He’s the “greatest rainmaker, really” for the Church

Mar 5, 2015 13:09 GMT  ·  By
Nicole Kidman never got into the details of her split from Tom Cruise in 2001
   Nicole Kidman never got into the details of her split from Tom Cruise in 2001

Starting March 16, HBO will be airing a new documentary on the Church of Scientology, some of its biggest celebrity players and the corrupt and tyrannical ways leader David Miscavige employs to keep what is essentially a very lucrative business churning a profit.

The film is called “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” is directed by Alex Gibney and is based on a book by author Lawrence Wright. Some of the revelations it will make concern Tom Cruise, the highest profile member of the Church, or as Gibney calls him, “the greatest rainmaker, really.”

New York Times panel is just as interesting as you would have thought

“Going Clear” made its debut at US film festivals earlier this year, and is now receiving plenty of attention thanks to a panel with the New York Times. You can see it in full in the video below.

From a gossip point of view, the comments on Tom Cruise and the reasons behind divorce number 2 for him are the most interesting, but they’re not the only ones making headlines. Obviously, the Church of Scientology has already denied all claims made during the panel and in the movie.

Also included in the discussion are Wright, Paul Haggis, a filmmaker who’s caused serious waves after defecting from Scientology, and former high-level member of the Church Mike Rinder.

“Going Clear” aims to unmask Scientology as an organization operating outside the law, employing all means of persuasion to keep their members in check, including blackmail and psychological torture, making an illegal profit and, perhaps the worst part, in a continuous expansion for the past couple of years.

Gibney says Scientology was behind the divorce between Cruise and Nicole Kidman

That the cult was behind Cruise’s divorce from Kidman in 2001 was always suspected, but Gibney is now stating it as a fact: David Miscavige, the leader, didn’t like the idea of losing control over Tom because, if he was less involved than before, he wouldn’t bring as much money.

Kidman’s father was a psychologist, and that made of her a potential danger from day one. It wasn’t until after she and Tom adopted Isabella and Connor that she tried to make a move to get Tom away from the Church.

In response, Miscavige pushed for divorce.

“Miscavige was afraid that Nicole Kidman was slowly taking Tom away from the church,” Gibney explains. “There was a concerted effort to get him back. One of the things they did was... at Tom's behest, Marty Rathbun testifies in the film, that David Miscavige requested Marty to go and tap Nicole Kidman's phone.”

“The other, more pernicious thing that happened was that they tried to turn their two kids against Nicole, which is really the most horrifying thing. They succeeded,” he adds.

In privacy, Isabella and Connor would refer to their mother as a “suppressive person,” which is the term used for those who defect from the Church and who are then shunned even by their closest family members.

Again, that Scientology turned Nicole’s children against her (she once said in an interview she had 2 children, referring to her daughters with current husband Keith Urban) had been speculated before. What’s chilling about it is hearing someone in a position of authority on the topic confirming it.