Ex-Scientology chief puts spotlight on church
An explosive new documentary is pulling back the curtain on the controversial Church of Scientology’s grip on some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, RadarOnline.com reports.
Mark “Marty” Rathbun — former inspector general of the church — speaks out in the new documentary that has aired in Britain called Scientologists at War. Rathbun outlines how the church’s leader, David Miscavige, had him work on a topsecret project in the 1990s to help Tom Cruise.
Cruise has been outspoken in defending the religion and has been actively involved in the church. Rathbun says it was he who lured Cruise’s Vanilla Sky co-star, and exgirlfriend, Penelope Cruz into their sphere.
“Cruise started making some noises about getting some help (from the Church of Scientology, and) Miscavige had me drop everything,” Rathbun told the Channel 4 expose, which provides a rare look behind Scientology’s activities.
Rathbun says Cruise “became No. 1 priority” and he soon found himself the emotional crutch to the star of Jerry Maguire, Top Gun and other hits.
The Scientologists have fired back and called Rathbun “an antiScientologist, desperate and delusional.”
“I audited a number of intensives of confessionals on Tom Cruise from July through November 2001,” Rathbun says in the documentary.
“By order of Miscavige, many of those sessions were secretly recorded by a well-concealed video camera and voice recorder system built into the VIP auditing room at Celebrity Center International.”