14 DAY TRIAL // Placido Domingo Jr. is the latest celebrity to leave Scientology and use whatever media platform available to them to take a stand against the cult. In a brand new interview, the singer and songwriter speaks out on how Scientology is trying to intimidate and ultimately silence him.
Speaking with The Village Voice Blogs, Placido reveals how Scientology tried to tear him apart from his family by ordering him to maintain contact with them solely through an attorney, and how they ended up revealing personal information about him in a bid to shame him into submission.
Domingo and his ex-wife Samantha have been divorced for long but they remain very good friends, raising their children together.
When Samantha left Scientology last year, everything changed for Placido as well, who’s been a member of the church for the past 20 years and always had the utmost respect for its members, as well as for their beliefs and philosophy.
He was told bluntly that he must “disconnect” from Samantha and their three daughters, whom he was to contact solely through an attorney.
The problem, Domingo reveals in the interview, was that Samantha had struck a very close friendship and was sharing the house with former Scientology member Marty Rathbun, who had caused quite a ruckus by speaking out against cult leader David Miscavige.
When Samantha too went public with the things she knew about Scientology and how it operated, she too became public enemy number 1, which explains why Placido was asked to cut all ties with her.
“They played nice with him for a year or two, and as long as he did what he was told he was pretty safe. But a number of times they stipulated that he disconnect with me,” Samantha confirms for the same media outlet.
“They also asked him to report back on me and what I was doing,” she adds. Placido, of course, refused to do any of these.
In return, Scientology members took to Facebook asking other members to “unfriend” him – which they instantly did – and then online, where they posted confidential information he had shared with them during auditing.
“It’s an outrage. It’s penitent-privilege information. Imagine if they did that to Tom Cruise or John Travolta. My God!” Domingo says.
He now expects an even stronger reaction from the church because he too knows that, the more former members speak out against it, the more they stand to suffer.
“I don’t think anyone has the right to tell someone who they can speak to or see. Especially when it comes to spiritual freedom,” he says of being ordered to “disconnect” with his family.
“But I am not going to allow anybody to tell me who I can talk to. So basically I consider myself at a neutral point. I’m no longer a member,” he explains.
The Church of Scientology has not addressed the latest claims in any way. See here for more on this.