Mike Rinder’s New Book Gets Into How Scientology Dealt With The John Travolta Gay Rumors, Tried To Woo David Beckham, And Alienated Tom Cruise From Nicole Kidman

Mike Rinder, former high-level Scientologist and co-host of the A&E docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, has a new book. It’s called A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology, and it promises to that expose “the dark, dystopian truth about Scientology.” Fun! The book just came out, so there are a bunch of headlines making the rounds today.

For example, those John Travolta gay rumors. 67-year-old Mike claims that, back in the day, he was chatting to John in a hotel suite when a male masseur walked in the room and kissed John on the mouth. Whoops! Then there’s the failed wooing of David and Victoria Beckham. Apparently, Tom Cruise wanted David to be in Scientology so bad that he built a soccer field. But it didn’t work. Whomp, whomp! Finally, there’s the Nicole Kidman stuff. Mike claims that David Miscavige felt Tom was pulling away from the cult while filming Eyes Wide Shut with Nicole in London, so he sent one of his cronies to “audit” Tom. The audit drew Tom back into Scientology and created a distance between him and his wife. Obviously, Scientology denies all of Mike’s allegations. They tell Page Six that he’s an “inveterate liar.” Google says “inveterate” means: “chronic, deep-seated.” So that’s two words Scientology has taught me: “inveterate” and “glib.”

Mike says that Tom Cruise began ignoring David Miscavige’s phone calls during Eyes Wide Shut in 1997. That’s when he sent “top church exec” Marty Rathbun to the UK to audit him, via Page Six:

Cruise, Rinder writes, “was gradually drawn back into the world of Scientology.” However, this rededication allegedly “created a distance between [Cruise] and Nicole.”

Kidman had been brought into the church by Cruise years before but “never expressed particular eagerness for her Scientology courses or auditing,” Rinder writes. It didn’t help that her father was a psychiatrist. (According to the Church of Scientology, psychiatry delivers improper care and an over-reliance on psychiatric drugs).“Had she not been Mrs. Tom Cruise, she would not have been eligible to participate in OT levels at all due to her familial connection to psychiatry.”

With the church apparently feeling threatened by Kidman’s influence over their most prominent celebrity, “Rathbun worked with [Hollywood lawyer] Bert Fields to hire infamous PI Anthony Pellicano to spy on Nicole and tap her phone,” Rinder writes.

PI Anthony Pellicano spent over a decade in prison for wiretapping, racketeering, conspiracy, and illegally possessing explosives and grenades. Mike goes on to write that Scientology turned Tom and Nicole’s adopted children, Isabella and Connor Cruise, against their mother by indoctrinating them its “suppressive person” ideology:

“When Tom and Nicole divorced, Miscavige was happy that the ‘negative influence’ of Nicole was no longer dragging Tom away,” Rinder writes. “Cruise thereafter became more fervent in his vocal public support of scientology and Miscavige.”

After the split from Nicole, Tommy dated Penelope Cruz, but she dumped his ass. Mike writes that he was in Spain at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new Scientology center when Tom bitched about how his sister couldn’t get him a girlfriend (a normal complaint from a normal man), via Page Six:

“Tom had been dating Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, which was a contributing factor as to why so much money was spent to buy and renovate the beautiful building there,” Rinder writes. “So it’s a bit ironic that by the time it was completed Penélope had broken up with him.”

At the ceremony, the star reportedly turned to Rinder and griped, “Can you believe [Cruise’s sister] Lee Ann can’t set me up with a girlfriend?” Miscavige “took it to heart” and allegedly initiated a special project, overseen by trusted lieutenant Greg Wilhere, where “auditions” were held to find the action star a girlfriend and, ultimately, a spouse.

