Scientologists vetted Cruise’s girlfriends: defector
A defector from the Church of Scientology has spoken out in support of rumours that the organisation auditioned prospective girlfriends for Tom Cruise.
Valerie Haney spent 22 years inside the secretive sect as part of its inner elite, known as the Sea Org.
She claims to have worked closely with David Miscavige, the church’s leader, and his wife, Shelly, who disappeared in 2005. She said that Shelly Miscavige had been instructed to find a partner for the actor after his divorce from Nicole Kidman. The church dismissed the claims as lies.
Haney says that she broke away from the church in 2016, since when the organisation has turned her family against her. She described her ‘‘escape’’ on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, an Emmy awardwinning documentary series hosted by Remini, an actress brought up in the sect.
Haney went into more detail in an interview with The Underground Bunker, a blog that covers Scientology. By her account David Miscavige led an empty but extravagant existence punctuated by outbursts of anger at those around him. He would rise at 11am, breakfast after noon and spend much of his day watching sport or films while his cowed acolytes slaved for him.
She got on well with Cruise, who ‘‘was nicer than Dave’’. The actor was introduced to Scientology by his first wife, Mimi Rogers, whom he married in 1987. He was already a huge star and he and David Miscavige ‘‘worshipped each other’’. During his second marriage, to Kidman, Cruise became more distant from the church. In the 2015 documentary Going Clear, former members said that they were asked to help to ‘‘facilitate’’ his break-up from the Australian actress, who is not a Scientologist.
The couple divorced in 2001 and three years later Shelly Miscavige was said to have been put in charge of auditioning women to be the actor’s next girlfriend. ‘‘She thought it was ridiculous,’’ Haney said. ‘‘She was just doing what Dave asked her to do. But it absolutely happened.’’
The church said that the accusations made in the film were ‘‘entirely false’’.
When Vanity Fair alleged in 2012 that women were being auditioned, the church’s lawyers accused the magazine of shoddy journalism and religious bigotry, and threatened legal action.
Cruise’s lawyer called the story ‘‘essentially a rehash of tired old lies previously run in the supermarket tabloids, quoting the same bogus ’sources’ ‘‘.
Haney believes that Shelly Miscavige has been sent to the church’s mountain compound near Lake Arrowhead, California, and will spend the rest of her life there.
The Church of Scientology said: ‘‘Valerie Haney is outright lying and making up stories as part of her employment for Leah Remini.’’ The organisation also published a video titled Valerie Haney: Leah Remini’s Paid Liar.
‘‘Valerie Haney is outright lying and making up stories as part of her employment for Leah Remini.’’ The Church of Scientology