Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief(163)

39 “He’d say that Tom Cruise”: Jeff Hawkins, quoted in Reitman, Inside Scientology, p. 290.

40 “Miscavige convinced Cruise”: Rathbun, The Scientology Reformation, p. 77.

41 “He didn’t have”: Interview with Marshall Herskovitz.

42 “Well, John, if you have powers”: Interview with Josh Brolin. Travolta, through a lawyer, agreed that the incident with Brando occurred, but characterized it as “tabloid-esque.”

43 The cook was summarily sent: Lana Mitchell, personal correspondence.

44 “At Flag”: Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

45 showed him how to shoot: Ibid.

46 “I am writing this public announcement”: Marty Rathbun, “Public Announcement,” Sept. 28, 2003. Freedom, “The Posse of Lunatics,” undated.

47 forty or fifty people: Mariette Lindstein, personal communication.

48 the Hole: Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Clearwater Scientology Officer Debbie Cook Testifies She Was Put in ‘The Hole,’ Abused for Weeks,” Tampa Bay Times, Feb. 10, 2012.

49 “Org Board”: Lauren Wolf interview with Mike Rinder.

50 nine hundred positions: Ibid.

51 for four years: Mariette Lindstein, personal communication. Reitman, Inside Scientology, p. 340.

52 The entire base became paralyzed: Mariette Lindstein and Tom De Vocht, personal communication.

53 Mike Rinder was in the Hole: Interview with Mike Rinder; Rathbun, The Scientology Reformation, p. 88.

54 open scabs: Mark “Marty” Rathbun, personal communication.

55 “he’s just an SP”: Interview with Tom De Vocht.

56 When another executive spoke up: Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Clearwater Scientology Officer Debbie Cook Testifies She Was Put in ‘The Hole,’ Abused for Weeks,” Tampa Bay Times, Feb. 10, 2012.

57 “Pie Faces”: Interview with Tom De Vocht.

58 “punch you guys out”: markrathbun.wordpress.com/category/debbie-cook/; also, Rathbun, The Scientology Reformation, p. 81.

59 “homosexual tendencies”: http://markrathbun.wordpress.com/category/debbie-cook/; Debbie Cook testimony, Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization, Inc., vs. Debra J. Baumgarten, AKA Debbie Cook Baumgarten, AKA Debbie Cook, and Wayne Baumgarten. Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Clearwater Scientology Officer Debbie Cook Testifies She Was Put in ‘The Hole,’ Abused for Weeks,” Tampa Bay Times, Feb. 10, 2012. When Cook later complained to other Scientologists about the relentless fund-raising of the church, despite what she said was a $1 billion cash reserve, the church sued her for at least $300,000 in damages. Like many former Sea Org executives, Debbie Cook and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, signed nondisclosure agreements with the church when they left the staff. They were paid $50,000 each to remain silent in perpetuity. In return, they waived their First Amendment rights to free speech, agreeing to pay a minimum of $50,000 for any such remark made in private and $100,000 for every disparaging statement they might make in any medium. If such a statement happens to be published in a newspaper, or a magazine, they are required to pay $20 for each copy printed—i.e., more than $20 million each if they spoke to The New Yorker. They also relinquished any claim to ownership of their preclear folders. “Agreement and General Release,” signed by Debbie Cook and Wayne Baumgarten, Oct. 19, 2007. Cook was in the Sea Org for twenty-nine years. In her seventeen years as Scientology’s top executive at the Clearwater base, she oversaw an operation that brought in more than $1.7 billion. Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Church of Scientology Sues Longtime Clearwater Leader over New Year’s Eve Email,” Tampa Bay Times, Jan. 31, 2012. Cook and Baumgarten settled with the church, agreeing not to speak about it in the future, and moved to the Caribbean island of Guadaloupe. Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Ex-Scientology Leader Debbie Cook Moving to Caribbean Island,” Tampa Bay Times, June 20, 2012.

60 “Once on a phone call”: “The Rathbun Family: Madness, Mayhem, and Mysterious Death,” Freedom, undated, unsigned.

61 “Get away with murder”: Interview with Mark “Marty” Rathbun.

62 abortions were common: Interview with Dan Garvin.

63 pushed to have two abortions: Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “No Kids Allowed,” St. Petersburg Times, June 12, 2010.

64 “It’s a constant practice”: Interview with Claire Headley.

65 Worried about pillow talk: Interviews with Tom De Vocht and Janela Webster. Hubbard also imposed divorces on Sea Org members at times, according to Gerald Armstrong, who says that Hubbard ordered his wife, Terri, to divorce him in 1979 if she wanted to continue as a Commodore’s Messenger. Gerald Armstrong, Complaint Report to the US Department of Justice.

66 were billed more than $150,000: Claire Headley, personal communication.

67 “Marty, I don’t want”: Interview with Mike Rinder.

68 “musical chairs”: Interviews with Mark “Marty” Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Mariette Lindstein, Tom De Vocht, Marc Headley; Joe Childs and Thomas C. Tobin, “Scientology: The Truth Rundown, Part 1,” St. Petersburg Times, June 21, 2009.

69 “Is it real to you now?”: Interviews with Mike Rinder, Mark “Marty” Rathbun, Noriyuki Matsumaru, Mariette Lindstein, Marc Headley, and Tom De Vocht. Headley, Blown for Good, pp. 225–31; www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/?rathbun.shtml.