Tom Cruise‘s complex relationship with the Church of Scientology is getting exposed!

Former church bigwig Mike Rinder, who grew up in Scientology but left in 2007 when he was 52 after having a change of heart about the religion, just penned an explosive new book, A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology, and the pages are filled with allegations about Tom’s power in the organization!

First off, Mike claims the church would do pretty much anything to keep their star power happy — including setting Tom up with Nicole Kidman! The author explained that Tom became infatuated with Nicole while filming their 1990 movie Days of Thunder. The only problem? He was married!

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At the time, the Top Gun star was already wed to his first wife Mimi Rogers, who introduced him to Scientology. But they wouldn’t stay together for long – and Mike alleged the church had something to do with it! According to the book, church leader David Miscavige took it upon himself to help Tom:

“[David] had been invited to Daytona, to watch the filming. He and his trusted lieutenant Greg Wilhere, now assigned as Cruise’s personal auditor [someone who helps an individual get rid of negative influences in their lives], hung out with Cruise at the Speedway, went skydiving with him, and most importantly helped facilitate Cruise’s desire to make Nicole his new wife. Miscavige no doubt saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate his ability to make Tom’s wishes come true.”

Whoa…

Rinder goes on to claim Greg was “assigned to get Mimi to agree to a divorce so Tom could marry Nicole,” adding that this was “highly unusual and would never have happened with a normal Scientologist.” So crazy! Tom couldn’t just break off the marriage himself?! WTF. Ultimately, whatever the church allegedly did, it worked. The actor divorced Mimi in February 1990 — and married Nicole on Christmas Eve of the same year! The church was heavily involved in the nuptials, too.

The ceremony took place at Tom’s Aspen, Colorado home. Per the book, Miscavige was the best man while the former personal chef of the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was flown in to cook for the pair. The author believes this was a sign of how much the church was willing to suck up to Tom to keep him happy:

“It was indicative of how far Miscavige was willing to go to ally Cruise.”

Others from the church’s Sea Organization, members who sign a billion-year pledge of service to better the world, were also allegedly called in to help with many of Tom’s various household tasks. The org’s website describes the group as “members [who] work long hours and live communally with housing, meals, uniforms, medical and dental care, transport and all expenses associated with their duties provided by the Church.” Rather than tackle important issues, the team was given numerous “tasks” to help the Hollywood star. Rinder continued:

“Sea Org. members were sent to help set up the house [in Aspen]. This became a standard pattern with Cruise. Miscavige would dispatch Sea Org. members to do various tasks to ‘help Tom.’”

BTW, the author was a member of Sea Org. and he described the conditions elsewhere in the book, writing:

“Our battle was to save all of mankind, so what did it really matter if we had no air-conditioning, ate only rice and beans, and slept four hours a night for weeks on end?”

Sounds rough! Saving mankind and saving Tom Cruise from his chores are two very different things, too! LOLz! According to the tell-all, the team “did a great deal of work installing high-end audio/visual equipment for Cruise’s houses in Pacific Palisades, Beverly Hills and Telluride, as well as his Santa Monica plane hangar.” Sea Org. members also customized cars, limos, motorcycles and even an RV for Cruise. Rinder states that all of the performer’s household and office staff were personally chosen by Miscavige’s wife, Shelly, but a spokesperson for Scientology clapped back, telling Page Six:

“Tom Cruise most certainly has his own staff. And to say the Church worked on his vehicles is another blatant invention.”

Here’s what’s very interesting: after doing all of that to get Tom and Nicole together, the church quickly regretted it! Not because they’d meddled in someone’s love life, but because it was pulling Tom away from them!

Later in the book, Mike writes that while filming Eyes Wide Shut with his then-wife in 1997, Tom started to pull away from the religion. He was reportedly ignoring calls from David while filming in London, which prompted David to send Marty Rathbun, a top church exec, to the UK to audit Cruise. After this process, Tom “was gradually drawn back into the world of Scientology,” but away from his marriage.

“[This rededication allegedly] created a distance between [Cruise] and Nicole.”

The church already wasn’t a big fan of Nicole to begin with since her father was a psychiatrist, which the church is strongly against. While she joined Scientology throughout her marriage, she “never expressed particular eagerness for her Scientology courses or auditing,” the book continues:

“Had she not been Mrs. Tom Cruise, she would not have been eligible to participate in OT levels at all due to her familial connection to psychiatry.”

