The disappearance of SCIENTOLOGY’S FIRST LADY
Shelly Miscavige hasn’t been seen in public for nearly two decades
She hasn’t been seen in public for 15 years but the whereabouts of high-profile Scientologist Shelly Miscavige is once again making news.
In July, Valerie Haney, 43, named Shelly, who is married to the controversial religion’s leader David Miscavige, as a possible arbitrator in a drawnout lawsuit she filed against the Church of Scientology in 2019.
Both sides are able to choose who they want to preside over the proceedings and with Valerie’s first choice, The Handmaid’s Tale star and Scientologist Elisabeth Moss, declining the nomination to serve, Shelly and Tom Cruise were requested instead.
While it’s very likely Tom will also decline the request, Shelly’s response is being eagerly awaited as she hasn’t been seen in public since August 2007, when she attended her father’s funeral.
David, 62, has been at the helm of the controversial religion for 35 years. But while Scientology has fended off allegations of human trafficking, child abuse and slavery, the disappearance from public life of 61-year-old Shelly is a subject David has never directly addressed. Some believe she is living inside one of Scientology’s many properties, such as the Church of Spiritual Technology (CST), an isolated bunker nestled deep into the San Bernadino mountains in California.
With metal-toothed fences, infrared cameras scanning and security guards surrounding every part of Twin Peaks, as it’s commonly known, it is impossible for anyone to enter or leave the compound without the Church being aware.
Journalist and self-professed Scientology expert Tony Ortega believes the “totalitarian, bullying organisation” will never allow Shelly to leave.
He says Shelly may have been seen by the Church as a threat.
SPIRITUAL BEGINNINGS
The religion bases its “self-help prophecies” on the 1950 writings of science-fiction novelist, L Ron Hubbard, who founded the Church. Its members reach their “full potential” following years of taking expensive courses as they work towards completing what is known in the Church as The Bridge of Total Freedom.
Shelly was placed into the
sole custody of the novelist and the isolated Sea Organisation (Sea Org) when she was 12 by her Scientology-following parents. She worked directly with the Church founder aboard his ship The Apollo
– signing a billion-year contract, which signifies a follower’s enduring loyalty to the most extreme arm of the religion.
Here Shelly met David, who was also a member of the Sea Org, and following the founder’s death in 1986, David assumed leadership of the Church with Shelly, now his wife, by his side.
However, in 2006 when Tom married Katie Holmes in Italy, the ever-loyal Shelly wasn’t by David’s side and alarm bells started to ring.
Former Scientologist and actress Leah Remini, who Valerie works for as a personal assistant, has been very vocal in her criticisms of the Church and claims she was punished after asking about Shelly’s whereabouts.
Shortly after leaving Scientology in 2013, Leah filed a missing persons report for Shelly with the Los Angeles Police Department, with a representative later saying that the report was “unfounded”.
The Church issued a statement in response, saying Leah’s action was an act of “ill-advised, ludicrous self-promotion”.
“Scientology is very good at keeping law enforcement cowed. The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office has made it clear they have no interest in checking on Shelly’s welfare,” Tony alleges.
Valerie claims she was one of the last
people to see Shelly before she disappeared from public view. She worked as a Sea Org worker, serving in the private quarters of the Miscaviges.
“Shelly was getting more and more in disagreement with how the organisation [was being run]... and at night, when everyone was asleep, she would come and talk to me,” Valerie told the Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath docuseries.
‘When everyone was asleep, she would come and talk to me’
CONSTANT RUMOURS
Valerie believes that it was after trying to change the Church from within, that Shelly disappeared from public life. Despite continued requests for the police to investigate, Shelly remains unseen.
The Church of Scientology insists she is alive and well. “Mrs Miscavige has never been missing and is living her life to her choosing,” Scientology’s lawyers said in 2019.