Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]
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LA Mayor Karen Bass to have another awkward Scientology moment, thanks to Tom Cruise?

[Karen Bass promoting Scientology before she was critical of it.]

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: You’ve no doubt seen the news that Scientology’s chief ornament, actor Tom Cruise, is going to perform a death-defying stunt involving the Olympic flag at []

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Tom Cruise: The politics behind the Scientology celeb’s French knighthood

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: We were puzzled by France’s Minister of Culture naming Tom Cruise a Knight of Arts and Letters in a secret ceremony. Thankfully, our good friend in Paris, British journalist Jonny Jacobsen, has sent in []

Tom Cruise gets France’s highest honor despite its Scientology scorn

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: We were on France’s side with the naked blue guy and the spectacle of the opening ceremony, but it lost us with this mystifying decision to honor Scientology’s chief stooge in a secret ceremony. []

Why Tom Cruise’s abandonment of Suri for Scientology is even worse than most realize

[Suri made the prom while dad danced in London]

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: That Tom Cruise is estranged from his daughter Suri over Scientology is an old tale, and one we were happy to recount for the Sun this []

Another ‘Tom Cruise leaving Scientology’ squawk from the tabs, and the weakest ever

[Tom Cruise, barnstorming England and forsaking Los Angeles, or something]

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Last August the Daily Mail claimed Tom Cruise was leaving #Scientology because he hadn’t been showing up in East Grinstead, England. Now InTouch Weekly is []

Tom Cruise’s ‘religion’: Scientology has kept this family apart for a decade

[Phil and Willie Jones and their kids Mike and Emily]

 As of this week, it’s been 10 years since we’ve seen our kids, Emily and Mike.

Scientology made them disconnect from us once we were out and criticized the cult. There is always a sense of amazement to me that the kids would go along with this []

Tom Cruise goes black tie for Scientology at ‘Patrons Ball’ in England

What a weekend Scientology had!

The return of the International Association of Scientologists gala to Scientology’s UK headquarters — Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England — after a four year absence was more than even we had dared to dream. It had everything, from the triumphant return of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, to the dramatic []

Scientology protest goes off without a hitch, and Tom Cruise made the scene

We hope you joined our live conversation yesterday afternoon with Alex Barnes-Ross, who was in an East Grinstead pub and told us about his adventures protesting at Scientology’s UK []

Is this the lamest tabloid ‘Tom Cruise has left Scientology’ speculation ever?

 You’ll have to forgive us that we didn’t get to this sooner, because we were just out of surgery and lying rather helpless in a hospital bed last week when the Daily Mail’s entertainment gossip columnist Alison Boshoff “reported” that Tom Cruise has stopped going to Scientology’s UK headquarters for the past three []

The time Scientology healing was used on a broken bone at Tom Cruise’s house

 The year was 1993 or 1994. It was a brief segment of my 24-year career in Scientology’s “Sea Organization.” The location of my post then was on the “Int Base” (the international headquarters of the entire Scientology network) near Hemet, California. The location of this 500-acre property was top secret in that strange world, known []