Tom Cruise and David Miscavige had a massive feud according to memoir. Photo / AP, Supplied
Tom Cruise and David Miscavige had a massive feud according to memoir. Photo / AP, Supplied
Tom Cruise secretly feuded with Scientology leader David Miscavige following his conversion to the controversial religion, according to an explosive new memoir.
Ronald Miscavige, David Miscavige's father, has penned a bombshell tell-all purporting to lift the lid on the church and Cruise's relationship with his son.
According to his bookRuthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me, his son David Miscavige "orchestrated every detail" of a party welcoming Cruise to Scientology in the early 1990s and was furious when he didn't adhere to the plan.
To impress the Days of Thunder star at the Sea Org base in Florida, David Miscavige arranged for Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard's personal chef to prepare dinner at the pool, designed to look like a luxury sailboat, for the Hollywood star.
But David Miscavige reportedly "hit the roof" when Cruise turned up four hours late and went to bed without dinner.
he men healed the wound by going skeet shooting at the compound's rifle range the next day, with Cruise giving David Miscavige an automatic skeet launcher.
The two have since developed a "brotherly, competitive spirit," Ron Miscavige wrote, and remain very close friends.
However, Ron Miscavige also wrote his son treats his staff like "indentured servants" while living a life of luxury.
"David lives like a prince wherever he travels and flies first class or in Tom's private jet," Ron Miscavige wrote.
Scientology lawyer Monique Yingling called the memoir a "literary forgery."
"On a personal level, I think he [David] is probably very, very sad that his father would do this," she told ABC News in the US.
"There seems to be no explanation except that his father is trying to make a buck off his name. So I think there's that level of sadness and I'm sure a sense of betrayal."
Tom Cruise embraces Scientology leader David Miscavige at the official opening of a new church in Madrid in 2004. Photo / AP
Ms Yingling also said David Miscavige was not a "ruthless" person, contrary to the title of the memoir, and was a "very compassionate, kind person".
David Miscavige has reportedly threatened to sue his father's publishers.
However former Scientologist Leah Remini has defended Ron Miscavige, admitting she encouraged him to pen the explosive memoir.
"I tracked him down. I called him and I offered my support because I know he must have felt alone," the actress, who left the religion three years ago, told ABC News in the US.
"I just wanted him to know that we were willing to take them in ... There is no place for them to go unless they have family, which is very rare outside of the church."
The church has lashed out at Remini, branding her a "stalker", "callous" and "obnoxious".
"Sadly, bitterness and anger are common threads through Ms. Remini's life," the church said in a statement on its website.
"Ms Remini is showing herself to be a spoiled entitled diva who still obsessively complains about such petty matters as her seating placement, limo ride, five-star hotel accommodations and the paparazzi's failure to recognise her nearly a decade ago."
