How the Scientology Doc's Tom Cruise Revelations Could Bring Down the Church - 2015-02-11
How the Scientology Doc's Tom Cruise Revelations Could Bring Down the Church February 11, 2015,
In the film's biggest bombshell, former Sea Org (a wing of Scientology) member and Tom Cruise "auditor" Mark "Marty" Rathbun talks about how David Miscavige worked to break up Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman, believing her psychologist father to be a "Potential Trouble Source," and, eventually, Kidman herself to be a S.P., or "Suppressive Person." Rathbun alleges that Cruise idly suggested tapping Kidman's phones and then Miscavige not only gave the orders to tap Kidman's phones, but personally obsessed over the audio tapes, looking for ways to isolate her from Cruise-and her children.
In 1993, Scientology's no-expense-spared, all-out assault on the IRS led to a victory granting the organization tax-free status and clearing an estimated billion-dollar tax debt. ("The war is over," Miscavige shouted at a celebratory rally, featured in the film.) Therefore, at the end of Going Clear, Gibney outlines just two things that might lead to reform of the group, whose ranks have dwindled to about 50,000 members: 1) a reopened IRS investigation. Or 2) an abandonment by one of Scientology's two most famous defenders, Tom Cruise or John Travolta.
- 1993
- 2015
- Alex Gibney
- David Miscavige
- Esquire
- Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
- Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
- IRS
- John Travolta
- Lawrence Wright
- Logan Hill
- Marty Rathbun
- News article
- Nicole Kidman
- Paul Haggis
- Potential Trouble Source
- Sea Org
- Suppressive Person
- Tom Cruise
- Wiretapping