“Vanity Fair Confidential” just took on the Church of Scientology. The series, which airs on ID, covers some of the magazine’s most compelling and shocking stories. It includes interviews with people close to the subjects, as well as with the writers of the original pieces. One recent edition is the talk of Hollywood, entitled: “Vanity Fair Confidential: Scientology’s Vanished Queen.” The focus? None other than Shelly Miscavige, who is the wife of David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology.
Shelly and David married in 1980, but Shelly has not been seen in public since August 2007. A 2014 Vanity Fair piece on her questioned her whereabouts. According to Fox News, “sources claim church members rarely ask about her to avoid being shunned by the group. Church spokespeople have repeatedly denied Shelly is missing.” But some outspoken former members of the church believe that she is being held against her will at one of the organization’s guarded locations.
Actress Leah Remini, a member of the church since childhood, very publicly came out in opposition to the organization after leaving it in 2013. She created the series, “Scientology and the Aftermath,” which airs on A&E. On the show, she also questioned the whereabouts of Shelly Miscavige.
The organization has challenged Remini’s credibility, especially after the latter filed a missing person report for Miscavige, who was privy to the inner workings of the church. According to Remini, that is why she filed her police report in the first place. She said, “I’m still following up on [it] because there’s still answers that I need. I do not know that she is alive. I do not know that she’s not being held against her will. I do not know these things and so if the church produces her, by bringing her to an event…I’d be happy to know that she was alive.”
Remini had originally asked where Miscavige was while at the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in 2006. Since David’s wife was a close friend of Cruise, it was odd that she wasn’t in attendance. The move apparently outraged fellow Scientology members. Spokespeople for the church have simply claimed that Shelly is not missing.
The documentary originally aired on ID on March 12 and is also available online. Check your cable provider for details.
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