The film being celebrated tonight at Anne Archer’s house, and showing tomorrow night at USC
[BREAKING: See below for an important new story that aired this morning in Australia about a young woman reportedly held against her will by Scientology after having a mental breakdown.]
Roger Friedman over at Showbiz 411 put up an interesting story on Friday. He said that Anne Archer’s “Artists for Human Rights” — a Scientology front group — was going to host a cocktail party for documentary filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen, and he wondered if she was aware that Archer and her Scientologist husband, Terry Jastrow, were connected with the church.
But it was something else Friedman said in the article that really grabbed our attention. He mentioned that Anne Archer’s son Tommy Davis “is the chief celebrity wrangler for Scientology.”
We wondered if Roger just hadn’t heard the news we reported last October that Tommy has left his job as Scientology’s chief spokesman, and that according to both John Sweeney and Lawrence Wright in their recent books, Tommy has also left Scientology’s “Sea Org” and is living in Austin, Texas.
But things got even more interesting when one of our tipsters told us about a cryptic conversation overheard in Los Angeles a few days ago, and we’re wondering if Tommy might not be making an appearance in LA after all. Here’s what we know…
Despite Scientology’s own dubious record on human rights — signing children to billion-year contracts as young as six years old, forcing young women in the Sea Org to have abortions, and engaging in decades of legal and covert harassment of former members and journalists, to name just a few examples — in recent years the church has added “international human rights” to its traditional “good works” efforts in drug rehab and school materials.
That has spawned such cynical front group operations like “Youth for Human Rights,” which ropes in unsuspecting young people for exposure to L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, as well as Anne Archer’s group, “Artists for Human Rights.”
Recently, Archer’s group sent around this flier, inviting people to her home tonight for a celebration of a 2010 documentary, War Don Don, by filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen…
Anne, of course, is most famous for playing Michael Douglas’s wife in 1987’s Fatal Attraction, for which she was nominated for an Oscar. For Scientology watchers, she’s also well known for her performance on BBC’s Panorama program in 2007. (We are not responsible for the sentiments in this short video)…
Her husband Terry Jastrow is a big time television producer, and just happens to be on the cover of the most recent issue of Scientology’s Celebrity magazine…
Anne’s son, Tommy Davis, shot into prominence as Scientology’s chief spokesman from about 2007 to 2010, when he had a disastrous encounter with Lawrence Wright at the offices of the New Yorker, which is fully explained in Wright’s recent book, Going Clear.
Briefly, Davis put himself into a classic bind when, in an attempt to head off what would become Wright’s February 2011 epic New Yorker profile of Paul Haggis, he and the church produced military records to back up the church’s claim that L. Ron Hubbard was seriously wounded in World War II, and then healed himself with methods that formed the basis of Dianetics and then Scientology. But if it could be shown that those injury claims were lies, then Scientology itself was in big trouble. Said Davis, if Hubbard hadn’t been injured, then “the injuries that he handled by the use of Dianetics procedures were never handled, because they were injuries that never existed; therefore, Dianetics is based on a lie; therefore, Scientology is based on a lie.”
Wright then showed conclusively that the church’s war documents were in fact fakes. Hubbard was never injured in the war. He sought medical assistance for ulcers, conjunctivitis caused by exposure to tropical sunshine, and hemorrhoids.
It’s always risky to say that one or another event is what prompted Scientology leader David Miscavige to torpedo the career of one of his executives, but this episode seems more likely than most. For whatever reason, after 2010, Davis was rarely seen, and as we said earlier, he’s been reported to be living in Austin with his wife Jessica Feshbach (also a former church spokesperson) after the two washed out of the Sea Org.
However…
A few days ago one of our many tipsters reported to us an intriguing, but fragmentary conversation overheard in a Los Angeles hair salon. It involved a Scientologist who was feverishly talking into a mobile phone, spewing the customary acronym-heavy jargon of a Hubbard follower.
While our tipster couldn’t get every word down, the point of the conversation indicated that “Tommy” was coming to town and was on the “RSVP list,” and “Anne” had been called to confirm that Tommy was, in fact coming and Anne had said yes. Also, “they are here, but just for a little bit and going to Dallas for a few months. They are definitely out.”
