A former Scientologist has claimed the church “absolutely” auditioned women to be Tom Cruise‘s girlfriend.
Valerie Haney was a Scientologist for 22 years and worked within the Sea Org which is an organization comprised of the church’s most dedicated members.
Haney worked as a steward for leader David Miscavige and his wife, Shelly, and on a recent episode of Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath she claimed she witnessed abuse inside the church.
Haney described Cruise and Scientology leader David Miscavige as “worship[ping] each other“, before talking about Miscavige’s wife, Shelly, who has not appeared in public since 2007.
In 2013, King of Queens actress and former Scientologist, Leah Remini filed a missing person report on Shelly with the LAPD, who say they’ve since had “a face-to-face with” her.
Vanity Fair reported in 2012 that Shelly was in charge in 2004 of auditioning women to be Tom Cruise’s next GF, after the collapse of his marriage with Nicole Kidman, and subsequent relationship with Penélope Cruz.
Former members of the Church alleged Scientologist actresses were told they were auditioning for a training film but were instead asked Qs like ‘What do you think of Tom Cruise’?
In 2013, Lawrence Wright repeated the claims from the Vanity Fair story in his book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison Belief
– which was adapted into a film by Alex Gibney in 2015 – naming Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan and Kate Bosworth as candidates. They apparently believed they were auditioning for a part in Mission: Impossible
.
Haney reckons Shelly thought the auditions were “ridiculous”: “She was just doing what Dave asked her to do. But it absolutely happened.”
