We want to thank the numerous readers who sent us links to news breaking out all over the place about Rebecca Minkoff, her Scientology upbringing, and Real Housewives of New York.
It was Deadline that first broke the news on Tuesday afternoon that as the Housewives franchise has been filming for its 15th season in New York City, Minkoff has been included as a possible friend to the main cast.
It’s been quite a few years since we’ve indulged in a marathon of Housewives messiness, but the method appears to be to bring in such figures to see which ones gel with the main cast and produce some drama and spats, or whatever, and it’s too soon to know how much of a role Minkoff will have in the episodes of the new season that actually air.
Deadline’s piece first mentioning that Minkoff was taking part told readers that she was well known as a handbag designer, and that she had established her fashion brand with her brother, Uri Minkoff. It also pointed out that she had appeared on Project Runway in the past, another Bravo series.
Later that evening, People magazine joined the party, saying they had confirmed the news, but basically repeating the things Deadline had said.
An hour later, at about 7:11 pm, Page Six jumped in, and appears to be the first to add that Minkoff is a longtime Scientologist, and they even posted this rather unfortunate photo of the fashion icon with an old friend, fellow Scientologist celebrity and now imprisoned convicted rapist, Danny Masterson. Page Six said that the photo is “already being texted among show insiders.”
Page Six also credited Minkoff with being “willing to talk about” Scientology, and then included some totally not revealing quotes about the organization and her role in it.
New York magazine then added to the scrum, and quoted a 2021 New York Times profile of Minkoff where she said there was “horrific misinformation” about Scientology among the public.
So, at this point, the press is anticipating some sparks flying on Real Housewives as a Scientology celebrity who has defended the church in interviews may end up in a messy fight about it. “Is RHONY about to get its first Scientology story line?” New York asks.
Here at the Underground Bunker we’ve been writing about Rebecca Minkoff’s actual involvement and activity for the Church of Scientology for years and years.
She and her brother Uri, for example, are the children of David Minkoff, the notorious quack physician who lost his medical license for a year after his involvement in the 1995 death of Scientologist victim Lisa McPherson.
What got David Minkoff into trouble is that when Scientologists had checked McPherson out of a hospital and tried to deal with her obvious extreme mental breakdown in a cabana room at the Fort Harrison Hotel, they would call Minkoff, who was working out of a hospital 45 minutes away, to ask him about giving McPherson sedatives. He told them what to give her without actually seeing the patient.
Later, after 17 days of confinement in the hotel room and when it was clear that McPherson was dying, her Scientologist caretakers put her in a van, and instead of driving her to the nearest hospital drove the 45 minutes so Minkoff could see her. By the time they got there, Minkoff knew right away that she had already died.
It was for prescribing the sedatives without actually seeing McPherson that caused David Minkoff to lose his license for a year, and he was fined $10,000. We know some of you are probably shocked at the thought of such a thing as a physician who is a Scientologist (a physician should know better, after all), but Minkoff not only got his license back after a year, he’s still pushing quack therapies today. In 2016, Rod Keller wrote a story for us outlining some of the pseudoscience therapies that Minkoff pushes at his Lifeworks Wellness Center in Clearwater, Florida. And a check of the center’s website shows that he’s offering the same woo to patients today.
Now, if your father was well known as a major Scientology quack who was involved in the Lisa McPherson tragedy, you might think that someone like Rebecca Minkoff, with her own high-profile career in fashion, might keep her Scientology affiliation a bit on the back burner, right?
But that’s why we were surprised to see she was doing the opposite.
A few months after Rod’s piece for us about what a quack David Minkoff still is, we reported in June 2017 that his daughter Rebecca had showed up in a big way for Scientology’s sneaky front group, Foundation for a Drug Free World, for an annual awards event it holds in New York.
This is, of course, the New York operation run by Scientology Freedom Medal winners Bernard Fialkoff and his daughter Meghan, who have spent years and years getting bogus L. Ron Hubbard materials about drugs into New York city schools, with the help of the New York Police Department.
And there was Rebecca, showing up to lend her celebrity to the cause.
For that story, we talked to “celebrity whisperer” Quailynn McDaniel, who had known Rebecca and especially Uri Minkoff when she was in the church.
