Scientology 'targeted' U2 frontman Bono to join church, leader's niece claims
- Last Updated: 12:42 PM, August 21, 2013
- Posted: 12:41 PM, August 21, 2013
Bono was once a priority recruit of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige according to a new interview with an ex-member of the church.
Miscavige's niece, Jenna Miscavige Hill, told Radar Online the U2 frontman was audited and heavily targeted by the controversial religion.
“I know he was receiving Scientology auditing and was at one of the Celebrity Centre Galas,” she told the gossip site. “Why would he need auditing? Scientology markets itself to everyone, it can deal with everything from marital problems to public speaking. He’s a human, so he still needs those things. If he were to join, all the world would be Scientology!”
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Bono attends the "Love Ball" on July 27 in Monaco.
The singer — who grew up in a split Anglican-Catholic household in Ireland — does not belong to either church, although he does identify as Christian.
Hill, 29, also revealed in her memoir “Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology” that her uncle was intent on bringing Brad Pitt over to Scientology.
The actor was allegedly targeted in the early 1990s when he was dating actress Juliette Lewis. Pitt reportedly went through the Purification Rundown, a controversial drug detox program developed by church founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Hill said that the church goes after celebrity recruits like Bono and Pitt because they make the church more visible. She said she felt the church was geared toward having famous members.
“I think that celebrities are more inclined to be egocentric and Scientology caters for that – you’re your own God. They’re probably being told that all the time,” she said.
Hill spent 21 years in the Church, rising through the ranks to become a member of the elite Sea Org group. She left the church in 2005.
The Church of Scientology, for its part, denies Hill’s claims.
“At no time was Mrs. Hill ever privy to any ‘priorities’ or ‘strategies’,” a church spokesman told the site.
“As a result, she is in no position to comment and any claims to the contrary must be viewed with skepticism. Our priorities are and always have been the establishment and expansion of the Scientology religion. In furtherance of this is the establishment of 37 new Scientology churches in major metropolitan areas and cultural centers around the world in just the past few years.”
'There's a celebrity strategy': Scientology defector reveals Bono and Brad Pitt were once actively recruited by the church
- The niece of church leader David Miscavige claims the Irish rocker was a specific targeted by her uncle
- She also says her childhood crush Pitt went through the church's detox program while he dated Scientologist Juliette Lewis
- The Church of Scientology has officially denied the former member was
'ever privy to any priorities or strategies'
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The church defector, who released a tell-all book on her escape from Scientology in February, also claims Brad Pitt was courted by the church in the 90s and went through its drug detoxification program while dating actress and well-known Scientology member Juliette Lewis.
‘I know he was receiving Scientology auditing and was at one of the Celebrity Centre Galas,’ Hill told Radar Online in an exclusive interview posted Wednesday.
So why would Bono, a man known for his kindness and constant concern for humanity be in need of the church’s self-improvement techniques?
Scientologist? The niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige says rocker Bono was once actively courted by the Church of Scientology's leaders
‘Scientology markets itself to everyone,’ Hill said in an exclusive interview with Radaronline. ‘It can deal with everything from marital problems to public speaking. He’s a human, so he still needs those things.’
As the daughter of Miscavige’s brother Ron, Hill spent her childhood in the church and detailed her time on the inside and with its ultra-secret Sea Org in a much ballyhooed recounting titled Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape.
She escaped to tell her tale only after 21 years, and Bono’s alleged courting by the mysterious organization comes as big a surprise as any she’s released.
Defector: Jenna Miscavige Hill is the niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige. She wrote a tell-all on the religion released in February and is now naming celebrities who've dabbled in the religion
Surprise! Jenna Miscavige Hill claims Brad Pitt went through Scientology's detox program called Purification Rundown while he dated actress Juliette Lewis in the 1990s
HQ: The Scientology church's Los Angeles celebrity center. Hill says she first learned of Brad Pitt's involvement with the church as a young girl. She says the church actively recruits celebrities
‘If you’re egocentric, not always confident or insecure because of being in public eye and want to be charitable, Scientology pushes your buttons,’ explains Hill, ‘That’s why someone like Bono would fit the bill perfectly.’
According to Hill, it’s the celebrity that entices church officials like her uncle.
More woes: The church has seen a number of troubles recently. Last month, Leah Remini defected from the church and stirred trouble with a quickly dismissed missing persons report about Miscavige's wife
‘There’s a celebrity strategy and they’re targeted for their influence, not their money,’ she says, ‘They know people are obsessed with celebrities so will get more interested in Scientology.’
Another celebrity she claims was sought out by the church: Brad Pitt.
Pitt’s name has come up in reference to Scientology before thanks to his relationship with actress Juliette Lewis, who remains a Scientologist to this day.
Hill says Pitt was involved with the church’s drug detoxification program called Purification Rundown to help him stop using drugs he’s publicly blamed battles with depression, according to Radaronline.
Lewis, too, says she has the church to thank for helping her kick a drug habit.
Hill’s new revelations concerning the church of her upbringing are just a drop in the bucket of Scientology’s recent woes.
Just this past Friday, MailOnline exclusively revealed photos of the Church of Scientology's 'alien space cathedral' built in a remote part of the New Mexico desert.
The mysterious building leads to an underground vault which sits next to two giant symbols carved into the ground - believed to be markers for the religion's followers to find their way back from the ends of the universe after humanity is destroyed in the future.
