently that she quietly left the church almost five years ago, her longtime friend, That ’70s Show star Danny Masterson, is in court fighting sexual assault charges, John Travolta is taking time out of the spotlight to grieve his late wife Kelly Preston and Kirstie Alley is drawing ridicule for her constant anti-mandatory vaxxing, pro-trump claims on Twitter.
RECRUITING DRIVE
Other sources say The Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss – a second generation Scientologist – has also distanced herself from the church recently and is working on a new series, Shining Girls, with actress Amy Brenneman, who has openly questioned the religion.
“David’s starting to panic,” says a source. “He’s losing his grip on all these big names, meanwhile his most vocal, high-profile supporter, Tom, is busy filming in England.
“He has told Tom that he is required back in the US as soon as filming wraps to go on an offensive to get more followers. He wants to time it with the publicity for Mission: Impossible – David’s weighing up putting Tom on a gruelling schedule of events where he’ll talk up the church, and try and get a younger generation of influential people to convert.”
Woman’s Day is told “crisis meetings” over the church’s public perception have been
held between David, 61, and his publicity team at their HQ in Clearwater, Florida, and 59-year-old Tom – considered David’s second in command – who joined via Zoom.
The church’s reputation among Hollywood’s rich and famous took another hit last week, when The X-files star David Duchovny revealed his own failed foray into the religion after attending a friend’s wedding at the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles.
“I did squeeze the cans and I did a session on the E-meter, and I realised immediately, because they’re asking very personal questions, that they were gathering information that I didn’t want to give out to a stranger,” he revealed to The Daily Beast.
“The session didn’t go well. I didn’t play by the rule, and I never went back.”
David, 61, also took aim at the church’s tax-exempt status, which it enjoys both in the US and Australia.
“It’s a ‘religion’, but who figured that out?” he says.
“There are other religions that are tax-exempt that have a lot of wealthy people in them as well, so it’s really a question of religions and taxes. It’s a question of: how do you define yourself as a religion? Why can’t I be my own religion of one and stop paying taxes?”
A source says, “David’s interview drove Tom crazy – he thought it was a bit tacky of David, who he knows through mutual friends. The way things are going, I’m not sure even Tom’s status can drag Scientology out of this mess.”
‘David’s losing his grip on all these big names’