“Rebecca’s involvement has increased over the years,” Quailynn tells us. “She wasn’t active until she got famous. Now the church has her deep in their pocket, but she didn’t start that way. Her brother Uri Minkoff came on as her CEO. He’s been a long time spy for OSA, trying to make up the damage his dad caused the church.”
After that, we noticed that Minkoff kept up her support for the Fialkoffs and Drug-Free World, including their stunt opening NASDAQ one morning in September 2017.
But perhaps the biggest sign of Rebecca Minkoff’s hardcore dedication to Scientology and her willingness to lend her image and celebrity to the cause occurred two years later, in 2019, when the whole Minkoff family showed up to receive a new trophy from church leader David Miscavige.
This particular ceremony recognizing Scientology’s big donors had taken place in Clearwater (again, where David Minkoff has his quack palace) and the occasion was the 2019 celebration of founder L. Ron Hubbard’s birthday, which is on March 13, the holiest day on the Scientology calendar.
We believe the photos were taken at the Flag Building across the street from the Fort Harrison Hotel, and among the big donors we were pretty surprised to see David Minkoff along with his famous daughter as they picked up a trophy for donating a cumulative amount of $5 million to Miscavige’s legal slush fund, the International Association of Scientologists.
Now that’s commitment to the cause.
We have a feeling, though, that the things that Rebecca Minkoff should be asked about — her efforts to help Scientology infiltrate New York City’s schools, her father’s quack medical practices that helped kill a Scientologist in Florida, her friendship with convicted rapist Danny Masterson and the testimony in his trials about how his victims were punished by Scientology — won’t come up in the Housewives show, or in any press interviews she gives about it.
But we can dream.
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Technology Cocktail
“You are dealing with an exact activity in Standard Dianetics. It has no ‘special cases’ or ‘exceptions.’ The procedure is the procedure and it is the procedure that gets the wins.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1969
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 as Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison. NOW WITH TRIAL INDEX.
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?
[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH
— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see
[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf
— The first Danny Masterson trial and beyond
[18] Trial special with Chris Shelton [19] Trial week one [20] Marc Headley on the spy in the hallway [21] Trial week two [22] Trial week three [23] Trial week four [24] Leah Remini on LAPD Corruption [25] Mike Rinder 2022 Thanksgiving Special [26] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part One [27] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part Two [28] Claire Headley on the trial [29] Tory Christman [30] Bruce Hines on spying [31] Karen de la Carriere [32] Ron Miscavige on Shelly Miscavige [33] Karen de la Carriere on the L’s [34] Mark Bunker on Miscavige hiding [35] Mark Plummer [36] Mark Ebner [37] Karen Pressley [38] Steve Cannane [39] Fredrick Brennan [40] Clarissa Adams [41] Louise Shekter [42] John Sweeney [43] Tory Christman [44] Kate Bornstein [45] Christian Stolte [46] Mark Bunker [47] Jon Atack [48] Luke Y. Thompson [49] Mark Ebner [50] Bruce Hines [51] Spanky Taylor and Karen Pressley [51] Geoff and Robbie Levin [52] Sands Hall [53] Jonny Jacobsen [54] Sandy Holeman [55] Mark Bunker [56] Trish and Liz Conley [57] Trish Conley [58] Alex Barnes-Ross [59] Alex Barnes-Ross [60] Alex Barnes-Ross [61] Alex Barnes-Ross [62] Alex Barnes-Ross [63] Alex Barnes-Ross [64] Tory Christman [65] Tammy Synovec [66] Dennis Erlich [67] Alex Barnes-Ross [68] Valerie Ross [69] Kat in Austin [70] Mark Bunker [71] Phil Jones
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“I had an example of this. I had a couple of words on a line plot, when I was auditing, and they didn’t make much sense, and I let them go by! They didn’t make any sense to me and by George, we had a wrong item! And as soon as we got the thing straightened out and they did make sense, and so forth, they rocket read, and we went ahead beautifully. The point I’m stressing here is even though you have those forms, don’t try to gobbledygook it. Because gobbledygook won’t work. But sometimes it looks a little gobbledygooky, let’s get the idea of ‘to be Catholic.’ Let’s say that somebody had a goal like that. Got it down in the Vatican or somewhere, they got implanted, and ‘to be Catholic,’ you know. And you get down to the ‘-ness’ form of the goal. And you say, well that’s obviously the beingness of a Catholic. But by George, that doesn’t work! And you finally find out that it’s ‘Catholicness.’ Makes sense, doesn’t it? Catholicness. It isn’t an English word, but it’s a perfectly decent concept. It’s the ‘-ness’ ness of being a Catholic. See? And Catholicness, you’ll find out will fire right at that point, very nice.” — L. Ron Hubbard, April 18, 1963
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“NAME CHANGE: The harbour recognized the ship but not the flag or name and were curious. So you better know why so you can explain it. The Hubbard Exploration Co Ltd was the original owner. It was a British Company. Because of currency restrictions the ships were sold to me, then to Operation and Transport Corporation of Panama, a Panama Company so the flag and name had to be changed. We run student cruises and came from Cadiz and will eventually be returning there. We cruise on the coasts of the Western Med.” — The Commodore, April 18, 1969
