Scientology Leader David Miscavige's Father on Their Relationship: Part 1

the Church of Scientology has dealt with many high profile defectors including celebrities and former top executives but what you're about to see is truly unique the father of the undisputed leader of the church quitting writing a book and hauling into public view and all-out war within Scientology's ruling family I have never met a more competent and more intelligent a more tolerant more compassionate being that is how Tom Cruise describes David Miscavige the unquestioned leader of Scientology one of the most controversial new religions on the planet it's a story that affects every Scientologist within the church he is exalted well thank you very much including my pleasure before you holds forth in front of adoring crowds and rubbed shoulders with celebrity parishioners such as Cruise John Travolta and Kirstie Alley but among some former members he is wildly controversial he uses that power to hurt people we were hoping to talk to David Miscavige possible and today this cabbage is famously pressure that's right it's not gonna be cool to be set up out here to say his last live television interview nearly 25 years ago right here on Nightline if I may just interrupt for a moment you realize there's a little bit of a problem in getting people to talk critically about the Church of Scientology because quite frankly they're scary oh no no no but tonight new claims about the secretive world of Scientology and the man at its center let's face it Scientologists have not been treated like members of other religions ever from an unusual source so you spent 12 years right here on this street 12 years right here yeah good memories here pretty good memories Ron Miscavige David Miscavige's father has left the church and is speaking out for the first time exclusively to ABC News you have written a whole book about your son and you've called the book ruthless yeah it's a pretty damning charge to level against your own child he wasn't always that way Ron Miscavige says he's written this book because of a Scientology policy called disconnection which he says has torn his family and many others apart I raised him good or bad and to come to this what the hell is this this is nuts the church says Ron's book co-written by a former church member who's now a noted critic of church management is filled with half-truths and outright lies it's in my view a literary forgery Scientology granting us a rare interview with attorney for the church Monique Yuengling what has David Miscavige's response been to this book I think he's on a personal level I think he's he's probably very very sad that his father would do this this seems to be no explanation except that his father is trying to make a buck off of his name well the church is attacking him Ronnie's getting support from a prominent voice I'm gonna get there first Leah Remini former star of the king of queens who also left the church and wrote a book called troublemaker oh you look like a million bucks this is great seeing you I take it oh yeah good getting better looking into that so the two you guys haven't seen each other since you were both active Scientologists that's right yeah he has a right to tell his story I have a right to tell my story and so do thousands of others this unusual family history and subsequent family feud is set in motion in 1968 when Ron a father of four a Salesman and aspiring musician starts dabbling in Scientology after learning about the new religion founded by science fiction writer l ron Hubbard at a business meeting there are certain evils in society which definitely should cease and we are taking some responsibility point he says Scientology works wonders for him look I didn't know what I was looking for and who I was looking for something when I got in Scientology I felt that I found that I was looking for it which did have a lot of answers to life on a basic level so many answers so many life-changing benefits Ron feels a duty as a parent to introduce his son David to Scientology as well he hopes that somehow auditing a sort of counseling that uses a Scientology device called an e meter can help 9 year old David with his asthma and after his first session about 45 minutes later David walks out smiling bright that's what happened he's his dad it's handled so your view at the time was that his asthma was cured by by Scientology let's put it this way it mitigated it considerably I think it was at that moment that he decided he's going to do something with this so you think that was the key turning point in his whole life I know it at age 16 David Miscavige joins the Sea Org the religious order of the church and develops a close relationship with Church founder l ron Hubbard in 1986 when Hubbard dies David takes control taking the title chairman of the board by this time David's father ron has also joined the sea or pretty quickly Ron says he notices his Suns sharp-edged new management style David his backstage literally tearing me apart verbally for fifty-five minutes cursing yelling screaming at me one night at a church event in the late 1980s where Ron is performing he says David gives him an extended tongue lashing with other people looking on when he's screaming at you do you ever think I changed this guy's diapers no kidding of course I did of course I did and that isn't the only time it happened as the years go on Ron says life for Sea Org members deteriorates he chafes at what he describes as crushing workloads restrictive rules constant stress a rigid lifestyle and a lack of sleep as time went on it slowly went downhill and it got worse and worse and worse the church rejects those claims telling us long and hard hours and a restrictive lifestyle are part of the mission Sea Org members sign on for if you talk to the staff they'll tell you what's the worker's paradise it couldn't be a better place to work these are people that have dedicated their lives to something that they really believe in they believe that the Scientology can really help mankind in the end the world in general and they're working very hard at that as for Ron he was working with first-class musicians in one of the best studios in the world he had nothing to complain about my name is Peter Schlitz I'm a songwriter the church sent us video testimonials from Ron's former bandmates Ron was an embarrassment to me personally and also letters in which those bandmates called Ron lazy and crude say he used racial and ethnic slurs was a poor musician and a disgusting Pig do you know of any other church that criticizes former members in the way in which Scientology does well I think it all depends on the circumstances certainly you see that happened with respect to the Vatican and so on when the Vatican gets attacked I mean they have something to say about the the attackers if somebody leaves the Catholic Church do you really think they're gonna be on the receiving end of this level of vitriol not if they leave the church and they go off and live their life I mean if they leaving criticized because people leave and criticize the Catholic Church all the time yes exactly and I do think that if people in the church are asked for their opinion of this particular person that you may well get the same the same kind of criticism it's not as if the people were just randomly asked this is the church itself asking its parishioners videotaping it and giving it to ABC News well again the facts are what they are Ron says the facts are that by 2012 he can no longer bear life in the Sea Org so along with his wife Becky who he married after divorcing David's mother he makes a radical move he quits when Leah Remini hears that Ron the chairman of the board's father has left she reaches out I tracked him down I called him and I offered my support immediately because I know he must have felt alone when leaving and I just wanted him to know that we were willing to take them in that's a big offer why did what made you feel motivated to do that because there is no there really is no place for them to go unless they have family which is very rare outside of the church but Ron says quitting Church creates a whole new host of profound problems for him coming up its father versus son as Ron's departure exposes deep familial riffs now erupting into public view I've never met some of my great-grandchildren I don't even know how many there are that is terrible okay that's why I'm doing this stay with us this special edition of Nightline will continue you

Channel: ABC News

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Keywords: Ron, Miscavige, David, Leah, Remini, Hubbard, Church, of, Scientology, Scientologists, Father, Leader, Miscavige's, Memoir, Ruthless, My, Son, and, Me, religion, abc, abcnews

Id: UDbG36A5CUo

Length: 9min 42sec (582 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 30 2016