Scientology: What The A-List Members Know

A new lawsuit accuses the controversial church of kidnapping, abuse and human trafficking. US reveals how much its celeb followers have seen

- Travis Cronin and Jen Heger

Between the ages of 6 and 12, “Jane Doe” — the unnamed woman at the center of a bombshell new lawsuit against the Church of Scientology — lived with her parents at the church’s headquarters in Clearwater, Fla. The daughter of high-ranking members, she was put to work for 16 grueling hours a day, she says, and was routinely “audited,” a procedure in which subjects are interrogated and told they can never speak ill of Scientology. She claims she was trained at age 10 to sit, stone-faced, as adults yelled sexually inappropriate comments at her. From the time she was 15 until leaving the church in 2017, she says she rarely had a day off from backbreaking labor — for which she was paid a mere $15 a week.

These are just some of the allegations the plaintiff is making in a suit filed on June 18 against the Church of Scientology and its current leader, David Miscavige, 59. Jane Doe, who’s believed to be around age 40, is suing the church — which boasts a host of famous members, including Tom Cruise, John Travolta, his wife, Kelly Preston, and Kirstie Alley — for kidnapping, stalking, human trafficking, false imprisonment, libel, slander, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. “The Church of Scientology presents a facade to the outside world to disguise what in reality is nothing more than a cult built on mind control,” the lawsuit alleges. The Church of Scientology denies all allegations of abuse. In response to Jane Doe’s suit, the church’s lawyers tell Us, “We are confident the lawsuit will fail. The church will vigorously defend itself against these unfounded allegations.”