I grew up with Scientology and officially started doing services in Santa Barbara when I was 15 years old (1985). I joined staff right out of high school and from there joined the Sea Org in Los Angeles, where I worked from 1995 - 2012. I worked in Scientology management, then at the Advanced Org of Los Angeles where they deliver the OT levels, did the Rehabilitation Project Force (that took 3 years), spent a year at Bridge Publications and then worked as a missionaire on Ideal Orgs.

I left the SO in Dec 2012 and was declared a Suppressive Person in Dec 2013 for publicly speaking out against it. I started a blog and then a YouTube channel where I have made over 100 videos about Scientology and critical thinking.

Two weeks ago I published my first book, Scientology: A to Xenu - An Insider's Guide to What Scientology is Really All About, which is available as a paperback and ebook on amazon here. This book is a culmination of all of my work thus far and is not just a memoir but is a critical analysis of the entire subject of Scientology.

Update #1: I will be starting to answer questions at 8pm EST. You can start posting any questions now.

Update #2: Ok, let's do this.

Update #3: Ok everyone, this was a ton of fun. Thank you all for asking me these questions. My fingers are worn out and I'm done for the evening so I'm wrapping it up. Good night!

last updated: april 20th 2026, map drawn by strawberryfox_studio on tiktok

2 floors reached so far.

I AM IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH ANYONE WHO GOES INTO THE BUILDING FOR ANY REASON, I AM POSTING THIS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND DO NOT PLAN ON EVER GOING NEAR A SCIENTOLOGY

The last one is AI, do not use that one.

I started researching and writing about Scientology in 1995, and naturally I became familiar with the story of Paulette Cooper, one of the first journalists to expose L. Ron Hubbard's controversies with her 1971 book, "The Scandal of Scientology." Last year my book about Paulette's incredible ordeal at the hand of Scientology's spies, "The Unbreakable Miss Lovely," was published by Silvertail Books in London. Today, Audible.com is releasing the audio version of the book, and Miss Lovely herself, Paulette, is joining me to answer your questions about her story, about Scientology, and also about my website, The Underground Bunker. This week the Bunker passed its fourth anniversary, and it's the only site on the web where a journalist covers Scientology as a beat, day in and day out. We've broken some big stories there, and you can get some basic questions about the site answered at our "About" page (http://tonyortega.org/about/). Some of the stories we've covered at the Bunker include the defection of numerous celebrities from Scientology, the progress of litigation that Scientology is involved in, and the heartbreaking stories of "disconnection" and other abuses in the organization. And we have plenty of more big stories coming. (I'll try to answer questions beyond the noon-2pm window, as best I can.)

I just gave an interview to an Editor at the DailyMail about my experience in Scientology. The article should be coming out soon.

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A pink coat with “Jesus Heals” opens up to reveal a blue jumpsuit with “Scientology Kills” and papers with well known ex-Scientologists written on them.

She’s been known in the past for her MAGA and anti-abortion dresses on red carpets. Right message, wrong messenger???

It's always bothered me that the so-called "movie going public" are, in the main, aware of the fact that Tom Cruise is the poster boy for Scientology, a recognized money making scam and destructive cult, but because he has such a winning smile and comes off with such charisma, fellow actors as well as the media and public can't stop worshiping him as a Greek god of cinema. Knowing what I know (and what others have reported) about how he treats people in his personal orbit, how coercive he is with his own family and how he won't hesitate to destroy people who don't do what he tells them to, it never stops bothering me how he still, to this day, has the whole world snowed. And given what we do know, I cringe to think about what we don't. I honestly wonder if Cruise is ever going to have his Jimmt Saville moment or if it's just going to come too late to do anything about it. It's mind boggling how bought off the entire celebrity media and even news media establishment is by this guy.

She has her foot on David’s throat and I’m loving it.

I’m currently in New York for a trip, and my hotel isn’t too far from the Church of Scientology. After watching all the documentaries, I decided to go inside.

And it was..a strange experience.

First, I was told the tour upstairs was “self-guided”, but the person who guided me upstairs stayed and watched me the entire time. Everyone I’d look over my shoulder, he was still there watching me.

