Glosslip’s interview with ex-Scientologist Marc Headley in many ways was more of a blow to the Church of Scientology, than ABC’s light coverage of CoS victims Jenna Miscavige (niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige) and actor Jason Beghe’s powerful Scientology video with Mark Bunker of Xenutv.com.
Thanks to the exceedingly gracious efforts of Anonymous, we are able to bring you transcribed information from that interview, so that our hearing impaired, or dial-up users can be privy to this illuminating, yet disturbing details about the Church of Scientology’s inner workings. Marc Headley is not only an amazingly articulate person, he’s also very brave for stepping forward to share this information from deep inside the Church. As Executive Producer at Golden Era Production, the production company owned by Scientology, Headley worked closely with RTC President and CoS figurehead, David Miscavige.
When you read this transcribed interview I ask that you bear in mind, this man, David Miscavige, is a role model to Scientologists around the globe, he is the head of an organization which deems itself as the spiritual salvation for mankind. Please try to imagine any other spiritual leader in this role, and truthfully ask yourself if this conduct is befitting of such an honor:
DO: Good afternoon Glosslip radio listeners, I am Dawn Olsen of glosslip.com, and I am very excited to have a very special guest with me today. It’s Marc Headley, an ex-Scientologist who was with the Church of Scientology for 15 years. He’s got some really very interesting, exciting and sad stories to share with us about his experiences within the Org. He and I talked a few times before while we were setting up the interview, and certainly I’m well aware of the stories he has to tell, so I’m just going to give you a little background here from his bio.
Marc worked at the Scientology international management headquarters in Gilman Hot Springs
from 1990-2005, and he worked for the media production company owned by the Church of
Scientology, Golden Era productions. They’re the ones that put out all those Scientology
commercials and propaganda videos we’ve seen and mocked on the web over the last few months.
Having worked there for quite some time, he ended up becoming the Executive Producer at
Golden Era Productions. He left in 2005 and now lives in California with his family. We’re going to
leave it at that because why he left is very pertinent to this story. First we’re going to begin with
introducing Marc. Hello Marc, thanks for joining us, I’m really excited to have you.
MH: Hi Dawn, great to be here.
DO: And you’re recovering from a cold, so everybody…
MH: Just a little bit hoarse.
DO: Just a little bit hoarse. We’ll try and not make you talk too much. I’m just curious, can you tell us how you became involved in Scientology? I know you still have family members who are in, so let’s go with your background first.
MH: What actually happened was my mother, probably in the very early 80’s, got involved in Scientology through a friend.
More and more, she became involved in doing courses and getting auditing. I grew up living
across the street from the Celebrity Center in Los Angeles. So I grew up around Scientologists,
then my mom became a Scientologist and I went to a Scientology school. So from about the age of
six or seven I was indoctrinated into the lingo and the procedures, and all the different things that
Scientologists do. In 1989, I left school, the Scientology school that I was attending, to join the Sea
Organization.
Very shortly from when I joined the Sea Org, I was transferred from Los Angeles to the
Golden Era productions facility, so that’s how I got in. When you grow up in Scientology, the Sea
Org is made out to be the elite of all Scientology so if you can actually go into the Sea Org, it’s
considered a privilege. They have a slogan: “Many are called, few are chosen.” And that’s how they
recruit people.
DO: So, they make it sound like a very elite society, and not everyone, you may be interested but not everyone gets to join, therefore increasing the image of the Sea Org?
MH: That’s exactly correct. You don’t really see when you’re Scientology public, if you’re a parishioner, behind the scenes into the Sea Org. You only see the staff that work at the different churches. A parishioner might never go into a management facility or a confidential location such as Golden Era Productions. They’re not really privy to the goings on there, its very mysterious.
Even when I joined the Sea Org in 1989, I was not aware that there was a facility, even a secret
facility that was up in Hemet. I had no idea, even after I was in the Sea Org for many months. I had
never heard it until I was asked if I would like to go there. So I said “Sure, what it it?”, I didn’t even
know.
I didn’t know who David Miscavige was, I didn’t know who any of the current leaders of
Scientology were, nothing. I had no knowledge of them whatsoever, that’s the view of a kid
growing up in it. So that’s how I ended up at Golden Era Productions.
DO: Now, when you and I talked, I shared with you some experiences that Jeff Hawkins and I talked about. Do you know Jeff?
MH: Yeah, I know Jeff.