We all know how that story goes: Katie Holmes won the role! Mike also writes that he was tasked with talking to Tommy’s longtime publicist, Pat Kingsley, who’d been advising his client to shut the fuck up about Scientology. Eventually, Tom fired Pat and hired his “inexperienced” sister Lee Ann Mapother, who did what David Miscavige told her to:

“With time, Cruise’s public statements steadily became more and more outlandish,” Rinder writes. “He ultimately made a complete fool of himself by jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s couch during their infamous May 23, 2005, interview when he revealed his love for Holmes.

“Shortly after that, he accused Matt Lauer of being ‘glib’ about psychiatric drugs on the Today show … He was the perfect example of what a Scientology celebrity should be doing — speaking with absolute certainty, unashamed of what we Scientologists believed and knew to be true, no matter how bats–t crazy.”

Tom also became obsessed with recruiting other big-time celebrities to join the cult. Enter Posh and Becks and this giant-ass soccer field:

“A professional-grade soccer pitch was constructed on the property at Gold [Base, church headquarters in San Jacinto, Calif.]. The ground was leveled, irrigation installed, perfect turf, goals raised,” Rinder, a former high-ranking church officer, writes. “A full-time caretaker was appointed from the Gold staff … It was built for one purpose only: so Tom Cruise could woo his friend David to come to Gold. It never happened.”

But enough about Tommy. Let’s dive into these “John Travolta kissed his masseur” allegations, via Page Six:

He recalled chatting to the “Grease” and “Pulp Fiction” star in a hotel suite. While they spoke, Travolta’s masseur, clad in a bathrobe, walked into the room and kissed the actor on the mouth. “‘I’ll be in soon,’ John said as the masseur headed toward the bedroom,” Rinder writes. “That was pretty shocking, right in front of a senior Scientology official. It was just not done. I guess it was indicative of the trust he placed on me.”

Page Six says a rep for John Travolta didn’t comment (no shit). But where’s this masseuse? Sigh, he probably signed a billion-year NDA. Mike writes that he was on John Travolta duty because they wanted to squash all the rumors about his sexuality:

“Since the beginning of the ’90s, Travolta had been hounded by stories from various alleged male lovers, including one of his former pilots as well as a porn star,” Rinder writes.

According to the book, after the National Enquirer contacted Travolta’s team about an upcoming story, the organization swung into action. “Realizing the potential PR damage a story of gay sex would have on the perfect Scientology couple of John and Kelly [Preston, Travolta’s then-wife, who passed away in 2020], we dug up dirt on the sources and threatened the media with lawsuits,” Rinder writes.

Mike adds that he “firmly” believes John would be more open about his sexuality were it not for the “stigma he feels due to his strong belief in Scientology.” And here’s Scientology’s full statement about that inveterate liar Mike:

“Mike Rinder is an inveterate liar who seeks to profit from his dishonesty … He supports himself by orchestrating the harassment of his former Church and its leader through false police reports, incendiary propaganda and fraudulent media stories.”

Mike’s parents got him into Scientology when he was 5. After high school, he became a member of Sea Org, and eventually became Scientology’s international spokesperson and the head of its Office of Special Affairs. He helped negotiate Scientology’s tax exemption from the IRS and was buddies with all its top celebs. Mike left Scientology in 2007, when he was 52. Cathy, his wife of over 30 years, immediately divorced him. He was labeled a “suppressive person” and disconnected from his two children, his brother, his sister, and his mother. He was not informed when his mom passed in 2013. Mike says that since his exit from the church, he’s been followed, harassed, hacked, spied on, and tracked. But he’ll continue to speak out about Scientology:

“I always respond truthfully,” he writes. “I brought two children into that world and they know no better. I want them to have a chance to think for themselves and make up their own minds.”

Yeesh. How very depressing. Let’s bleach our eyeballs and souls again with the iconic image of Nicole Kidman celebrating in the sun after finalizing her divorce from Tom Cruise. Sweet freedom!:

live every day like you're 2001 nicole kidman leaving her lawyer's office after divorcing tom cruise pic.twitter.com/L2knENS4d4

— mik (@wholemik) November 8, 2018

Pic: Richard Young/startraksphoto.com