Now, we’ve never really understood why the mainstream media seems to have such a fascination for Tommy Davis, but if they’re really jonesing for a glimpse of him, it might be worth the time to send a photographer around to see if any snaps can be taken of Anne’s guests arriving at her party tonight.
Alternatively, Rebecca Richman Cohen’s film is also being shown tomorrow night at USC, and Anne Archer will be speaking. The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Ray Stark Family Theater. Will her son be along? We don’t really know, but it might be nice to see the family all together in one place. Just a thought.
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BREAKING: AUSTRALIA’S ABC AIRS A DISTURBING STORY ABOUT SCIENTOLOGY’S TREATMENT OF A MENTALLY ILL YOUNG WOMAN
About an hour before our post on Tommy Davis and Anne Archer was scheduled to publish this morning, we heard from ABC’s Steve Cannane about a disturbing story airing in Australia at about 6:30 AM Eastern, 10:30 PM Sydney time. It was broadcast just a few minutes ago. Here’s the full script to the segment, but we’re leaving out the young woman’s name for now.
The Church of Scientology in Sydney has been accused of holding a young Taiwanese woman hostage after she suffered a mental breakdown.
[The young woman] was hospitalised last March after she badly cut her hand punching a window at Scientology’s Sydney headquarters.
[The young woman]’s family claims she hurt herself trying to escape. The Church of Scientology denies the allegations that she ever was held captive or forced to do anything against her will.
The case once again highlights Scientology’s controversial beliefs about psychiatry.
Steve Cannane has this exclusive report for Lateline.
Cannane: At 20 [the young woman] had a bright future. She was living in Taiwan, studying commerce and working part time in a library. Just over a year later her life is in ruins. Mentally ill and unable to work or study, she shuffles down the street like a woman four times her age. Her family blames the Church of Scientology in Australia.
Cousin of the young woman: A 20 year old girl’s life has been destroyed. It is an evil cult, just nothing but an evil cult.
Cannane: In late 2011, not long after being introduced to Scientology, [the young woman] was recruited to the Church’s elite Sea Organisation, signing the standard billion-year contract and moving here to Dundas in Sydney’s west.
The cousin: She was only told that she will do a course, helping her reach a higher level in Scientology. So the Scientologists in Taiwan took [her] to get a deferral in her studies and flew her to Australia immediately.
Cannane: Taiwan has become a key recruiting ground for the Church of Scientology in Sydney. According to former insiders, so many Australian Scientologists have left in recent years that at least half of the staff here now are Taiwanese. These pictures shot from a park next to the church’s headquarters give a rare snapshot of what life is like here…in the morning recruits are drilled in a military-like fashion…marching and saluting before heading off for a long day’s work. [The young woman]’s family and friends say she soon tired of this life and asked to leave.
The cousin: They put her into a place called the “isolation room.” She was still offered food but was locked in a room. It is an isolation room in the Sea Organisation.
Cannane: One night in March last year [the young woman] smashed a window in the Dundas building, badly damaging her right hand — her family say she was trying to escape. An ambulance was called and [she] was taken to hospital. She was diagnosed with a mental illness. According to her medical records she told hospital staff she had been held hostage by Scientology members. No-one from the Church of Scientology was available for interview, their lawyer Stuart Gibson denies the allegations.
Stuart Gibson, Church of Scientology Lawyer: No look, Stephen, that’s a nonsense. She was at Dundas first of all at her own volition and at all times she was free to leave Dundas. And I might hold up for the camera a couple of photographs of the facility at Dundas which if you can clearly see would hardly say that it’s Fort Knox — people that are there can access and egress that facility easily so that allegation is an absolute nonsense.
Cannane: Was she put in isolation?
Gibson: No she wasn’t put in isolation. I think that is a derogatory term. She was actually in a sick bay.
Cannane: But [the young woman]’s brother, suspicious of what was going on, recorded a phone conversation from Taiwan with a Scientology official in Sydney. Lateline has been told that is Mei Tsu Lee, a former President of the Church of Scientology in Taiwan. In the conversation Ms Lee admits [the young woman] was placed in isolation.
