Scarlett Johansson denies ex-Scientologist's claim she 'auditioned' to be Tom Cruise's girlfriend
On Megyn Kelly Today, ex-Scientologist Brendan Tighe shared some bizarre stories about Tom Cruise and John Travolta — the church’s most famous members.
Tighe left the church six years ago, but while he was there, he worked as a security guard, which put him in direct contact with celebrity members who’d visit.
And when Tom Cruise came around, strangely enough, so did the dentist.
“Every time [Tom Cruise] would show up, we had to get our teeth whitened,” said Tighe. “If you were part of anything to do with his service or entourage, you had to be seen by the dentist.”
Tighe was also in the church when Cruise split up with his wife Nicole Kidman in 2001. Following that, he said he unintentionally witnessed the church’s attempts to “audition” Cruise’s next girlfriend when reports were accidentally sent to his printer.
“The only [name] I recognized was Scarlett Johansson,” Tighe said.
It has previously been reported that the church was trying to set up Cruise and Johansson, but Tighe gave an inside look at the audition — and how it affected fellow actress Erika Christensen (the two starred in 2004’s The Perfect Score).
“That particular report said [the interview] didn’t go well,” Tighe said. “And that another actress, Erika Christensen, had to disconnect from Scarlett Johansson because that didn’t go well.”
A representative for Johansson reached out to Yahoo Entertainment with this response from the actress: “The very idea of any person auditioning to be in a relationship is so demeaning. I refuse for anyone to spread the idea that I lack the integrity to choose my own relationships. Only a man, AKA Brendan Tighe, would come up with a crazy story like that.”
Tighe also gave the scoop on Cruise’s reportedly frosty relationship with fellow Scientologist John Travolta.
“They didn’t like each other,” said Tighe. “They could be in the same building, pass each other in the hall, and give each other the cold shoulder.”
Tighe boils down their mutual dislike to Cruise bumping Travolta out of the top spot in terms of celebrity Scientologists.
The church always plays tough defense when critical interviews like this air, and it issued this response to Megyn Kelly about Tighe’s recollections regarding Travolta and Cruise:
“Brendan was a Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization security guard/watchman from 2002 to 2009. The access he boasts of having was largely limited to viewing security cameras from a guard booth. He was removed from that position for dereliction of duty.”
Separately on Megyn Kelly, the church issued another scathing rebuke of Tighe’s story and accusations:
“Brendan Tighe is fraudulently distorting his experiences to support a bigoted anti-Scientology reality television series. Our experience is that ridiculous claims such as those Tighe now raises have been inevitably sourced to the same discredited individuals kicked out of the Church years ago.”
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