Aaron Smith-Levin has another clip from his YouTube project, “Growing Up in Scientology,” and this one is really something. Once again, he’s interviewed Nick Lister, who was talked about in Alex Gibney’s documentary Going Clear. Nick has some revelations about working in the Tom Cruise household and how seriously Tom holds Scientology’s concepts of discipline, even as it applies to his own family. Aaron has supplied us with this description of what you’re going to see…
Some in the media have speculated that perhaps Tom Cruise is considering leaving Scientology so he can spend more time with his daughter Suri. More serious media outlets know that this is just spin. Nick has a story which provides some new insight into just how militantly Tom uses the policies of Scientology and to what degree the Church of Scientology has been involved in every aspect of his life, beyond finding him girlfriends and tricking out cars and airplane hangars.
In this video Nick describes how shortly after Tom Cruise won his IAS Freedom Medal of Valor in 2004, Tom kicked his niece Jamie Lesavoy out of the family (who was 14-years old at the time) for about two years for behavior which he deemed was “unbecoming of a Scientologist and out-PR” (creating a bad image for oneself or Scientology).
Jamie’s offense was simply making out with a boy in Tom’s house in Los Angeles, where Jamie lived with her mother Cass Mapother. Jamie’s activity was caught on Tom’s in-house security cameras. The Scientology security staff working at the house reported Jamie to Tom. Jamie’s punishment was to be sent to Scientology’s “Applied Scholastics” facility in St. Louis to complete Scientology’s lower ethics conditions under the supervision of high-level public Scientologist Bennetta Slaughter.
Bennetta is a notable personality who was significantly involved in the Lisa McPherson debacle. Nick reveals that Bennetta Slaughter and her family have now left Scientology, but are keeping a very low profile.
Scientology’s lower ethics conditions are essentially a series of steps one does to make amends for having done wrong. Lower conditions can usually be completed in days or weeks. Jamie spent two years working on lower conditions before Tom decided she’d done enough and could be allowed back in the family. After working for a full year at the Applied Scholastics facility in St. Louis, Jamie was sent to live with a Scientology family and attend a Scientology private school in Clearwater, FL. Nick met Jamie while he was working at the school Jamie was attending.
Jamie’s mother, Cass Mapother (now married to IAS Freedom Medal Winner Greg Capazorio), was working for her brother Tom in Los Angeles. During this two-year period Jamie was allowed to speak with her mother on the phone but was not allowed to go to LA to see her because Tom did not want Jamie near him. Jamie was not allowed to spend holidays with her mother or attend family gatherings.
Jamie had to submit a written request to be accepted back into the family. Final approval of the request could only be given by Tom, not Jamie’s mother. Before Tom would even review Jamie’s request it had to first be submitted for approval by the President’s Office at Flag and then the request had to be forwarded to RTC, the senior-most organization that controls all of Scientology and which is run by David Miscavige.
Only once the request had been approved by the President’s Office at Flag and by RTC could it be sent to Tom. The first time Tom received the request he disapproved it, saying that more amends needed to be done. Eventually Jamie was accepted back into the family by Tom and was allowed to move back to Los Angeles.
Jamie Lesavoy later joined staff at the Church of Scientology in LA (LA Org) and a few years ago she joined the Sea Organization where she still works to this day. It’s not unheard of for a celebrity’s child to join the SO, however the Sea Org recruiters in Los Angeles had very explicit orders never to attempt to recruit any members of Tom Cruise’s family as earlier attempts to do so had created big upsets in the family. None of Tom’s nieces or nephews were encouraged to join staff or the Sea Org, so it’s a bit of a mystery why Jamie would make that decision. We can only speculate, but we are left to wonder if perhaps signing up to work for Scientology was the only way Jamie could truly make amends for having offended Tom’s conservative sensibilities.
What makes this story a bit different than other stories where the Church has broken apart or separated families, is that this was not done by the Church. It was Tom Cruise who personally decided his young niece should be sent away from her own mother to live with strange families on the other side of the country.
We have heard stories of Tom taking on the brutal personality of David Miscavige. This is an example of the toll that has taken within Tom’s own family.
— Aaron Smith-Levin
(Additional note from Aaron: Only after this segment was filmed was it discovered that the camera was set to 480P. He apologizes for the quality of the picture.)
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Houston, we have a problem
Actually, we have no problem at all. Please join us tonight at the Fox and Hound on Westheimer Road in Houston with the Humanists of Houston as we talk about our new book, “The Unbreakable Miss Lovely,” as well as new developments in Scientology! Festivities start at 7 pm, and this is a fun venue with food and drinks.
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BOOK NOTES
We didn’t get a chance to include photos in our book, so we’ve posted them at a dedicated page. Reader Sookie put together a complete index and we’re hosting it here on the website. Copies of the paperback version of ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely’ are on sale at Amazon. The Kindle edition is also available, and shipping instantly.
Our upcoming appearances (and check out the interactive map to our ongoing tour)…
July 22: Houston, Fox and Hound, 11470 Westheimer Road, 7 pm, sponsored by Humanists of Houston
July 24: San Antonio, Folc Restaurant/Park Social, 6 pm
July 25: Austin, Cafe Express on Lamar, 3 pm, Center for Inquiry
July 29: Paris, Le Bistrot Landais, 19:00 (with Jonny Jacobsen)
August 4: London, Conway Hall, (with John Sweeney)
August 24: Boston, Boston Skeptics in the Pub, 7 pm (with Gregg Housh)
Sept 15: Arizona State University
Sept 23: Cleveland
Sept 24: Minneapolis
Sept 27: Portland
Sept 28: Seattle
Sept 29: Vancouver, BC
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 22, 2015 at 07:00
E-mail your tips and story ideas to tonyo94@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. Here at the Bunker we try to have a post up every morning at 7 AM Eastern (Noon GMT), and on some days we post an afternoon story at around 2 PM. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of LA attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill
The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
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