How many times have the tabloids written this story, that Tom Cruise is maybe, perhaps, leaving Scientology, basing that claim on nameless “insiders” whose quotes always turn out to be built on pure vapor?
The Sun is the latest to engage in this wishful thinking, claiming that Cruise is acting strange lately and suggesting that he’s being pulled in different directions by the Covid pandemic and by Scientology.
The Sun claims that a source told them in the past that Cruise was spending a lot of time at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England (something that was never confirmed), and now that same source hasn’t seen Tom lately. Conclusion? Tom is ditching Scientology.
That’s really all they have, and it’s especially weak. But this is an unusual year, with Scientology not holding any international events since New Year’s Eve 2020, and so we figure it’s very tempting for the tabloids to fill that vacuum with the story that they never can resist: Tom is free!
Cruise first got into Scientology when he started dating actress Mimi Rogers in 1986, and by the time they were married on Dianetics Day (May 9) in 1987, he was hooked. He left Mimi for Nicole Kidman in 1990, and it’s true that Nicole initially was a very dedicated Scientologist. But by 1992 she had drifted away from it and took Tom with her. Cruise kept an arm’s length from the church (with a few exceptions) for eight years, 1992 to 2000, when he and Nicole broke up and Scientology leader David Miscavige became determined to get Tom back in the fold. By 2004 Cruise was so gung-ho, Miscavige gave him the special Freedom Medal of Valor at that October’s IAS celebration at Saint Hill.
So yes, there is precedence for Tom drifting away from the church, but since he became Valor Boy in 2004, we haven’t seen any evidence that he’s wavered in the least.
In 2019, for example, the last year when Scientology did hold international events, Cruise not only was in the front row at the L. Ron Hubbard birthday event held in Florida that March, but he also attended the October IAS gala and brought his children Isabella and Connor with him.
It was the first time we had ever seen Cruise attend two of the international events in a single year, and he had never brought his children with him before.
So based on that evidence, Cruise was more dedicated than ever by the end of 2019.
Since then, yes, the church has shut down its large gatherings. But Cruise has finished building his condo located right inside the footprint of the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida, just a few minutes’ walk from where his best pal David Miscavige is living.
Again, that suggests that Cruise is just as dedicated as ever. And the lack of sightings of him in Clearwater should be considered with caution: As we pointed out when we first broke the news of the Clearwater penthouse condo, Cruise designed it so he could drive directly into his private garage, walk across an air bridge, and take an elevator directly to his swanky pad without ever having to emerge on the street.
The Sun suggests that because Cruise had a temper tantrum on the set of Mission Impossible: 7 about crew members not following Covid protocols carefully enough, that it puts him at odds with Scientology, whose members tend to be anti-vaccination and anti-maskers.
Again, that’s really weak. As we’ve tried to explain innumerable times, in Scientology celebrities like Cruise are valuable to the church because of their success, and as a result they can largely ignore the rules that rank-and-file members have to follow. Cruise’s concerns about getting his film finished during a pandemic have literally nothing to do with what Scientology members are doing about the health crisis. Some Scientologists might consider the Coronavirus a hoax (as we’ve pointed out numerous times) which is seemingly at odds with Cruise acting hardcore about Covid protocols on the set of his movie, and it’s of no consequence at all.
With Top Gun: Maverick scheduled to be released in November, there’s still time for other tabs to jump on the bandwagon and tell us that Tom has spurned Miscavige and is returning to Katie or Suri or both.
They just can’t help themselves, apparently.
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“God help you someday when you get somebody who has an engram fifteen-trillion-trillion years long. Try to find the beginning of that! Before you’ve gone halfway through, of course, your date is so wrong that it’s jamming the track anyway. And just time after time, you find the earlier part of it and you find the earlier part of it and you find an earlier part of it — and finally, you finally get it all worked out and you find out that this thing which first registered as one and one-half hours long was actually 15 trillion-trillion years in length. Somebody stuck in a mountain that long; couldn’t get out. That’s rough. That’s hard to do. It’s hard to do when everything else is correct. So you’ve got to have everything else correct and then it can be done. But it is not easy to do when all signs and portents are favorable. Got that?” — L. Ron Hubbard, July 10, 1963
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“STOP PRESS: We just won the New Zealand inquiry! Sydney halting further action because of this. Org in Auckland normal Op in stats with our Dian course going full blast.” — The Commodore, July 10, 1969
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“Most people can’t read but think they can, and they can’t read and properly understand what they are reading because they don’t know what all the words mean. Fancy words confuse a person and they don’t even know they are confused and then they walk around thinking they’ve read something and understand it but they haven’t, and they really just needed a dictionary. But it gets tricky because the dictionaries usually use fancy words to describe the word you are looking up, so you end up on an adventure. But it’s better then walking around not knowing what something says while thinking you know what it says. That’s being a lefty.”
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1999: Gregg Hagglund‘s parents were the target of revenge this week. “A vicious, premeditated and emotionally explosive letter from Scientology agent Peter Ramsay. This attack, containing completely false and scurrilous information about myself, and apparently based on the extortionate letter sent to Ron Sharp and Alan Barclay, has, as intended, devastated my parents emotionally. Further, Mr. Ramsay threatens to spread Scientology oily venomous black propaganda about me throughout my parents’ neighborhood, as well as the neighborhood of my brothers family and at the Church my Ottawa Family attends on communal worship day. Of course, this latest terrorist attack has my parents upset at me more than the evil criminal organisation which concocted it. Well, despite the Family upset, I will keep picketing! And letter writing too! Scientology did not get Charity Status in Canada and is not likely to. Now I will strip their marriage privilege with only truth and facts. And then we will see how the Co$ fares after its advertising and promotions are examined under the same conditions and restrictions as any other corporation must.”
“Hubbard said that all science fiction was based on whole track incidents that the authors were subconsciously remembering.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next hearing set for August 9. Trial tentatively scheduled for early November.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference August 21 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: June 18 pretrial conference delayed until July 9.
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition to US Supreme Court submitted on May 26. Scientology responded on June 25.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: California Supreme Court granted review on May 26 and asked the Second Appellate Division to direct Judge Steven Kleifield to show cause why he granted Scientology’s motion for arbitration.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 24.
Concluded litigation:
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON
We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. 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 a weekly series. How many have you read?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Christmas in July: Videos of Scientology stars raising money for their pals at the LAPD
[TWO years ago] When Scientology has you dividing up funerals because family never really matters
[THREE years ago] Former Scientologists, academics, and Falun Gong get together for a Philly blowout
[FOUR years ago] Hip-hip-hooray! We have the newest Scientology propaganda about creating an ‘Ideal World’
[FIVE years ago] Scientology continues to push for ‘Battlefield Earth’ sales, and you can get this T-shirt!
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s day care from hell: The scandal the church managed to keep hidden — until now
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology begins hitting back at Ryan Hamilton and his lawsuits
[EIGHT years ago] Indie Scientologists Try to Spoil “Super Power” Release as it (Supposedly) Nears Debut
[NINE years ago] Tom Cruise Gets Visitation Rights? Why Don’t We, Ask Ex-Scientologists Cut Off From Family Members
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,357 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,862 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,382 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,402 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,293 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,600 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,468 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,242 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,572 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,046 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,362 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,928 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,847 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,015 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,596 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,857 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,895 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,608 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,133 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 488 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,663 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,214 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,363 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,683 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,538 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,657 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,013 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,316 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,422 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,824 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,696 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,279 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,774 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,028 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,137 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on July 10, 2021 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, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), 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, 15 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