Mei Tsu Lee: I was with her in the isolation room after she became unstable.
Cannane: Mei Tsu Lee was unavailable for interview.
Stuart Gibson, Church of Scientology Lawyer: Well I don’t know, you’d have to take that up with her. The fact is she was in a sick bay. There is no isolation and there’s never been isolation and to use that term is a derogatory term and it was nothing of the case.
Cannane: If isolation is a derogatory term why is it that L Ron Hubbard said you need to put people in isolation when they have a psychotic break?
Gibson: No, that’s not true.
Cannane: I’ve got the statement. It is true, he says anyone who has a psychotic break needs to be placed in isolation.
Gibson: No, we categorically deny that.
Cannane: Here’s Scientology’s official policy on what they call the Introspection Rundown — a procedure to deal with mental breakdowns written by their founder L Ron Hubbard. Under the heading “Isolation” it says, “With someone in a psychotic break, it is necessary to isolate the person for him to destimulate and to protect him and others from possible damage. While in isolation the person receives the Introspection RD done flawlessly on a short session basis, gradiently winning and gaining confidence. Between sessions the muzzled rule is in force. No one speaks to the person or in his hearing.” Hubbard described this policy as a technical breakthrough which possibly ranks with the major discoveries of the Twentieth Century. This policy was followed with tragic consequences in 1995. Lisa MacPherson, a young Scientologist in Florida, had a mental breakdown. Instead of seeking psychiatric treatment the Church of Scientology put her in isolation in a hotel room. She died 17 days later. The Church of Scientology is opposed to psychiatry, labeling it an industry of death.
From “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” — “In the past four decades nearly twice as many Americans have died in government psychiatric hospitals then in all U.S. wars since 1776.”
Cannane: The day before Lateline was due to interview Scientology’s lawyer, this story took another turn. The ABC’s Managing Director Mark Scott received an email from [the young woman] where she denies she was held against her will, or was treated badly or hurt herself trying to escape. The email says, “I do not give ABC, your reporter or any other media for that matter permission to publicise or use my unfortunate circumstances to your advantage or to vilify an organisation I freely support.” The statement is witnessed by Yu-Lung Chen, a notary from this office in Taiwan and dated February 14, three days after Lateline put forward the allegations to the Church of Scientology. [The young woman]’s father and cousin later went to the office where she signed the statement
The Cousin: Miss Chen said some people took [the young woman] in to sign the document.
Cannane: The notary involved, Yu-Lung Chen, was unavailable for comment. [The cousin] says the two people who brought [the young woman] here were from the Church of Scientology. [The young woman]’s father is outraged.
The Father: She has been unstable and she was not in a good state of mind. She didn’t have good judgment and can’t tell right from wrong. I don’t think it was right for her to sign the document. It should be annulled.
Cannane: [The young woman]’s father says he found out about the statement when a Scientology representative contacted him by phone.
The Father: I had no idea at the start. I heard about it later when their lawyer called me and said an Australian program will be on air. I just said I want like to live a peaceful life and don’t want anything upsetting and I hung up. I was ignored in the past, and they only called me when a program was going to be aired in Australia.
Cannane: Given [the young woman] has been mentally frail how do we know the church hasn’t lent on her to make this statement?
Stuart Gibson, Church of Scientology Lawyer: Well, we don’t know one way or the other, Stephen. I mean, I am only going on my instructions. You may put that, but on my instructions that’s just not the case.
Cannane: In an e-mail to Lateline, Scientology spokesperson Sei Broadhurst said, “[The young woman] has never been coerced or forced into anything by anyone from the Church.” Steve Cannane, Lateline
And a spokesperson from the Australian Federal Police has told Lateline they have investigated [The young woman]’s case — but found there was insufficient evidence to support any charges in relation to people trafficking or breaches of the migration act.
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SAINT HILL, WHERE BOREDOM LIVES
Chanology Leaks has made available another Scientology promotional video, this time for Saint Hill Manor, the church’s UK headquarters. You might keep it handy for when insomnia strikes.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on February 25, 2013 at 07:00
