A former official for the Church of Scientology is claiming responsibility for Tom Cruise’s 2001 divorce from Nicole Kidman, saying the church used a “number of intimidation tactics” to split them up.
These allegations are made in the new HBO documentary “Going Clear: Scientology & The Prison of Belief,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival Sunday.
Marty Rathbun was once the second highest-ranking official in the church before he left in 2004, and Rathbun now alleges the Scientology head at the time, David Miscavige, was skeptical of Kidman because her father was a psychologist in Australia, where Miscavige was from.
“Scientology is vehemently opposed to psychiatry and psychology, and Rathbun claims that because of Kidman’s father, she was labeled a ‘Potential Trouble Source’ (PTS), defined by the Church of Scientology as ‘a person who is in some way connected to and being adversely affected by a suppressive person.'”
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Cruise and Kidman met in 1990 while filming “Days of Thunder,” and apparently Kidman kept Cruise from the church during the next decade, much to the dismay of church officials.
And when Cruise quit answering calls from Miscavige, he was “infuriated,” and assigned Rathbun to split them up.
So, the church tapped her phone.
“Rathbun alleges in the film that the Church of Scientology then waged an aggressive campaign to get Cruise to dump Kidman, including having a private investigator wiretap her phone—at Cruise’s apparent suggestion, according to Rathbun—and sending the tapes to Miscavige.”
Rathbun also claims the church “re-educated” the couple’s three adopted children so Cruise could get custody of them once they divorced.
“‘Going Clear’ also claims that the Church of Scientology takes great pains to accommodate Cruise, including installing all the audiovisual equipment in his home, purchasing him limousines and airplanes, and once even having its members design a meadow for Cruise and Kidman to run through—an alleged fantasy of Cruise’s.”
The Church of Scientology has denied the claims made in the film, the New York Post reports, and both Cruise and Kidman refused interviews for the film.
The documentary is set to air in March on HBO. (RELATED: Watch Tom Cruise Almost Get Crushed By A Bus)