By Anna Schecter
Rock Center
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise's settlement is now final and neither of them has publicly addressed reports that the Church of Scientology-and the future role of Scientology in their daughter Suri’s life-was a cause of the split.
One former Church of Scientology official is speaking out about what he said he witnessed at the time of Cruise’s 2001 divorce from actress Nicole Kidman.
Marty Rathbun, who worked at the church for 27 years before leaving in 2004, said that he believes church officials used Scientology doctrine to turn Kidman’s children against her.
“It was more than implied….[Kidman] was somebody that they shouldn't open up with, they shouldn't communicate with, and they shouldn't spend much time with,” said Rathbun in an interview airing Thursday, July 17 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Rathbun said he spent countless hours working with Cruise at the church’s celebrity center in California starting in late 2001. He said he was conducting counseling sessions with Cruise that the church calls "auditing.”
“[Cruise] and I were intensively at it, you know, auditing several hours a day over several months,” he said.
When Cruise’s children were with their father at the church, they were often in the hands of the Church of Scientology staff, according to Rathbun.
“And they were being indoctrinated, and they were reporting to Tom on how that was going in my presence,” Rathbun said.
Rathbun claims church officials suggested to Cruise and Kidman’s children, then six and nine years old, that their mother was a “suppressive person,” which the church’s website, Scientology.org, defines as “a person who seeks to suppress other people in their vicinity.”
“A Suppressive Person will goof up or vilify any effort to help anybody and particularly knife with violence anything calculated to make human beings more powerful or more intelligent. The "suppressive person" is also known as the "anti-social personality." Within this category one finds Napoleon, Hitler, the unrepentant killer and the drug lord,” according to the official Church of Scientology's website, Scientology.org.
Rathbun said the Church of Scientology closely monitors the communication of high profile members and orders members to sever ties with suppressive people, particularly those who are critical of the church.
“That person could be your son, it could be your daughter, it could be your father, it could be your mother. It doesn't matter,” Rathbun said.
Rathbun said these policies came into play with regards to Kidman’s children, Conner and Isabella. “They were being steered toward and indoctrinated toward coming to the conclusion that Nicole was a suppressive person,” he said.
The Church of Scientology has denied that any such conversations with Kidman’s children took place. It has said that it has no policy that requires members to sever ties with relatives who do not believe in the religion. On the church's website, Scientology.org, it says that, "A Scientologist can have trouble making spiritual progress in his auditing or training if he is connected to someone who is suppressive...[and] as a last resort, when all attempts to handle have failed, one 'disconnects' from or stops communicating with the person."
The church declined to comment on the divorce of Cruise and Holmes, saying it would be “inappropriate.”
Kidman’s publicist did not respond to requests for comment on this story. A representative for Cruise told Rock Center that Rathbun is not a reliable source.
"He is a bitter ex-Scientologist who spends most of his time attacking Scientology and using Tom Cruise's name to get attention for his bigoted diatribe. If he "audited" Mr. Cruise, he is violating the privilege of that position by discussing it," said Bert Fields, Cruise's representative.
Of the Church of Scientology's role in influencing Kidman and Cruise's children, Fields said, "It is absolutely false that Mr. Cruise, or anyone else to his knowledge, did or said anything to lessen Connor and Bella's communication or relationship with their mother. On the contrary, Mr. Cruise did all he could to encourage that relationship."
In a letter to NBC News, Gary Soter, an attorney for the Church of Scientology, wrote that Rathbun is an unreliable source and a liar. Soter described Rathbun as “a defrocked ex-communicated apostate.”
Soter wrote that Rathbun is a self-promoter who is “shamelessly” exploiting a tragic personal matter to forward his own anti-Scientology agenda and to profit from it.
Scientology’s online publication FreedomMag.org contains numerous allegations against Rathbun, including charges of violent and psychotic behavior.
Rathbun admits to violent behavior against other members of the church while still a member himself, but says it was part of the culture within the church, which the church denies.
