Feuding for 15 Years? Tom Cruise Allegedly Calls John Travolta 'Son of a B****'!
The tell-all HBO documentary "Going Clear" isn't done with revealing shocking truths about Scientology. Another former member of the controversial organization has claimed that Scientology's most famous member, Tom Cruise, had a 15-year feud with fellow Scientologist and actor John Travolta.
Marty Rathbun, the one-time former second-in-command of the religion and Cruise's personal auditor, has revealed that the "Mission: Impossible" actor had bad blood towards Travolta over the latter's failure of his Scientology film "Battlefield Earth," Radar Online reported from The National Enquirer.
A recently released video featured Rathbun claiming that the dispute between Cruise and Travolta started when "Battlefield Earth" flopped in the box office in May 2000, Radar Online noted. According to Rathbun, Cruise was discussing about the film's failure with Scientology leader David Miscavige while they were on their way to the religion's headquarters located in Clearwater, Florida.
"Tom Cruise gets in the car and says: 'Hey Dave, what's with 'Battlefield Earth,' man? Jesus, it's the worst PR in the world," Rathbun recounted, the news outlet reported. "David Miscavige turns to him and says: 'Man, I swear to God ... it's just 'Out Ethics.' If I had anything to do with that thing, it wouldn't have gone anywhere."
Rathbun added that Cruise and Miscavige said that Travolta was a son of a b*itch. The term 'Out Ethics' was a particularly serious accusation, since "it's Scientology jargon for using freedom of choice to make decisions outside the church," Radar Online added.
The former Scientologist, however, insisted that the reason why "Battlefield Earth" was such a letdown was because Travolta allowed Miscavige to oversee the whole film. According to Rathbun, the religion's leader was "literally seeing daily rushes" from the movie's shots each day, and that "he pulls out his dictaphone and is dictating his commentary on every shot," Radar Online reported.
Rathbun added that Miscavige "panicked" when critics gave bad reviews for "Battlefield Earth," so he chose to put the entire blame on lead star Travolta by "accusing him of torpedoing the film by taking a salary," the news outlet added.
This latest controversy about Scientology comes after the revelation behind Cruise's short lived and unconventional romance with Iranian actress Nazanin Boniadi.
Being one of Scientology's most treasured members, executives of the church went on an active mission to find a new girlfriend for Cruise after his split with ex-girlfriend Penelope Cruz and his divorce with Nicole Kidman before that. At first, Boniadi was misinformed about the organization's plans. Cosmopolitan noted that Boniadi was told she was being cast in a series of Scientology-based films.
In preparation for her role as Cruise's would-be girlfriend, Boniadi was made to break up with her boyfriend, had her braces removed, changed her hair color by Cruise's hair stylist, and went on a $20,000 worth of shopping spree in high-end stores, Business Insider noted. In the end, the two broke up because of Miscavige.