Feeling threatened by the actress, the church allegedly took things WAY too far — by spying on her! Mike notes:

“Rathbun worked with [Hollywood lawyer] Bert Fields to hire infamous PI Anthony Pellicano to spy on Nicole and tap her phone.”

WTF. The PI now has a criminal record and spent over a decade in prison for offenses including wiretapping, racketeering, conspiracy and illegal possession of explosives and grenades following a 2008 sentencing. Jeez. But again, the church is denying these claims, telling Page Six:

“The Church never ordered or participated in any illegal wiretapping.”

Sadly, the book alleges Rathbun turned Nicole and Tom’s adopted children Isabella and Connor against their mother by indoctrinating them into Scientology, specifically teaching them about a Suppressive Person (AKA someone deemed as an enemy by the church and who must be silenced or destroyed).

In her 2016 book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Leah Remini, also a former member of Scientology, described sharing a shuttle with Tom and Nicole’s children on the way to their father’s 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes. When asked if they saw their mom much, Bella reportedly said:

“Not if I have a choice. Our mom is a f**king SP.”

Oof. So sad.

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Meanwhile, the church was likely happy since they’d gotten their star power back:

“When Tom and Nicole divorced, Miscavige was happy that the ‘negative influence’ of Nicole was no longer dragging Tom away. Cruise thereafter became more fervent in his vocal public support of scientology and Miscavige.”

His support wasn’t always well received by the public, but it certainly caused attention. For a while Cruise’s publicist was Pat Kingsley of PMK, who had advised the actor not to talk about Scientology, but he was eventually fired and replaced with the actor’s sister, Lee Anne. (Tom’s three sisters and mom all joined the sect, BTW). Because Lee Ann was so inexperienced, she reportedly listened to whatever Miscavige told her — meaning Tom had no fear of discussing his beliefs on TV. Rinder continued:

“With time, Cruise’s public statements steadily became more and more outlandish. He ultimately made a complete fool of himself by jumping on Oprah Winfrey’s couch during their infamous May 23, 2005, interview when he revealed his love for Holmes. Shortly after that, he accused Matt Lauer of being ‘glib’ about psychiatric drugs on the Today show … He was the perfect example of what a Scientology celebrity should be doing — speaking with absolute certainty, unashamed of what we Scientologists believed and knew to be true, no matter how bats**t crazy.”

The church didn’t just listen to Tom when it came to love, either. They also dished out a lot of money to win over his A-lister friends! Apparently, the church once built an entire soccer field for Tom to show off to David Beckham, the book alleges:

“[Tom] was doing his best to court celebrities other than those with whom he was working on films. Perhaps the most famous were David and Victoria Beckham.”

He continues:

“A professional-grade soccer pitch was constructed on the property at Gold [Base, church headquarters in San Jacinto, California]. The ground was leveled, irrigation installed, perfect turf, goals raised. A full-time caretaker was appointed from the Gold staff … It was built for one purpose only: so Tom Cruise could woo his friend David to come to Gold. It never happened.”

Wooow. All that for nothing? Yeesh.

But back to the dating — because they seem to really care about Tom’s personal life! In 2004, Tom attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Spain for the opening of a new Scientology center there. Unfortunately, he was single at the time:

“Tom had been dating Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, which was a contributing factor as to why so much money was spent to buy and renovate the beautiful building there. So it’s a bit ironic that by the time it was completed Penélope had broken up with him.”

LOLz!

The star reportedly turned to Mike during the ceremony and complained, saying:

“Can you believe [Cruise’s sister] Lee Ann can’t set me up with a girlfriend?”

Miscavige then “took it to heart” and made it his mission to find Tom a partner and future wife. In fact, he reportedly made it a special project overseen by Greg Wilhere, who held “auditions” to find a girlfriend. OMG! It’s unclear if anything became of this. Tom had a short-lived romance with British-Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi before marrying Katie Holmes in April 2006, though they’ve since split.

FWIW, a spokesperson of the church has denied all these claims, also telling Page Six on Tuesday:

“Utterly ludicrous. Mike Rinder is an inveterate liar who seeks to profit from his dishonesty. He supports himself by orchestrating the harassment of his former Church and its leader through false police reports, incendiary propaganda and fraudulent media stories.”

Whew. A lot to take in. What are your initial reactions to this new book? Sound OFF (below)!

[Image via MEGA/WENN]