freelancergirl
Lady in Waiting
Posts: 387
Mar 17, 2005 19:34:12 GMT -4
|
Post by freelancergirl on Nov 11, 2015 12:18:32 GMT -4
Aside from her fear that her daughter would choose Scientology over her, did Leah talk about how Scientology affected their relationship and her daughter's health with the discipline and diet policies that she had adhered to? I haven't heard anything about that. I would understand if she left those personal family details out of the book out of respect for her daughter's privacy. But on the other hand, exposing the damaging parenting techniques that parents in the church are compelled to use on their children through her own firsthand stories would have been pretty powerful. She didn't talk much about this, other than discussing it in terms of Suri, well, and in terms of how she herself grew up...how she was given a lot of ridiculous responsibility that emboldened her because she was treated like an adult. She also did discuss how Scientology dissuades its members from getting a real education. As I said, there were gaps where I wanted more, where, if I were, say, interviewing her, I'd have had a ton of follow-up questions. There's a perplexing exchange with Kevin Huvane that I still don't quite get, other than perhaps he hates her because she "ruined" Tom's wedding, and I'd have liked to hear a lot more on that. But overall, she tells a story from start to finish, and it's compelling enough for me/you to forgive some of the details. I really do feel like there could be a follow-up though!
|
|
|
Post by Spinderella on Nov 11, 2015 16:19:14 GMT -4
|
|
|
Post by Ginger on Nov 11, 2015 17:24:52 GMT -4
Similar to the type of betrayal where you invite someone to your wedding and then have your wife file a formal complaint against her with your cult that costs her $300,000 in disciplinary auditing?
|
|
|
Post by scarlet on Nov 11, 2015 17:48:05 GMT -4
She also says the church will react by calling her an attention seeking loud mouth who is a liar and really into sensationalism/drama (or something to that effect) which she predicted quite accurately. Well, she IS an attention-seeking loudmouth, as far as I'm concerned. That doesn't make her a liar, though. Does she go into her family's decision to follow her out the "church" door? Because her mother was so passive in the 20/20 interview, just like "oh, yeah, well Leah left, and she's the boss, so..."
|
|
|
Post by kostgard on Nov 11, 2015 20:32:37 GMT -4
She also says the church will react by calling her an attention seeking loud mouth who is a liar and really into sensationalism/drama (or something to that effect) which she predicted quite accurately. Well, she IS an attention-seeking loudmouth, as far as I'm concerned. That doesn't make her a liar, though. Does she go into her family's decision to follow her out the "church" door? Because her mother was so passive in the 20/20 interview, just like "oh, yeah, well Leah left, and she's the boss, so..." I kinda wondered if it was a situation where she's the breadwinner in the family, and without her they would be broke, so they followed the money. I feel like that is the setup with Tom and his mother/sisters - they followed him into the CoS, but they are also financial dependent on him, so they would pretty much follow him anywhere. But they could have also easily decided that family is more important than the CoS, and her mother didn't want to lose contact with her granddaughter (who is still a minor and would obviously go with Leah), etc.
|
|
|
Post by Ginger on Nov 11, 2015 20:53:35 GMT -4
Leah's sister did a radio interview once and she's more articulate than Leah. IIRC, she said there was never any question about whether they would leave with Leah. I don't think it had to do with money, it was really just that none of them were insane or brainwashed enough to choose the cult over their family.
|
|
Dharma
Lady in Waiting
Ground control to Major Tom
Posts: 459
Mar 8, 2005 12:22:15 GMT -4
|
Post by Dharma on Nov 2, 2016 14:45:22 GMT -4
Bumping this up because Leah's new show on A&E starts November 29th. I was watching her ABC 20/20 interview on A&E last night (missed it the first time around) and they showed a trailer. I'm definitely going to read her book now!
|
|
freelancergirl
Lady in Waiting
Posts: 387
Mar 17, 2005 19:34:12 GMT -4
|
Post by freelancergirl on Nov 4, 2016 11:17:34 GMT -4
Her book was excellent - I listened to it on Audible. Highly recommend, dharma. It's not high art, but it's compelling, can't-stop-reading stuff.
She has balls of steel for doing this. Bravo.
|
|
|
Post by kateln on Nov 6, 2016 14:56:14 GMT -4
I listened to her book while I was out running, and was amazing. The shit that Cruise and company do (again Blown for Good discusses this as well) to Sea Org members is horrifying.
|
|
|
Post by leonahelmsley on Nov 30, 2016 0:10:16 GMT -4
Wow!! Leah's Scientology expose on A&E is a multi-parter and damn it is AWESOME. Her book was good but this! She's got witnesses telling alarming personal stories about their time in the cult. Mike Rinder is her sidekick. Ohhhh. It's sooo good.
|
|