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Summary
- David Miscavige, chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center, has led the Church of Scientology since L. Ron Hubbard died in 1986.
- Tom Cruise has been a Scientologist since 1986, when the actress Mimi Rogers, who became his first wife, gave him literature about it.
- Andrew Morton’s 2008 biography claimed Cruise was second in command; the church called it “ludicrous,” and Cruise’s lawyer called the book “a pack of lies.”
- Miscavige was best man at Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes in Italy on November 18, 2006.
- In a 2004 speech to Scientologists, Cruise said: “It’s a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist and it’s something that you have to earn.”
- Cruise was raised Catholic and spent a year, from the fall of 1976, at St. Francis Seminary, a Franciscan school near Cincinnati.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- “David Miscavige,” Church of Scientology International. https://www.scientology.org/david-miscavige/
- “David Miscavige,” Wikipedia (leadership after Hubbard’s death). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Miscavige
- David Langton, “Cruise is second most powerful Scientologist, Morton book claims,” The Independent, January 7, 2008. https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/cruise-is-second-most-powerful-scientologist-morton-book-claims-768571.html
- “Scientologists slam Cruise biography ‘lies,’” ABC News (Australia), January 16, 2008. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-16/scientologists-slam-cruise-biography-lies/1013516
- “Scientologists are authorities on the mind: Cruise,” ABC News (Australia), January 17, 2008. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-17/scientologists-are-authorities-on-the-mind-cruise/1015030
- “It’s official: Cruise and Holmes get hitched,” Associated Press, in the Lawrence Journal-World, November 19, 2006. https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/nov/19/its_official_cruise_and_holmes_get_hitched/
- Ryan Smith, “Ex Scientology Boss Says Tom Cruise Is Church’s ‘Number One Victim,’” Newsweek, November 20, 2023. https://www.newsweek.com/tom-cruise-scientology-number-one-victim-mitch-brisker-interview-1845232
- Biography.com Editors, “Tom Cruise Thought He Couldn’t Read. Then He Discovered Scientology,” Biography.com, May 20, 2025 (quoting “Tom Cruise: My Struggle to Read,” People, July 21, 2003). https://www.biography.com/actors/a64829018/tom-cruise-dyslexia-scientology
- Michael Daly, “Tom Cruise Was on Track to Become a Priest in His Youth,” Newsweek, July 9, 2012. https://www.newsweek.com/tom-cruise-was-track-become-priest-his-youth-65601
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