Random Harrowing Stories Of People Who Escaped Scientology (11 items)

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  (#10) Jeff Hawkins Says The Church Tried To Find Blackmail Material On Him

  Jeff Hawkins says he became a staff member for the Church of Scientology in 1968, eventually working side-by-side with David Miscavige. By many accounts, his marketing prowess helped land L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics on best-seller lists in the 1980s. He left the church in 2005.

  "One key turning point was when I was physically attacked by the head of Scientology, David Miscavige," Hawkins told Yes and Yes. "I gradually became aware that this man, who was the head of Scientology, was a sociopath, running Scientology through threat, intimidation, and abuse. I left and so have a lot of others."

  Hawkins described his experience leaving the church:

  I went through their procedure for “routing out” which included three months of “Security Checks” where they try to uncover all of your “crimes.” They are basically trying to find blackmail material they can use against you if you speak out about what you witnessed. You’re also required to sign legal “gag orders” that forbid you from speaking about your experiences (they are legally unenforceable). After I went through this procedure, I was allowed to leave.
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  (#2) Katie Holmes

  • Actor

  After Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise, she feared the actor or someone from the church would kidnap their daughter Suri, law enforcement officials told the New York Post.

  “Katie saw all the pressure. [Scientologists] are professionals at pressuring people to be quiet,” Holmes's friend told the paper. “That’s why she did this (filed for divorce) in secret. ... Suri is at the age where they are going to start educating her in Scientology centers and indoctrinating her into the religion.”

  The source added: "Katie does not want them making all the decisions for her child."

   Cruise later admitted Holmes left their five-year marriage and took their daughter to protect her from Scientology.
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  (#8) Claire Headley Says She Snuck Away During A Trip To Walmart

  Claire Headley says she was born into Scientology, and that at the age of 7 she signed a contract to be with the church for a billion years. Headley says she was faced with the threat of a “freeloader’s debt,” which Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath described as a "retroactive billing for all Scientology auditing and training received while in the Sea Org"; the debt "can run into tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.” She claims to have been coerced into terminating two pregnancies during her time with the Sea Org.

  After Claire’s husband Marc Headley successfully left the church, he managed to get a cell phone to her to help coordinate her departure. According to Claire, during a trip to Walmart - she had to get approval to purchase contact lenses - she slipped away from Scientologists and boarded a bus. When she arrived in Las Vegas, she was met by more Scientologists, but she threatened to make a scene if they physically tried to take her back to California.

  The Headleys then reunited. They have three children, and continue to be outspoken critics of the church.
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  (#6) Jenna Miscavige Hill Says She Discovered The Truth About Scientology And Bailed

  Jenna Miscavige Hill, author of Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape, is the niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige. Hill was raised in the church's most devout religious order, the Sea Org, which according to Hill is a child labor camp. She claims children were sent to "the Ranch," where they were forced to do physical labor 14 hours a day, seven days a week. 

  During a 2004 church mission to Australia, she says she and her husband Dallas learned the extent of the Church of Scientology’s deceit, as the trip exposed them to unfiltered internet access.

  They decided to leave, but the organization threatened Dallas with disconnection from his family, according to Hill. She claims the church pressured them to sign contracts entitling the church to $10,000 for every public criticism they might make about the church. She refused.

  None of this stopped Jenna from leaving in 2005, or from speaking out against the church. 
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  (#11) Carmen Llewellyn Says She Was 'Nearly Suicidal' After Scientologists Stalked Her

  Actress Carmen Llewellyn became a Scientologist in 1995, around the time she married Jason Lee, then a member of the church. But she left after divorcing Lee in 2002, and has since spoken out about the church.

  "I lost my manager and my career," she said in 2004. "People didn't return my phone calls. Scientologists followed me down the street. They took pictures of my kids. They'd stake out my house, wait until we came out and follow us. They came looking for me to scare me, I was nearly suicidal."

  She also discussed the divorce of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman: "At the time, the word went around all the Scientologists that ‘Nicole is an S.P. so Tom has to divorce her.' An S.P. is a Suppressive Person, which is CoS jargon for the devil."
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  (#4) Amy Scobee

  • Author

  Amy Scobee, a 27-year member, was for a time responsible for recruiting others to a branch of the church's Sea Org. She says that the church recruited her when she was 14, and that while she was 16, an executive sexually assaulted her. According to Scobee, a "Scientology Ethics Officer" convinced her not to report the attack to the police.

  She says that on four occasions, she was sent to the church's Rehabilitation Project Force, which she describes as "nothing short of a slave-labor camp."

  She left the church in March 2005. 

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