It’s a long summary but well worth the read and chills, chills, chills.

Could Little Sci have been conceived by the Founder Sci L Ron Hubbard??? Is that why she’s called Suri?

It"s true, anyone hoping for confirmation of Tom being gay will not be satisfied, as Andrew Morton devotes about 2 pages to the rumours, and only insomuch as how affected he and Nicole. Whether they are true or not remains unanswered, to my disappointment. As does the question of whether his relationships have all been staged -- the only relationship even discussed with that air is TomKat, and though Morton"s discussion of the process by which he "wooed" her suggests Katie had been shortlisted before Tom had even met her, there"s nothing new there. She comes across as having been immediately smitten, while he is discussed as being too over the top to be entirely believable. It"s never out and out stated or quoted that Katie is Scientology"s Stepford wife.

So let me see where to start. I"m sorry, this will probably be all over the place but I"ll do my best. What was new to me might not be new to you.

The biography, in the end, paints a pretty chilling picture of Scientology as a fascist totalitarian regime, bent on world domination and the actual obliteration of the practice of psychiatry. It"s pretty damning of the Church and the role Tom has presumed as the (unofficial) #2 person in the Church, right behind David Miscavige. For example, his attempt to recruit the Beckhams was an effort to improve Scientology"s standing in the UK and increase membership. The selection of Valkyrie as a film project, along with the decision to film in Germany, was a deliberate effort to establish the Church there as it"s a market of nearly 100 million followers and historically has treated them as the cult they are. The Church"s tax exemption status in the US, establishing it at least as a LEGAL bonafide religious institution, is described as the IRS caving in after years of intense negotiations because they "wanted to buy peace from Scientology", and rumours continue to swirl that the Church had dug up dirt on several key IRS officials and were basically blackmailing them (see page 170). Seems they may have bought their tax exemption status. Yikes.

The bio also ultimately paints Tom in a cold, almost sociopathic light. There were three events discussed in the book that struck a chord with me. The first was the examination of the breakdown of his relationship with Nicole. Morton was unable to confirm the cause of the split, though rumoured affairs by both parties are touched on. The way the divorce is talked about though, it was Tom who pulled the plug, and he wouldn"t tell her why. Apparently once he decided he was done with her, he dropped her, and would have liked to have pretended she"d never existed in the first place. It seems that Nicole was genuinely devastated, even though things had been difficult between them for quite some time. Apparently (and this was news to me) she had just learned she was pregnant with Tom"s child when the divorce was announced, and I guess he either did not believe the baby was his or choose to ignore the baby"s existence, because when she lost it, partly from the stress of the divorce according to her doctors, he didn"t visit her in hospital -- only sent flowers. Nicole has always maintained that the kid was Tom"s, and on the advice of her private investigator at the time, she kept fetal tissue of the baby in case she ever needed to prove paternity. Honestly, it"s shocking to me that he could treat the mother of his two adopted children and his potential unborn child so ruthlessly so as to not even visit her in the hospital. Gave me chills.

And that was the second miscarriage. The first happened years earlier in their marriage and was ectopic, which was what led them to adopt. (concerns for Nicole"s health).

The second event that disturbed me was also new to me. One of Tom"s oldest friends, Michael LaForte, died tragically in the 9/11 attacks. Ten days later, on Sept 21, Tom appeared on the "Tribute to Heroes" telethon to raise money for victims of 9/11, giving a tribute to Father Mike, the NY Fire Department priest who had died during the rescue mission. He made no mention of Michael LaForte on the telecast. They were pals for more than 20 years. Michael"s family watched the telecast and were shocked. Tom has never publicly acknowledged Michael"s death in any way.

This is the same man who flew across the country to be present at his good friend Will Smith"s Hollywood Star ceremony! I mean, Christ. How do you not honour your friend when you have the chance?? I bet he would have had Michael LaForte been a Scientologist. It says so much about Tom.

The third event that I found particularly chilling was the case of a woman by the name of Nan Herst Bowers. When it was leaked to Janet Charlton that Tom was a Scientologist in 1991, a witch-hunt began for the person responsible. Members of the Church impersonated Janet in their attempts to get copies of her phone bills, and Nan was eventually fingered. She was found guilty in Scientology"s court (they have their own court system OMG), and her "crime" was deemed so damaging to the Church that she was excommunicated. Her husband and three sons who were all Scientologists wrote her letters disowning her.

She claims she is innocent. And she wrote Tom a letter that year, thinking he would never want a family torn apart in his name. But he never responded to her letter, and she has not seen her husband, three sons and several grandchildren in 16 years.

If that were me, and I had the power to return this woman"s family to her as I"m sure Tom could -- there is no way I could do as Tom did, which is nothing.

Finally, something I found a little weird about Suri Cruise. There were many people in the Church who believed either that Suri was to be L Ron Hubbard reincarnated, or that Katie had been impregnated with L Ron Hubbard"s sperm. Gross. And WTF???

I guess that is it for now. I haven"t read what"s already leaked so I apologize if there was crossover. Let me know if you"d like a few more details, maybe I can glean a bit more.

Take care!

Tara

Thanks to Tara spending the time to write this up and sending this in!

photo source