One of the posts on FreedomMag.org asserts that church officials ultimately fired Rathbun from the church for bad behavior and had to “clean up his mess.”
When asked about the allegations against him, Rathbun replied, “Then why was I assigned by the Chairman of the Board to audit Tom Cruise during the last four years of my involvement at the Church of Scientology?”
Karen Russo contributed to this report.
Editor's Note: Kate Snow's full report airs Thursday, July 12 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Leave a Comment:
I don't know what to think about scientology, but I do know I believe in God and I don't need some organization telling me what to believe in and paying them to tell me what and how to live. Sound like Jonestown all over again. Read your Bible and learn .
Yes, except I doubt they'd have their followers commit suicide. There's just no money in that sort of thing.
Now she has to keep carrying around all them space cooties forever. Tom is now cootie-free!
We automatically remove a rotten tomato from a basket of tomatoes and we throw it away. What should we do with evil in our midst?? The Church of Scientology is clearly, obviously, unquestionably evil. The founding fathers of America would not have allowed it to get established let alone prosper. Scientology is not a religion. It is a money making machine using religion as a cover and the money it makes is tax free. So easy to fool the idiots in Capitol Hill and IRS with a little manipulation of "constitutional rights".
Evil, yes, and lets be honest, the whole idea of what we are and were we come from according to this "religion" is as ludicrous as any other religion.
The guy wrote a book, told the world it was a work of fiction, yet, some how all that has been ignored by the people who run this fruitcake "religion".
It is nothing more than a cult made to try and look mainstream. Any one with any intelligent thought, (that leaves out Hollywood), has to just laugh.
Tom, John T and the rest live in a fake world, so the next logal step is a fake religion. It calls itself a religion just for the reason of no taxes and all the other benefits that come with it.
The top dogs live in luxury, and the rest are stupid enough to keep them there.
Unfortunately there will always be a segment of the population that will latch on to any hair-brained scam like Scientology. Tom Cruise "appears" to be a regular guy, but his downfall was that he could afford the thousands of dollars to travel the path to "clear". Most star actors have a big ego to begin with, and while that's not always a bad thing, in Tom's case public adoration wasn't enough for him; he also wants to be a messiah.
Cruises attorney, Bert Fields states he's prepared to have E.T. and Darth Vader testify as character witnesses for Mr. Cruise.
Xenu's dance card is full?
This stuff is true: see this forum for former scientologists who spend years trying to overcome the damage caused by this cult!
Ex Scientologists Forum
The wording of Bert Field's statement is telling; ok, fine - "the Church" (my apologies to the real churches of the world) didn't play a role in the settlement. But no one with half a brain will ever believe that the *issue* of the Church wasn't a factor - in both the divorce and the settlement - then he's as deluded as his client.
I like Tom's movies but this has been an issue for years and Scientology is not a religion "PERIOD".
You can read about it's not based on anything except a person belief in themself.
Just this morning I flushed about a bazillion of them space cooties, or body thetans, or interstellar weevils, down the bowl. But a few of them were still clinging to my bung. Should I join the Church of Scientology now? They can smell really bad later in the day, and are the prime cause for the upsurge in sales of black and brown underwear. I'd like to be able to wear tighty-whities once in a while again. Not with these space cooties I can't. There must be a cure. Won't you please help?
Scientology mandates that the cure for your maladies is a poultice of Space Herpies.
Install a bidet
Hell Bert Fields would say anything and do anything for the money that Cruise is paying him.
If Tom told him to pull down his shorts and let him poke him in the butt he'd do it......lol
So if Scientologists haven't turned Connor and Isabella against Nicole as a "suppressive person" why have they refused to have contact with her?
Dear God
Sorry to disturb you but I know that everyone you made down here....
Is a friggin' crazy ego-centric lunatic, were you drunk on beer?
Mom! Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet.
Funny. The more you pay to the Catholic cult, the better seat you get. Or a pew named after you. The more you pay to the Scientology cult, the more "pious" you become. Like going from coach to business to first class and - finally - a private jet. What a crock.
