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[ThisWreckage]

Are you just basing this off of the image in the OP? Boniadi doesn't look Japanese at all and does look pretty strongly like an Iranian.

Yes, the picture in the OP. To me, she looks very Japanese in that photo.

 

[Always-honest]

So basically, Katie sold her body, soul and life for a few million bucks to get married to Tom Cruise???

to be fair, that's how a lot of marriages work. Financial safetynet is the best way to protect your genes/ kids, etc. It's a smart move, since "just-love" isn't a safe bet (when yopu look at all the divorces and all the cheating going on).

 

[Instigator]

Why are people so caught up on what Tom Cruise is doing with his time?

Just look at him. I want him to crash and burn.

 

[apana]

this sort of thing will always be shocking to me. Expecially the lies of such a woman. "Falling in love......". No, you are just a gold digger.

Okay I don't want to be a fanboy for this random woman I just heard about today but I think it is probably more likely that she was just enamored with him. He is a good looking movie star afterall. It happens, plus you have to add the whole religous element into it.

 

[Always-honest]

Okay I don't want to be a fanboy for this random woman I just heard about today but I think it is probably more likely that she was just enamored with him. He is a good looking movie star afterall. It happens, plus you have to add the whole religous element into it.

i don't buy that for one second. Sorry.

 

[Kusagari]

i don't buy that for one second. Sorry.

She was already a Scientologist and there's been rumors for years now that Cruise is treated like a God among them.

I can buy the religious aspect in this case.

 

[ThisWreckage]

She was already a Scientologist and there's been rumors for years now that Cruise is treated like a God among them.

I can buy the religious aspect in this case.

Yes, absolutely. He's a cult of personality within that religion on top of being good looking, rich, and famous.

 

[polyh3dron]

i don't buy that for one second. Sorry.

There's no way to know, so why even speculate? It's better to just discuss things here that are established. Anyways, like others have said, if you're already deep in Scientology you are likely to have a much more positive opinion of Tom Cruise than the general public, and this whole ordeal took place before the whole Katie Holmes thing and everything following that so even then the general public opinion of Cruise was much higher than it is now.

 

[Diablos]

Once a cult, always a cult. To label it as anything else is lunacy.

 

[SapientWolf]

No way this happened. I can see dinner-dates, but this bizarre "auditing, sexual history disclosure," and scrubbing toilets and being forced to sell books? No fucking way.

From what I've seen and read about the organization, that's pretty plausible.

 

[Enco]

He seems like such a cool person. Shame about all this Scientology bullshit.

 

[apana]

http://omg.yahoo.com/news/paul-haggis-yes-nazanin-boniadi-audited-date-tom-203000705.html

also, the omgyahoo thing linked in the OP cites a Vanity Fair piece, so omgyahoo isn't the original source here.

The Vanity Fair piece is even crazier:

Though the first month of the relationship was bliss, by the second month Boniadi was more and more often found wanting, Orth reports. According to the knowledgeable source, anything she said or did that Cruise found fault with he immediately reported to a member of the Scientology staff, and she would be audited for it. This began with her very first words to him, “Very well done,” regarding his receiving Scientology’s Freedom Medal of Valor. The phrase implied that Cruise was her junior. According to the knowledgeable source, Boniadi also offended Scientology chief David Miscavige, who speaks rapidly, because she kept saying, “Excuse me?” when she was entertaining him and his wife during a visit to Telluride. In Scientology, the ability to have your communication “land” is crucial. Boniadi was excoriated by Cruise for disrespecting Miscavige. (A representative for Miscavige told Vanity Fair, “Mr. Miscavige doesn’t remember any girlfriend of anyone, in his entire life, insulting him.”)

I know this must have been traumatic for her but damn but this is some funny stuff. Tom Cruise's life will make for an incredible film one day.