DO: I assumed you would have, but there’s a lot of people who’ve come and gone over the years so I shouldn’t assume that people know each other. But he worked with David Miscavige doing marketing, that type of stuff, I figured you could have run into each other. He told a very disturbing story about David actually abusing his staff members and specifically Jeff, he himself was abused.
And he saw a senior Org member get beaten, it was like an open-handed slap to the face
several times. That was David’s way of intimidating staff into doing what he wants and he’s a very
angry man. But you also have some more stories and I’d like you to share that with us, I think it’s
very important because we’re trying to build a picture about a man we don’t know that much about,
you have a lot of insight into that, why don’t you tell us what you know about David Miscavige.
MH: Well, from the time I showed up at Golden Era Productions in 1990, I had been there maybe a few months when I saw David Miscavige physically beat somebody up. And that was in 1990. So it’s not like this just developed over the past five years, there’s a pattern going on.
All the way up until I left in 2005 I’d say that I saw David Miscavige physically strike somebody or slap as you say or punch in the face, I’d say I witnessed myself at least thirty different occasions, myself. And I heard from other people second hand many more instances that occurred. That was the turning point was for me. In late 2004 I was walking through the main factory facility with David Miscavige and I had made a smart-alec comment in response to one of his questions, apparently he’d not had a good day already and my comment was not well received and he proceeded to unload on me.
He punched me in the face at least ten times and my glasses fell off, I was thrown up against a
desk unit, a counter top, and that was the moment right then when I realized I could go no further
down than this, to be beaten by the leader of my so-called church. What else could I do that could
get me in a lower status than that? And I decided that I would strike back. As soon as he saw that in
my eyes, I was grabbed and escorted out of the building and made to take a walk for about an hour
or so. He sent several people off to console me, that he really shouldn’t have done that and he was
really sorry. While I was being escorted out of the room I heard him say to his staffers, “He was
going to hit me backâ€.
And I thought to myself, “Do you know what? I really was, I really was going to hit you backâ€. At that point that I started figuring out what I was going to do because I wasn’t going to be staying there much longer. And in January 2005 I left. A lot of people, a lot of Scientologists think that Dave Miscavige is the savior of the church and all those things that he’s done have kept it alive, basically the reason they are still around. That might also be the reason why they’re not going to last, because of the crimes, the physical violence, the emotional and mental torture, that he puts people through, its mind-boggling.
A lot of people don’t believe, the stuff they read on the internet, that David Miscavige has done. When I got out of the Sea Org I couldn’t believe the amount of stuff that was on the internet that was absolutely, 100% accurate, of the going ons at the international headquarters or Int Base. So yeah, there’s a lot of stuff on the internet and it’s absolutely true, pretty much I’d say 99% of it is very accurate.
David, while not a “minister” at the Church, is certainly the person who sets policy, creates initiatives and leads his “parish.” By virtue of Miscavige’s role as head of a “religious organization” it is entirely appropriate to set standards of conduct upon him befitting of someone who leads such a wealthy organization. An organization mind you, which prides itself on ethical mores, spiritual guidance and has taken the charge of “obliterating psychiatry,” saving mankind, and ultimately “clearing the planet” of undesirable elements which keep us as a species from becoming enlightened.
Do you suppose Pope Benedict XVI punches, slaps and abuses his flock? Does the Dali Lama do this? What about high ranking Rabbis, Ministers, Reverends and spiritual leaders around the world? Today while sitting in my own house of worship, I tried imagining the leader of my faith doing this. It was laughable, inconceivable.
This man, who cradles babies with the love of a father to all, the person who smiles upon me and all those who stood with me as though the very light of divinity shone through me, and those in my fellowship. This person who asked kindly for my donations to continue their good works, but smiled just as benevolently upon me as they did upon those who couldn’t give. This person who feels their offering of salvation on behalf of their chosen faith, is predicated on the example they set, based on teachings which are thousands of years old. This person wouldn’t dare think it was appropriate to treat another member of their congregation or any other human the way David Miscavige has treated his dedicated Sea Org members as described above.
I wish this were the worst of it, but sadly, the sadism and cruelty is even worse than the abuse Marc discusses above. Regardless of your faith, or lack thereof, we are all expected to treat each other with respect. But this behavior, witnessed first hand, is unforgivable coming from a leader of a so-called “religion.”
Coming up next….how David Miscavige tortured his staff, had members thrown in filthy lakes, and mentally abused and ridiculed his own associates.
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