FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

Tom Cruise’s son Connor to marry Scientology staffer in the church’s Florida mecca

[Connor Cruise and Silvia Zanchi]

In yet another sign of just how dedicated Tom Cruise and his older children are to Scientology, Australia’s Woman’s Day magazine is reporting that Cruise’s 24-year-old son Connor is preparing to marry Silvia Zanchi, a Scientologist from Bergamo, Italy who is a staff worker at Scientology’s mission in Belleair, Florida.

The Belleair mission is very close to Scientology’s Florida ‘mecca’ of technical perfection, the Flag Land Base in the city of Clearwater, Florida, where Connor has been living and where his father is completing the building of a double penthouse in a building known as the Skyview.

We noted recently we’d found evidence that on March 6, Tom Cruise had been in the front row for the L. Ron Hubbard Birthday Event, one of Scientology’s most important annual events, which is held in Clearwater to celebrate Hubbard’s March 13, 1911 birth. And just two days ago, we broke the news that Connor’s sister, Isabella, 26, was featured in a promotional email put out by the Scientology org in London describing her completion of an internship there to become a Scientology auditor.

This is a family deeply devoted to Scientology, despite occasional tabloid claims to the contrary.

Scientology’s own publications indicate that besides being a staffer at the Belleair mission, Silvia Zanchi completed the expensive Super Power processes in Clearwater in 2017 and she completed preparations for the secretive upper OT levels last year.

Advertisement

She has also showed up online in promotional photos and videos put out by the mission, as Rod Keller noted in the past.

In 2015, Rod posted this video of Silvia and three other members of the mission’s “Executive Committee” celebrating their win in the annual LRH Birthday Game, raising more money that year than any other mission in the world. Silvia is the one on the lower right.

 

 
In 2014, Zanchi showed up on a list posted at Mike Rinder’s blog. She had come in third place, at $16,072, for selling books in the “Book Masters League,” whatever that means.

Mary Kahn, who was featured in the first season of Leah Remini’s A&E series Scientology and the Aftermath, tells us she remembers Silvia from the Belleair mission.

“She was one of the Italians who work at Belleair Mission. I’d say she’s a pretty and nice girl but I can’t shake the shock I had when she wrote a Knowledge Report on me for saying something minor and barely negative about the church. I never did like much the really serious and ‘hardcore’ Scientologists.”

When Katie Holmes split from Tom Cruise in 2012, reporters asked us why she might have left at that point in time. We noted that their daughter Suri was 6 years old then, and right about the age when children born to Scientologist parents might begin their initial steps in Scientology indoctrination.

But more importantly, we pointed out, Katie had spent several years watching how Tom’s older children, Isabella and Connor, were going through that indoctrination. We suggested that Katie’s observation of Bella and Connor in Scientology might have been all the example she needed to make sure Suri didn’t experience the same.

Now, this week we’ve received more confirmation than ever just how much Isabella and Connor Cruise remain dedicated members of their father’s obsession, the Church of Scientology.

 
——————–

HowdyCon 2019 in Los Angeles

This year’s HowdyCon is in Los Angeles. People tend to come in starting on Thursday, and that evening we will have a casual get-together at a watering hole. We have something in mind, but for now we’re not giving out information about it.

Friday night we will be having an event in a theater (like we did on Saturday night last year in Chicago). There will not be a charge to attend this event, but if you want to attend, you need to RSVP with your proprietor at tonyo94 AT gmail.

On Saturday, we are joining forces with Janis Gillham Grady, who is having a reunion in honor of the late Bill Franks. Originally, we thought this event might take place in Riverside, but instead it’s in the Los Angeles area. If you wish to attend the reunion, you will need to RSVP with Janis (janisgrady AT gmail), and there will be a small contribution she’s asking for in order to help cover her costs.

HOTEL: Janis tells us she’s worked out a deal with Hampton Inn and Suites, at 7501 North Glenoaks Blvd, Burbank, (818) 768-1106. We have a $159 nightly rate for June 19 to 22.

 

 
——————–

Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

[The Big Three: Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley]

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Leah Remini is still being stalked, and now Scientology has turned to an ex-NYPD detective
[TWO years ago] Scientology’s gateway drug: The personality test and what it’s actually telling you
[THREE years ago] Talking Scientology with actor and podcaster Ethan McKinley
[FOUR years ago] ‘Going Clear’: Sara Goldberg on how Scientology turned her own daughter against her
[FIVE years ago] Jillian Schlesinger: How I got into Scientology, and how I got out
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s Version of Family Values: The Group is Everything
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s ‘Writers of the Future’ Contest Loses a Participant After Our Expose

 
——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,398 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 1,527 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,031 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 1,511 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 574 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 462 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 3,769 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,637 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,411 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,185 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,531 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,097 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,017 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,184 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,765 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,025 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,065 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,777 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,303 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,392 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,532 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 2,852 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 7,708 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 2,827 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,183 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,485 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,591 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 1,993 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 1,865 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,448 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 1,943 days.
Mary Jane Sterne has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,197 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,306 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on March 26, 2019 at 07:00

E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | 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 | Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | 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

Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…

Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele

 

Share Button
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
ADVERTISEMENT