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“One applies the capability to postulate at a level of pure static. Previous auditing actually accomplished this in varying degrees but it didn’t knowingly use that residual free theta to wisely postulate at that moment of conversion – a knowing and willing CAUSE. I exteriorized from whole track identities and realized it was who I thought I was. The beingness called basic personality was just a collection of winning identities up the track. I looked at the winning identities and said ‘that’s me’; lo, even these as-is and static regains with more wisdom.”
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1999: MSNBC reported on Scientologist John Coale’s relationship with the U.S. President. “John Coale, the high-profile Washington lawyer who has been behind several big anti-tobacco cases, continues to solidify his White House ties. Coale, and his high-profile wife, CNN commentator Greta van Susteren, are high-level Scientologists. Some say Coale is taking on certain cases to get closer to Clinton in his anti-tobacco cases and to further Scientology’s various causes. ‘No one ever accused John Coale of being dumb,’ says a source who has dealt with him often as an adversary. ‘His and Greta’s ties with the Clintons certainly don’t hurt them.'”
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“It would be fun if there were real monsters, but the only real monsters on this planet are us.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Found guilty on two counts on May 31, remanded to custody. Sentenced to 30 years to life on Sep 7.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Next pretrial hearing May 17, 2024.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud.
Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Some defamation claims were removed by Judge Hammock. Leah seeking to amend her complaint.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration. Plaintiffs allowed interlocutory appeal to Eleventh Circuit.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: motion to file new complaint, hearing on May 29.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration, hearing on April 16.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Ordered to mediation.
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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] Day one at the Danny Masterson retrial was wild, what’s in store for day two?
[TWO years ago] How it went down: Transcript of Judge Olmedo denying Danny Masterson’s latest subpoenas
[THREE years ago] Scientology social media: Taking the planet higher than it’s ever been
[FOUR years ago] Scientology denied: Watch Clearwater church members calling Mark Bunker a bigot
[FIVE years ago] When Scientology is caught spying, it always pretends it was the victim
[SIX years ago] Spinning cars, self-healing cuts — more ‘OT’ ghost stories from Scientologists
[SEVEN years ago] DOX: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s nutty scheme to strong-arm America’s psychologists
[EIGHT years ago] Louis Theroux’s ‘My Scientology Movie’ premieres at Tribeca: Our on-scene report
[NINE years ago] Scientology hit with another federal lawsuit over refunds — but with a twist
[TEN years ago] The rising business star, his mother, and Scientology’s attempt to rip them apart
[ELEVEN years ago] Hysterical Hyper-Sight, and Other Lost Concepts of Dianetics
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Tammy Synovec has not seen her daughter Julia in 2,874 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 3,369 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,884 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,434 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,424 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,305 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 5,609 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,480 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,032 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,373 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,940 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,859 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,027 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 4,608 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,869 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,905 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 3,621 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 3,185 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,500 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,675 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 7,226 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,357 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,695 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,548 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,669 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,025 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 7,328 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,434 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,832 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,708 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,273 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,786 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,040 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,148 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 18, 2024 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, 1995-2022 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2022), 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
Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast
