People News

Family feud in Scientology's upper ranks exposes more oddities

By M&C People Feb 6, 2008, 16:56 GMT

British journalist and author Andrew Morton presents the German copy of his unauthorised biography of US actor Tom Cruise in Berlin, Germany, 28 January 2008. The biography \'Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography\', in German subtitled \'The star and the Scientology conspiracy\' and dealing with the Hollywood celebrity and his involvement with Scientology, has been in German bookstores since last week. Since the early 90s, Morton has been widely known for his revealing biographies of celebrities like Princess Diana, Madonna or Monica Lewinski. EPA/STEPHANIE PILICK

David Miscavige's niece is strirring up some trouble for the privacy-obsessed space alien cult that was invented by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.  The profitable venture obtained a church status and qualified to be a tax-free religion. 

Richard Johnson of Page Six reports that Jenna Hill Miscavige, 24, the daughter of David's older brother Ron, has publicly supported author Andrew Morton's "Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography," and criticized the actor for "supporting a religion that tears apart families, both in the media and monetarily."

According to the Page Six report, Jenna now says she is being harassed by the "church."

"The church has contacted several of my friends, telling them that I am smearing the church and I am going to be declared a suppressive person and asking my friends if they would disconnect from me and, in at least one case, insisting that they do," Jenna told reporter Philip Recchia for Page Six.

Jenna reportedly posted an "open letter" praising the Morton book to a senior church member, which was later posted on the Web.

Page Six outlines Jenna's personal connection to Scientology.

Her parents abandoned Scientology in 2000, but Jenna stayed in the "church" until 2005, isolated in a boarding school and subject to unusual practices.

"If you flunked your uniform inspection, sometimes if you were late . . . you would be dumped with a five-gallon bucket of ice water," Jenna tells Page Six.

"We were also required to write down all transgressions . . . similar to a sin in the Catholic religion. After writing them all down, we would receive a meter check on the Electropsychometer to make sure we weren't hiding anything, and you would have to keep writing until you came up clean. This is from the age of 5 until I was 12."