The article says the show will be aired on "Thursday, July 17."
Sorry, there is no Thursday, July 17 this year.
IF Scientology is playing a heavy role in Kidman's silence, then it also makes sense that she doesn't want her relationships with her own kids to be split up or severed in any way. If this is the case, I feel sorry for Kidman who would have no choice but to deal with brainwashed kids due to Cruise's sick influence. Seems like Holme's got out before they brainwashed her kid too.
Oh, that's rich. Scientologists calling other people bigots, anti-intelligence, and using personal tragedy for their own profit. That is pretty much the definition of what those creeps do. Glad Katie and Nicole got out. I hope closet case Cruise wakes up too.
Why can't people keep the comments directed to the topic at hand? So tired of the LDS church getting drawn into these discussions about cults. Mormons totally integrate with society, often have part member families (like me), and lots of non-member friends of all faiths. Shunning is not taught in church at all. If someone here met some LDS person who shunned them well that person was a jerk. Jerks can be found in any religion. My sister in law was "shunned" from her home schooling group because she was LDS. They also shunned Catholics. And regarding the "Ex" factor-- I've met plenty of "Ex-Catholics." Big deal. We also do not do any "intake" where we are told how much we are going to tithe. It's 10% across the board and it's based on the honor system. Plenty of active members don't pay tithing at all. And people volunteer to serve missions--lol--"the brightest of the bright" are not sifted out. Young, inexperienced, flawed people serve missions all over the world. Oh and Jesus Christ most definitely wanted people to follow him, to abandon their former idolatrous ways. He said "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." (John 11:25-26) Now back to talking about Scientology...I guess I can't judge because I'm a "wacky Mormon" and I even have a good friend who is a Scientologist so I'll just say that I wish them all the best and hope they are truly happy and if they are not that they have the courage to follow their heart. To each his own.
Lots of interesting, informed, and not-so-informed comments on here... A good read. My comment as to cults vs. religions, and how that applies to Christianity... You can be a Christian, have a relationship with God, without being affiliated with any Church whatsoever... that's the beauty of it, it's a personal relationship, a decision between God and man... and no one can corrupt that. No church, no cult, no collection plate, has anything to do with your own heart and mind. Yay.
Reports said Tom-Tom 'interviewed' Katie & others for the girlfriend-wife position. Was this some new fangled 'baby-making Business arrangement'? Or was Katie simply hired as an 'actress' playing a 'role' in his real-life 'Let Me/Scientology' Use Your Loins' gig? Or was she little more than a paid hoar? Was her successful Toledo divorce attorney father there to ensecure her end of the 'deal'? Hollywood is a very small place & everyone including Ralph's (grocery store) bag boys know Tom-Tom is a Scientologist. Surely Katie's well educated parents & Katie knew exactly what she was 'buying' into.
The Shadowy Story Behind Scientology's Tax-Exempt Status
Sorry, my link is blocked but google "The Shadowy Story Behind Scientology's Tax-Exempt Status" and you'll find the story
How did this nutball group ever get a designation as a church? Religion? What a bunch of whackos! Nothing but a cult!
Read the NY Times article above. They dug up dirt on IRS agents and bombarded the agency with lawsuits until the director of the IRS caved in. It took them 25 years, but they did it.
Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue, along with others, was convicted of breaking into government offices including the IRS and stealing documents.
That's how Scientology got recognized as a religion.
Scientology is a cult, end of story, they should not have tax-exempt status.
A friend's niece got suckered in (followed a boy), and her life was taken over for several years before she finally EScaped, yes she had to plan a getaway.
They use mind control tactics to keep people in, and will take all your money & make you work for them...sound like fun? Okay, then go for it, just don't call it a religion.
Those who say "many religions can be called cults", ya, nice try, this is a cult, up there with jim jones, branch davidians, some mormon sects, etc, I wouldn't lump it in with catholics & others who I don't care for either, but really, not cults.