Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath

- Churches of Scientology around the world are called

Orgs... Organizations.

There are two types of Orgs.

The original, normal Org,

and now this new thing called an Ideal Org.

The Ideal Org program began in the early 2000s

and, A, it's a way of demonstrating

or proving to Scientologists in the world

that Scientology is expanding

because it's opening new buildings.

It is also a way of collecting money from Scientologists

who are told that they need to be donating funds

to build these Ideal Orgs,

and it is a way of preventing a problem

with the IRS of excessive accumulation of funds

by investing it in real estate

rather than just holding it as cash.

- I am the writer of the textbooks of Scientology.

The aim and goal is to put man in a mental condition,

uh, where he him... Can solve his own problems.

- Without any Scientology organization,

things are not gonna change on this planet.

- After years of slowly questioning Scientology...

- Leah Remini and her very public break

with Scientology...

- Scientology... what they do, trying to destroy people,

trying to destroy their families when they leave,

they create a lot of people

who are willing to fight against them.

- Scientology takes tax free dollars

and ruins people's lives.

- This is not the life that I wanna live.

I wanted to end my life.

- Some people it takes a year, some people it takes ten years,

of just peeling that onion of how you were manipulated

and made to think.

- This season we really needed to focus on the reason why

Scientology is able to do the things that they do,

is because they have tax exempt status.

- People who have bravely come on

and told their stories

have not told those stories in vain.

They are having an impact.

We're presenting our case to the world,

to the FBI, to the IRS.

- The most important thing that has to be done

is the persistent telling

of the truth, and that's what you're doing.

You have to continue to fight.

You have to continue to fight for what's right.

Wow.

No...

- Oh, we don't need an escort. We're okay.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

- All right, that's fine... - Let's go, yeah.

- Let's go. Let's go quickly.

You see him?

- Our theme for this evening is relentless expansion.

Last year I told you our Ideal Org rollout

was best compared to a massive snowball

tumbling down a mountainside.

Well, that snowball has now become an avalanche.

Scientology is now irresistible,

which means our destiny is finally inevitable.

- So, David Miscavige creates this illusion that we have

all these buildings so that means that we're expanding.

All these buildings

mean there's thousands and thousands of people

going in to these buildings. That's the myth.

That's the myth that he sells to every Scientologist,

including me, who believed it.

And that concept that we're growing and expanding

is used to justify extracting more money.

So Scientologists not only have to pay hundreds of thousands

of dollars for their Scientology counseling,

then they're told, "Look, it is your responsibility"

to help us... Scientology...

To buy these big, fancy buildings.

So a big production is made, right?

They fly in people from other Scientology churches,

and most of these people are staff.

So there's a big production, and they show this video

of thousands of people in the parking lot,

and the audience... this big ribbon cutting thing.

And then when that's done,

those people go back to where they came from

and nobody is there.

- Right after Buffalo, Miscavige went to Clear Water.

He saw that the Tampa Ideal Org was in a strip mall.

This was a light bulb moment for Miscavige.

He realized that he could now insist that all other Orgs

become "like Buffalo."

And also that he could demand that Scientologists

pay for the Org.

Bert, how are you?

- I'm good, good. - Thanks for being here.

- Hello, my friend. Nice to see you again.

Good to see you, too.

Thanks for talking to us.

I know you had a little bit of a concern in doing so

because you feel like, looking back on it now,

like, "What was wrong with me? Why did I do all of this?"

Why was I in it for so long? Why was I that dumb?"

- Stupid, yeah. - Yes.

Yes, it's true.

- You and... and every one of us feel the same way.

Even the other day I was talking to my mom

who's been in it her whole life and she's like,

"I don't... I feel like I wasted my whole life."

You know? And it was, like, really sad.

It was like a sad moment because you have such a sense

of purpose when you're a Scientologist.

- Right, right. - You have such a sense of

this false kind of,

you know, you're... you're doing something for the world.

And you're... - Saving the planet.

- Yeah, you're saving the planet.

And it's such a little trap

because we... we weren't doing any such thing.

It depends how you really measure your success.

You know, for so long, our measurement has been

our contribution to Scientology.

Financially, emotionally, and, uh,

you know, we just have to change the way we look at

our success in life. - True, true.

Yes. - You know?

It's really hard to swallow because you have spent

your whole life in Scientology,

and all it took was one click on a computer,

and your whole world is shattered.

And all the money that you spent,

all the time that you spent,

you didn't do any of those things you believed

you were doing,

and the kid that you didn't put through college

because you gave it to Dave Miscavige...

To Scientology because you were told your... that money

was needed to open up an Ideal Org, you...

I mean, it's... it's a hard place to... to be.

- I was a Scientologist for 23 years.

My then wife and I were one of the top five active

contributing Scientologists in the field.

- What does that mean? You were one of the top five...

We were giving money.

Number one. - Okay.

- We were giving lots of money. - Uh-huh.

- We were active on the Bridge, which means we were doing

Scientology training and we were receiving the counseling.

Started going up the... the bridge

to total spiritual freedom, as... as they call it.

- And how far did you make it? - I made it to OT IV.

It took me 15, 17 years to get to OT VI.

It took a lot of money.

It took I'm gonna guesstimate just for the going up

the Bridge part, about $750,000.

Might be a little more.

It's kind of horrible to think about all that, actually.

All the time I spent on that instead of just enjoying life.

I understand.

I understand.

I mean, I still feel stupid.

I still feel totally taken advantage of.

Yes, we did it to help.

But, I mean, many times I hated donating the money

because we were borrowing it, usually.

- Here's Bert. He's, you know,

somebody who's doing well in life, right?

And he's giving to his church on top of paying for all

of his services and his family's services

in Scientology.

And even he had to borrow the money

to give to Scientology for these big, fancy buildings

that are servicing no one.

- Scientology is amazing at love bombing you.

Like, they love bomb you with all these certificates

through your life, and it's written in calligraphy

and it's, you know, sealed and it's gold sealed.

Like, you start to feel important and you're getting

all these accolades, and so you really,

truly believe, like, this is... This all means something.

I'm really doing something with my life.

There's a Patron Meritorious. How much did this cost?

$250,000.

- This is on top of the $750,000 you spent

on getting your Scientology services.

- Yes. - Okay.

"Highly commended, highly commended."

This one you were very highly commended for.

This is from CCHR.

"Well, I just want you to know that you are loved

"by every staff member and Executive for all you've done

"to continue to keep us here doing what LRH instructed us

"to do, even though the enemy would love

for us to just go away and leave them alone."

What would you say?

How many of these does this man and his wife have?

I mean, this is... - 100?

This just basically reflects

how much money you and your wife