Secondly, everyone acted almost like a Stepford. I only spoke to one woman, and the rest were all men. All had this almost fake, cherry disposition. And every single one of them kept telling me to have a seat and stay a while. To make sure I watch the videos. And I was asked half a dozen times if I had any questions.

They were all nice, but it just felt off? My entire body was on edge the second I stepped inside, and I only relaxed once I was out of there. And leaving? That took a while because when I was trying to go downstairs, I was stopped to asked why I was leaving so soon and if I had more questions.

I was on staff at the Church of Scientology of Cincinnati when Nancy Cartwright came through our Org. She wasn’t “just visiting.” She was regged for money, she donated, and she participated directly in Scientology Volunteer Minister activities involving minors. I saw it personally.

What the public never sees is what was happening behind those photo ops.

During the same period, Scientology pulled one of our teens out of regular high school and promised him a “church-arranged” diploma. Years later, when he tried to apply to a real university, the admissions office flagged it. A friend of mine who worked there called me privately because she’d never seen anything like it — the diploma Scientology gave him was unaccredited and invalid.

I asked her to let me tell him directly so he wouldn’t be blindsided. That’s how he found out that Scientology had taken him out of school and replaced his education with a fake credential that could not get him into college, could not get him federal aid, and could not open any real doors for him.

But before any of that, Scientology sent him — as a minor — across state lines to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Not for education. Not for supervised volunteer experience.
For hard physical cleanup labor under the “Volunteer Minister” banner.

There is a publicly posted photo of him from that deployment: a teenage kid, in a VM shirt, standing in the Louisiana disaster zone. And right next to him, smiling for the camera, is Nancy Cartwright.

This isn’t speculation. This is a real photo of a Scientology celebrity standing beside a minor who was:

• pulled from school

• trafficked across state lines

• used as unpaid disaster labor

• given a fake diploma

• and staged in PR material

Whether Nancy understood any of this is irrelevant — Scientology absolutely did.

If Scientology questions were scrubbed from her AMA, this is why. Because behind the celebrity shine is a system built on child labor, interstate transport, fake education, and exploitation of vulnerable families.

The public deserves to know what was happening. And Nancy deserves to see the truth of what she was actually standing next to.

For over 14 years, people have speculated about why my father @_isaachayes left South Park. I’m here to set the record straight.

My dad did not quit South Park. Scientology did.

After the episode “Trapped in the Closet” aired in 2005, my father suffered a stroke just a few months later that left him unable to speak or make decisions on his own. He was not in any condition to resign from anything. The truth is, someone else within his Scientology circle made that decision and quit the show for him.

He loved being the voice of Chef. He loved the character. He loved connecting with fans. He would joke with people who recognized his voice and he truly enjoyed being part of the show.

The narrative that he quit because he was offended by the satire is not true. That was a cover story created by others. My father never got to speak for himself because his health robbed him of that chance.

So now I am speaking for him. He did not leave South Park willingly. He was forced out by illness and by people who did not have his best interest at heart.

This is for anyone who loved Chef. This is for anyone who admired my father’s work. This is the truth about what really happened.

Hear the full story on @cracked online.

IsaacHayes #southpark #southparkchef

The fight - basically an attempt by the cult to stifle freedom of speech on the internet - started in the US in 1995, and soon moved to the Netherlands, where my website became the new focus. It took ten years and numerous court cases for it to be resolved, during which my provider fortunately backed me. We won all court cases. In the last one (the fourth), before the Supreme Court, Scientology dropped the case a few days before the Supreme Court was going to rule. Thereby the previous ruling became final.

The series of lawsuits took ten years, all in all. It started as a lawsuit against me and four Dutch ISPs, and evolved into a lawsuit against me and about fifteen ISPs.

Scientology claimed 'copyright' on any publication quoting their basic tenets of belief, and sued anybody who quoted from their OT-levels. We didn't buy it, arguing that any 'religion' should disclose beforehand what it expects its followers to adhere to. The Dutch courts agreed, and put freedom of information over & above copyright.

Hence, Xenu was freed from the clutches of Scientology's copyright. You can read all about the lawsuits here, all about Xenu here, and here's a bit more about me. You're kindly invited to quote from my website and spread the word. By law, you are free to quote lavishly from my description of / quotes taken from Scientology's 'secret scriptures'.

Read all about it.