Scientology's First Celebrity Defector Reveals Church Secrets

Beghe claimst that the religion’s top star, Tom Cruise, was actually mostly separated from the church for several years. Other celebrities, he points out, go through similar periods of no longer auditing or moving up the Bridge, but are still considered members. Bringing Cruise back into a more active role, Beghe says, was a major Miscavige project.

“He was out for like ten years. There are people who just aren’t doing anything Some are out but don’t talk about it. Why? The church is scary. These are bad motherfuckers.”

Once his disappointment was so great he began talking about leaving altogether, Beghe says the church sent people to talk him out of it.

“Big fucking cheeses. At the end, one was David Petit, head of Celebrity Centre International. I’ve known him for a long time,” he says. “He told me: ‘If you want, I’ll make you the president of any Celebrity Centre, anywhere in the world.’

“That’s a sign of the respect they had for me. Petit doesn’t get to make offers like that unless David [Miscavige] knows.”

Now that he and his wife are finally out, Beghe says he wants the world know how unethical and underhanded Scientology turned out to be.

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“Not one auditing session—which are supposed to be private—is not recorded on film,” he says, and claims that secret cameras are used at every session at the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, recording sessions that for Scientologists are supposed to be something like confessionals in the Catholic church.

“Will Smith is supposedly dabbling in Scientology. Let Will Smith know that his shit was fucking recorded. And tell him to look them in the eye and see if he believes it when they deny it.”

Even worse, he says, is that behind the backs of celebrities, Scientology officials gossip about what transpires in those supposedly private sessions. “Everything’s supposed to be confidential. But all they do is chat about it,” he says.

At a church center in Hemet, California where the church has movie studios, Beghe helped make videos. “I did movies for them. I remember asking, who do we cast in this thing? How about this dude?” referring to another scientologist actor. “No, he’s been cheating on his wife,” Beghe says he was told.

“It’s just a gossip factory. And I’m not talking about auditors. All over the place. The celebrities don’t know that their private troubles are gossiped about by Scientology employees.”

Beghe says he was also motivated by what non-celebrities are going through in Hubbard’s church.

“Being a celebrity, I got the greatest fucking auditors, case supervisors, all the best trained people. And they fucked me up this bad—and they admitted they did—but what about the poor schmoe at Orange County org? They don’t know what they’re doing. It certainly doesn’t deliver what’s promised.”

Is he worried about what going public will do to his career?

“I’m probably not going to be doing any movies for United Artists any time soon,” he cracked, referring to the Cruise-owned studio. But otherwise, he’s not sure how the publicity will affect his career. After Cane’s cancellation, he’s waiting for word on another deal that he can’t talk about yet. But for now, he’s fielding calls from television talk shows.

“I don’t want to get bitter, and I don’t want to hurt anybody,” he says. But he’s determined to help others by telling them what he’s learned.

“Scientology seduces you into thinking that it’s a process through which you can truly become yourself. But ultimately, what it turns you into is a Scientologist—a brainwashed version of yourself.”