Actor Jason Beghe (I also went, who???) is the first celebrity Scientologist to sit down and publicly talk about his experiences after leaving the group. He believes that over a decade, he ended up paying over $1 Million for treatments and courses. There's a Youtube interview out there with him but Scientology's lawyers are working hard to suppress it as the moment.
Anyway, I found this article which is much better at explaining the situation and it also has some juicy celebrity secrets and is generally quite well written and informative and entertaining. Apparentely Tom Cruise was distant from the Church for several years but they made an effort to pull him back in.
Quote:
"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 mother****ers."
Beghe says the proof that Scientology was no longer working for him came when he was almost killed in a car accident. After the L’s, he points out, that shouldn’t happen. “A clear isn’t supposed to have a car accident. You’re supposed to be practically immortal.”
Only about three years after joining, however, he says he started to have major problems. He had reached OT IV and was doing some special auditing, something referred to as “L Rundowns” or “L’s.” Beghe says the rundowns cost $150,000 to $160,000, but the payoff was immense: successfully completing the series would give someone serious juju. “You’re supposed to have the power to like take over a country,” he says.
“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.”
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http://www.villagevoice.com/news/081...01,2.html/full