According to Orth, Boniadi was in love with Cruise, but the intensity of his affection, especially his predilection for public displays, overwhelmed her. “I get more love from an extra than I get from you,” the actor reportedly complained. Every day Boniadi spent two to three hours purging herself of “negative thoughts about Tom.” She felt completely shut off; her only source of money was a credit card issued in the name of Cruise’s production company.

Wow those must have been a lot of negative thoughts.

 

[Raonak]

I thought it was common knowledge that cruise is a little crazy for scientology. none of this suprises me.

 

[THRILLH0]

Usually I have too much dignity to link to an OMG yahoo article but I'll make an exception:

What a stupid thing to say.

 

[apana]

What a stupid thing to say.

I am just joking. I read yahoo news like a lot of people do just cause it is my homepage.

 

[Dead Man]

This setence gave me the image of several people standing around the bed watching them...

AUDITING.

 

[Feature]

I bet Tom Cruise is hell to work with on set.

 

[polyh3dron]

I bet Tom Cruise is hell to work with on set.

Reportedly it's quite the opposite actually. He knows where he gets his money from, he can't be a dick to people that he works with. Although when he came by where I work they had to clear the damn place out and everyone had to use the back entrance to go in and out.. even well known actors had to come in through the shipping entrance. There was less security when we had a US Senator there.

 

[Pkaz01]

people are surprised scientology is fucked up? I am dont even doubt this shit is true omgyahoo or not.

Reading about them is just so fascinating and scary at the same time.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright

Super long but also a good read for anyone who has no idea what goes on with scientology.

 

[SteveWD40]

This is not surprising, he is the figurehead of a very rich cult and they can't have some skank sharing his asexual non-marriage.

 

[Daigoro]

I bet Tom Cruise is hell to work with on set.

nah he's probably a pro on set. its his personal life where he seems like a complete fucking lunatic.

 

[Vagabundo]

Bow down to your new KING AMERICA .....

 

[modulaire]

Nazanin Boniadi is awesome in the Nespresso ads with George Clooney.

 

[Log4Girlz]

I failed the audition. I have to work on my casting couch skills.

 

[polyh3dron]

Apparently omgyahoo wasn't the main source for the Paul Haggis statement either:

http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/09/02/oscar-winner-paul-haggis-on-tom-cruise-scientology-girlfriend

Here's the email he sent to Roger Friedman:

I’ve known Nazanin for about three years. I met her through a mutual friend when I was doing my own personal research into the allegations against Scientology, before I wrote my letter of resignation. Naz was embarrassed by her unwitting involvement in this incident and never wanted it to come out, so I kept silent. However I was deeply disturbed by how the highest ranking members of a church could so easily justify using one of their members; how they so callously punished her and then so effectively silenced her when it was done. It wasn’t just the threats; they actually made her feel ashamed, when all she had been was human and trusting.
After I wrote my resignation letter, a dozen or more “friends” and officials of the church repeatedly descended on me to demand that I destroy the letter and resign quietly. I told them that wasn’t an option for me. I also told them that I had more sources of information about the troubling nature of the organization then I was at liberty to divulge. This was one.
I’ve met quite a number of people who have been treated shamefully but are afraid to speak out. This story will draw attention because of our fascination with celebrity. Most of the others are just ordinary people whose stories, if told, would not appear in a magazine. They live in fear of retribution, legal, financial or personal, even some famous ones. They fear an incredibly wealthy organization that boasts that it seeks truth, empowers people, brings families together, encourages independent thought and free speech, and champions human rights. I would like to say that i don’t know how its members, many of them good and intelligent people, can remain so purposely blind when they are faced with evidence like this every day, but then I am no one to talk. I was happily blind for many years, so I know the shame that Naz feels.
In Naz’s case, she has no right to feel ashamed. She is not only a terrific actress at the beginning of a very promising career, she is a dedicated human rights activist and a truly lovely and caring person. The last thing she wanted or needed is this kind of publicity, but here it is, and I am sure she will deal with it with the same grace and dignity she exudes in her daily life. I’m appalled that any church would treat its parishioners this way, but Naz has never cast herself as a victim. She is strong and resilient and I am very proud to call her a friend.

