Ever since Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise on June 29, an unflattering spotlight has been cast over the actor and his beliefs as a member of the controversial Church of Scientology.
Now, fellow celebrity Scientologist Kirstie Alley is coming to Cruise's and the church's defense, following reports that Holmes divorced Cruise to save their 6-year-old daughter, Suri, from the religion, and Vanity Fair's allegations that the church auditioned girlfriends for the actor in 2004.
The 61-year-old actress opened up to "Entertainment Tonight" about the allegations and explained why she felt the need to defend her friend.
"I think whenever you have articles written that are third and fourth parties' opinions – it's like the game Gossip and you don't get the truth – I think that a magazine of that caliber should have interviewed him, and then they would get the truth," Alley told "ET."
It should be noted that Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth did her due diligence as a journalist and attempted to interview Cruise for the story, but her requests were denied.
The church was founded in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard, who held the core belief that 75 million years ago, Xenu, dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy," sent billions of frozen souls on spaceships from his overpopulated planet to the bases of volcanoes on Earth. When the volcanoes erupted, the scattered souls or "thetans" found their way into human bodies, and their emotional issues haunt their human hosts. These emotional issues need to be purged through an expensive process called auditing, which uses a lie detector-like device called an E-meter to sort through one's problems and past traumas.
These beliefs and Hubbard's secret writings, which are revealed to church members once they reach a level of auditing called the Wall of Fire, help remind everyone that Hubbard was foremost a science fiction writer.
As a longtime Scientologist, Alley is quick to defend the religion, and told "ET":
"I think that probably all religions sound bizarre to the people who are not the practitioners of them. … To me it's so normal, and probably 90% of the crazy stuff I hear isn't true."
It's not the first time Alley has defended the church, which only gained tax-exempt status as a recognized religion in the United States in 1993, and has continued to be denied the same status in many European countries.
In 2010, Alley accused the "Today" show of bigotry after host Meredith Vieira asked her if her Organic Liaison diet program is connected to Scientology -- following up on reports that the company was made up of high-ranking church officials.
Alley told PopEater, that the "'Today Show' brought fringe bigotry and intolerance into the forefront of the national media" and said that no one would ever ask if her program was a front for another religion, such as the Methodist church.
"Why speculation goes mainstream is still beyond me. It's gone on forever. I've been a Scientologist for over 30 years. I think a lot of things are sensationalized. The media can throw 'The controversial Church of Scientology -- and the fat girl in their religion.' That's funny. I thought there were like eight f***ing million fat Catholics," she said.