While no one knows the definite meaning of the pair of overlapping circles, each with a diamond in them, it is believed to have been trademarked by the Church of Technology, a branch of Scientology.
It is believed that they are a ‘return point’ so members of the church know where they can find the works of founder L. Ron Hubbard when they come back from space after a nuclear catastrophe wipes out the human race.
Imprisoned? Mail Online exclusively revealed photos of a secret New Mexico base where Jenna Hill claims her aunt, David Miscavige's long missing wife, is being held
Beacon? The home is allegedly part of a compound that acts as a secret base and homing beacon for space craft and for the church's followers to follow back to earth after a nuclear holocaust scatters them far into the universe
And last month, actress Leah Remini made headlines by fleeing the church. She subsequently piqued public interest in the church again by filing a missing persons report on Miscavige’s wife Shelly, who hasn’t been seen publicly in years.
Remini has reportedly been offered ‘millions of dollars’ for a tell-all book on her many years with the church.
The Church of Scientology did not immediately return emails or calls for comment on Hill’s accusations.
However, a church spokesperson told Radar Online:
‘At no time was Mrs. Hill ever privy to any ‘priorities’ or ‘strategies.’ As a result, she is in no position to comment and any claims to the contrary must be viewed with skepticism. Our priorities are and always have been the establishment and expansion of the Scientology religion.’
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In Texas lawsuit, judge orders Scientology and its leader to stop harassment
A Texas judge has issued a temporary restraining order against Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, two church entities and two alleged church operatives — part of a lawsuit that contends they have waged a three-year campaign of surveillance, dirty tricks, intimidation and other harassment against the wife of a church critic.
Monique Rathbun, 41, filed the lawsuit last week in Comal County, Texas, near San Antonio. She is married to Marty Rathbun, a former church executive who once worked at Miscavige's side but since 2009 has been a high-profile critic of the leader.
Her complaint says she's not a Scientologist, has never attacked the church, and her only involvement is being married to a once-prominent church member.
In the lawsuit and a four-page affidavit, Monique Rathbun describes "three years of ruthlessly aggressive misconduct" by the church, allegedly supervised by Miscavige.
Church spokeswoman Karin Pouw said Wednesday that the church had not been served with the lawsuit. But she added: "Based on your questions, the complaint filed in Texas is nothing more than a pathetic get-rich scheme cooked up by unemployed blogger Marty Rathbun, a self-admitted suborner of perjury who is now resorting to using his wife in an attempt to extort money from the church."
Monique Rathbun says Scientologists or church representatives have:
• Showed up at her home to question her while her husband is away;
• Set up hidden surveillance cameras on the couple's homes;
• Sent a sex toy to her at work and flowers to a female co-worker with a romantic note purportedly from Rathbun.
• Followed and videotaped the couple as they ran errands, went out to eat or took evening walks;
• Questioned her parents, co-workers and friends;
• And posted "vile allegations" on websites tied to the church.
According to the lawsuit, the Rathbuns, who married in 2010, tried to escape those tactics by moving from a tiny coastal town near Corpus Christi, Tex., to a rural home near San Antonio. However, church representatives have continued to surveil them, Monique Rathbun says.
She says she and her husband recently spotted surveillance cameras directed at their new home from the undeveloped property next door.
"We can't get away from them," Monique Rathbun said in an interview Wednesday. "I can't spend the rest of my life running away from cameras. I have to have a life."
District Judge Bruce Boyer signed the restraining order Friday, legally preventing Miscavige and the other defendants from surveilling Monique Rathbun, threatening her, following her or contacting people she knows.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for September. The lawsuit also seeks damages of more than $1 million.
Besides Miscavige, the suit names as a defendant Monty Drake, who is listed in the Texas Department of Public Safety as a long-time private investigator.
Monique Rathbun's affidavit says Drake leased a house across the street from her home near Corpus Christi. She says he set up surveillance cameras that were visible behind cut-outs of the house's blinds.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Drake said he didn't know anything about the lawsuit and hung up.
Rathbun says the surveillance by Drake followed 199 days during which a handful of Scientologists leased another nearby home and followed the couple everywhere, taking video, hurling insults and peppering them with questions.
The Rathbuns reluctantly decided to leave Corpus Christi for a more protected location. Their search took them to a rural area near San Antonio. There they found a 3.5-acre lot, where their rental home is enveloped by 77 oaks and more than 100 pines.
After recently finding two cameras trained on this home from an adjacent property, Marty Rathbun says he confronted a man named Steven G. Sloat who said he had rented the property. Sloat is the other defendant.
His website says he has experience as a former police officer, deputy U.S. Marshall, corporate turnaround specialist and writer. Sloat did not return a call to his business Wednesday.
Marty Rathbun, 56, was a primary figure in The Truth Rundown, a 2009 investigative report on Scientology in the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times.
He and others, including former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder, said Miscavige physically attacked church staff and encouraged a culture of violence and intimidation in the church's upper ranks. The leader has denied those accusations.
Rathbun and Rinder also told how they orchestrated some of the same behavior against church critics that is alleged in Monique Rathbun's lawsuit. The two have expressed regret for those actions.
Pouw, the church spokeswoman, said Rathbun has "shopped made-up tales and myths to virtually every media outlet" since he left the church in 2004. She said he is frustrated the church is flourishing, having opened 37 new churches worldwide in recent years.
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
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