And FYI, in case this wasn’t clear, Naz quietly and privately resigned from the church a couple of years ago after several years of trying to handle this injustice internally, to no avail.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Is this really that shocking at this point?

Yes.

 

[Hindle]

I heard about this, apparently he tried to get Scarlet Johansen. Imagine the horror.

 

[speedline]

Damn, what a fucking egomaniac. He is like a king in the church and that feeds his enormous ego. What a piece of shit. Everything about his life is fiction, fake, and he doesn't even care.

 

[C4Lukins]

I read about this a few days ago.

As far as a religion or cult is concerned, it has killed what? two or three people. Yes it has broken up familes and ruined lives, but what group of people have not? It is not a thing that I am concerned with.

 

[Daigoro]

I read about this a few days ago.

As far as a religion or cult is concerned, it has killed what? two or three people. Yes it has broken up familes and ruined lives, but what group of people have not? It is not a thing that I am concerned with.

yeah 2 or 3 people dead. ruined a few families here and there. who hasnt? nothing to worry about here folks!

the fuck?

 

[Opiate]

I read about this a few days ago.

As far as a religion or cult is concerned, it has killed what? two or three people. Yes it has broken up familes and ruined lives, but what group of people have not? It is not a thing that I am concerned with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKGjOE_7bYI

 

[C4Lukins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKGjOE_7bYI

Ha. One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies.

 

[SteveWD40]

Damn, what a fucking egomaniac. He is like a king in the church and that feeds his enormous ego. What a piece of shit. Everything about his life is fiction, fake, and he doesn't even care.

It's weird, because some down to earth "normal" people have been pretty complimentary of Cruise (Simon Pegg for example), but then you could argue that they are more interested in making millions working on stuff like MI4 to badmouth him...

I get the feeling he is almost bipolar, with some people he is the down to earth workaholic we all hear about, with his Scientology bro's he is some kind of fucking lunatic like we saw on that video a while back.

 

[Opiate]

It's weird, because some down to earth "normal" people have been pretty complimentary of Cruise (Simon Pegg for example), but then you could argue that they are more interested in making millions working on stuff like MI4 to badmouth him...

I get the feeling he is almost bipolar, with some people he is the down to earth workaholic we all hear about, with his Scientology bro's he is some kind of fucking lunatic like we saw on that video a while back.

I think the better explanation would be that crazy beliefs and behaviors can be successfully compartmentalized. Think of how otherwise normal, happy people can have one crazy conspiracy theory, or multiple, or hold absolutely absurd political beliefs. It's very possible to be sane and kind and even rational in all areas of your life... except one big one. Perhaps Cruise fits that description.

 

[C4Lukins]

yeah 2 or 3 people dead. ruined a few families here and there. who hasnt? nothing to worry about here folks!

the fuck?

I mean the obsession people have with the Twilight books has probably affected more people.

I do not support Scientology, but the amount of crazy ass negativity towards them is not worth the effort. There are worse things out there. Truthers for example. Have you looked into Christian Scientists and what they believe? Hell Bill Maher is reaching out to a few million people attacking prescription drug use. Then you have the anti polio people. Scientology to me, is just such a small smite on intelligence compared to much larger issues. And they are super private.

 

[ajim]

I find stuff like this absolutely terrifying.

 

[Daigoro]

I mean the obsession people have with the Twilight books has probably affected more people.

I do not support Scientology, but the amount of crazy ass negativity towards them is not worth the effort. There are worse things out there. Truthers for example. Have you looked into Christian Scientists and what they believe? Hell Bill Maher is reaching out to a few million people attacking prescription drug use. Then you have the anti polio people. Scientology to me, is just such a small smite on intelligence compared to much larger issues. And they are super private.

well i certainly wont argue that there are worse things than Scientology out there. it just seemed like a really dismissive comment, and it obviously has affected people in some pretty negative ways.

i get where you are coming from. its still kinda fucked up though.

