14 DAY TRIAL // Before Tom Cruise met, wooed and married Katie Holmes, the Church of Scientology was auditioning for the perfect wife for him. Nazanin Boniad was candidate number 1 for some time and even had a fling with the actor, Vanity Fair reports.
In an expose that will surely deal another severe blow to the actor’s image, the magazine writes that all those jokes circulating online about Scientology literally “scouting” for a wife for him were true all along.
Before he met and fell in love with Katie, Tom only knew he wanted – or needed – a wife, someone who, unlike his previous loves Nicole Kidman or Penelope Cruz, would not be adverse to the Church.
As such, he let the Church handle the task of tracking down such a woman for him and even “train” her for the part. He would just marry her if she checked on all counts, VF writes.
It was 2004 and, at first, Boniad had no idea what she was really auditioning for, Maureen Orth of VF writes.
Several female actresses were told they were wanted for a part, but no one bothered to offer them more information about it.
All were from within Scientology and, of course, all were young and beautiful, the report says.
Boniad was selected and, even before she got to meet Tom, she was put through the paces: she was told she was about to go on a super-secret and super-important mission, for which she had to be audited daily.
“Boniadi allegedly was told to lose her braces, her red highlights, and her boyfriend. According to a knowledgeable source, she was shown confidential auditing files of her boyfriend to expedite a breakup. The source says Boniadi signed a confidentiality agreement and was told that if she ‘messed up’ in any way she would be declared a Suppressive Person (a pariah and enemy of Scientology),” VF writes.
Then, she got to meet Tom.
“That’s when she first sensed that this was possibly going to be an arranged marriage. For their first date Cruise and Boniadi went to dinner at Nobu with an entourage of Scientology aides, then to the skating rink at Rockefeller Center, which was closed to the public especially for them,” VF says.
She signed a second confidentiality agreement after her first night with the actor and, from there on, became his official girlfriend.
“Though the first month of the relationship was bliss, by the second month Boniadi was more and more often found wanting, Orth reports. According to the knowledgeable source, anything she said or did that Cruise found fault with he immediately reported to a member of the Scientology staff, and she would be audited for it,” the magazine writes.
She also forgot her place and crossed both Cruise and Scientology leader David Miscavige, by acting as if they didn’t outrank her. That was ultimately the offense that got her demoted from “marriage material” to “loose end.”
Boniadi lived in complete isolation for the last month of the romance, after which she was shipped to the Celebrity Scientology Center to be re-trained and set free. Her predicament was bigger because she’d also loved Cruise.
She made the mistake of talking about her ill-fated romance with the actor there, with someone she considered a friend.
“Boniadi’s punishment was to scrub toilets with a toothbrush, clean bathroom tiles with acid, and dig ditches in the middle of the night. After that she was sent out to sell Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics on street corners,” VF says.
The magazine promises even bigger revelations in this month’s print issue, including an insight into Tom and Katie’s ironclad prenuptial predicament, which will explain why they managed to get a divorce so quickly.
For the full report on Boniadi, who could have become wife number 3 had she played by the rules, see here.