Having seen yet another adulatory Instagram post about Top Gun: Maverick, I can take no more. After everything the public has learned about undue pressure of women in Hollywood, it saddens me that this is still going on.
The cruelty that Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology have inflicted upon the actress Nazanin Boniadi is unconscionable. Following Tom Cruise’s high-profile breakup with Penelope Cruz, Scientology leader David Miscavige decided that Tom Cruise needed a new girlfriend. Eventually they settled on Katie Holmes, someone who has, since then, thankfully escaped from the arrangement. Before Katie, however, they had eyes on someone else.
The Church “auditioned” several Scientology-member actresses for the role of Tom’s girlfriend. The one whom they selected was Nazanin Boniadi. However, during the initial “auditioning,” they did not inform her of the role they intended. They only told her that it was a “special assignment” for the Church. They then exerted all sorts of pressure on her. The “audition” consisted of an emotionally abusive “auditing” session where Church officials grilled her on her sexual past. They even demanded that she remove her braces before they were able to have the intended effect on straightening her teeth. They also dyed her hair according to how Tom Cruise wanted.
Only subsequent to all this, did they tell her that she was being enlisted to be Tom Cruise’s new girlfriend. On account of Scientology’s hold on her, she complied uneasily. Tom Cruise then consummated their relationship right away. Soon after that, though, he complained about her not being sycophantic enough toward their mutual master, Miscavige. Tom Cruise brutally berated her for this, screaming at the top of his lungs, and leaving her frightened and in tears. The Church of Scientology commandeth, and the Church of Scientology taketh away.
In subsequent years, Nazanin Boniadi has become an ambassador for Amnesty International, speaking up for the need to recognize individual rights in Iran. It is a credit to her courage that she can go on, unstopped by the Tom Cruises of the world.
Upon learning of what Tom Cruise inflicted, I knew there was a real problem with how I had been so oblivious to legitimate concerns about whether or not any of my economic consumptive behaviors had contributed to his further enrichment. The more money that consumers provide to Tom Cruise, the more it conveys to him that he’s doing everything right and has no need to change. In effect, contributing to Tom Cruise’s continued financial success only reinforces his pathological behavior. If you want there to be a reduction in mistreatment, an easy way is to refrain from any financial support to Tom Cruise, avoiding even encouragement of it.