 

[SteveWD40]

I think the better explanation would be that crazy beliefs and behaviors can be successfully compartmentalized. Think of how otherwise normal, happy people can have one crazy conspiracy theory, or multiple, or hold absolutely absurd political beliefs. It's very possible to be sane and kind and even rational in all areas of your life... except one big one. Perhaps Cruise fits that description.

Fair point.

When Cruise nearly left the Church and lived in London for a while, he must have been pretty happy with a normal (for him) life then.

 

[C4Lukins]

well i certainly wont argue that there are worse things than Scientology out there. it just seemed like a really dismissive comment, and it obviously has affected people in some pretty negative ways.

i get where you are coming from. its still kinda fucked up though.

My point is that if we were to delegate the 100 biggest problems facing humanity, Scientology would not even get a mention. There is a strange obsession with this specific cult. And some people focus on it more then it deserves.

Not to say people should ignore it. But we have poisonous snake handling protestants, voodoo, televangelists, Sunday morning programming where preachers condemn homosexuals... It just seems so minor to me.

 

[skybaby]

lol

LOL This sounds like the US visa form. Have you ever committed genocide?

 

[Zoe]

Yes, the picture in the OP. To me, she looks very Japanese in that photo.

wut

 

[Seanspeed]

My point is that if we were to delegate the 100 biggest problems facing humanity, Scientology would not even get a mention. There is a strange obsession with this specific cult. And some people focus on it more then it deserves.

Not to say people should ignore it. But we have poisonous snake handling protestants, voodoo, televangelists, Sunday morning programming where preachers condemn homosexuals... It just seems so minor to me.

So you'd rank 'voodoo' above scientology in the 100 biggest problems on this earth?

 

[Drazgul]

lol

Whole Track Security Check

Damn, as a devout disciple of the all-powerful Xenu, I could never get past that security check. They've thought of everything!

 

[radios shipping overview]

I read about this a few days ago.

As far as a religion or cult is concerned, it has killed what? two or three people. Yes it has broken up familes and ruined lives, but what group of people have not? It is not a thing that I am concerned with.

It's seriously spurious to try to downplay Scientology's misdeeds with a "perhaps the same could be said of ALL religions?" A bigger wrong doesn't make a smaller wrong less wrong.

 

[Opiate]

It's seriously spurious to try to downplay Scientology's misdeeds with a "perhaps the same could be said of ALL religions?" A bigger wrong doesn't make a smaller wrong less wrong.

Hitler: not so bad when you compare him to Stalin.

 

[Tesseract]

It's seriously spurious to try to downplay Scientology's misdeeds with a "perhaps the same could be said of ALL religions?" A bigger wrong doesn't make a smaller wrong less wrong.

his words are as empty as his soul.

 

[Mael]

How is that in any way news?
Don't people know how a sect like Scientology works?

 

[bengraven]

Tom Cruise is such an anomaly. His real life is filled with so many strangeness and weirdness and by all account he might be the kind of person who I wouldn't be comfortable knowing but I just can't help but to like him in the movies. Like, just him being there makes a movie much more watchable.

He's such an anomaly that we'll never know what's true and what's false.

Like Michael up until his death.

 

[CharlieDigital]

No way this happened. I can see dinner-dates, but this bizarre "auditing, sexual history disclosure," and scrubbing toilets and being forced to sell books? No fucking way.

This is pretty much the giveaway right here:

"The Church does not punish people, especially in [that] manner”

 

[Dyno]

Once a cult, always a cult. To label it as anything else is lunacy.

You could say that about all the religions. The only way Scientology is different is time. In a hundred years it will have the dim shine of Mormanism. Five hundred years after that it will have the blazing glory of Catholicism or one of the other two Abrahamic faiths.

They all started as cults.