I want to address an important matter circulating in the former scientologist community for the last few weeks concerning a criminal investigation into child sexual abuse allegations against the father of Mirriam Francis.
I will lay out the timeline and associated evidence in this blog post.
First, I want to be clear: I don’t want anyone attacking Mirriam or anyone else on my behalf. What Mirriam has been through in her life, mainly due to scientology, is something no person should ever have to face.
For those seeking the actual facts, this blog post contains all the information and associated documentation.
Continuing to disseminate lies after reading this post will reveal a lack of interest in the truth, confirming an agenda unrelated to advocating for victims or exposing the crimes of scientology.
As much as I don’t want to engage in a public dialogue on this matter, the subject at hand is much too serious not to address. One can’t publicly accuse another of covering up criminal conduct — which is an accusation of participating in that conduct — and not open themselves up to a public response.
Mirriam has made allegations about me which are not true.
I am also publishing this because I don’t want unsuspecting people to get caught up in this matter without accurate information.
As I have mentioned many times in the past, both in interviews, on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, and in my book, I have spent the last 15 years pushing to expose scientology’s abuses not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because I feel it is my responsibility after spending many years serving in the leadership of an organization that destroyed people’s lives. I also feel responsible for bringing two children into scientology, my daughter Taryn and my son Benjamin. I had much easier and more lucrative options in my post-scientology life; I have chosen this path because I felt it was my duty.
A Short History of Scientology Smears
Since I first went public recounting my experience in the St. Petersburg Times in 2009, there has been a continuous and relentless campaign conducted by scientology to smear my reputation (and that of others who have spoken out publicly about the abuses of scientology).
Early on, statements by scientology were made to the mainstream media and published in their propaganda publications like Freedom magazine. Over time, it expanded to videos and then online with paid Google ads and a host of hired internet trolls and OSA volunteers.
The primary attack line at the outset was, “he is a bitter defrocked apostate and therefore is a liar.” The “liar” tag has been consistent from the outset and is still rolled out when I file a declaration in a legal case or am interviewed for the media. Often, scientology used things I said when I was in the Sea Org, particularly in “The Hole,” to “prove” that I have “admitted to being a serial liar.” Every scientologist is required to lie (see earlier blog post Why Do Scientologists Lie?), every Sea Org member who was at the International Base (Golden Era Productions, Riverside California) and especially those who were in The Hole, were forced to make “confessions” that almost always included lying to David Miscavige. These coerced “confessions” are subsequently used against anyone who speaks out.
The next wave of accusations stemmed from the incident where scientology sent seven people, including my ex-wife, brother and daughter and 4 senior scientology officials, along with two private investigators to “confront” me and my wife, Christie, in the parking lot of a doctor’s office.
It gave rise to a new false attack line that I was a “wife beater”. Following scientology policy and practice, my ex-wife and daughter (both of whom are Sea Organization members) believe whole-heartedly that lying to discredit someone scientology deems an enemy is entirely justified. Thus, my ex-wife, Cathy Bernardini, falsely accused me of assaulting her during a confrontation that was no doubt orchestrated by David Miscavige. The details can be found in this earlier post Mike Rinder: Lady Killer
This assault did not happen, and law enforcement documentation proves that it did not occur.
Nevertheless, scientology, then resorted to using my daughter, Taryn Teutsch, to pick up and run with this intentional and blatant lie to this day.
Truth is not an operating principle of scientology; it never has been and never will be.
As this campaign unfolded, they ordered my daughter, a born-in-Sea Organization member, to become the primary and very public mouthpiece for their smears: “I am a distraught daughter advocating for my abused mother who I witnessed being beaten by my father.” It was a clever and cunning strategy because Taryn was able to infiltrate unsuspecting organizations and briefly associate herself with prominent public figures like then Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and former Fox News host and women’s rights advocate Gretchen Carlson for photo ops. Scientology used these shots to attempt to give their campaign legitimacy with the broader anti-domestic and sexual violence community. As with all things scientology, if someone spends just a few minutes scratching beneath the surface, they’ll discover it is all a charade. Sadly, getting people to make that minimal effort to fact-check is often a challenge.
Scientology then started promoting another lie: that Leah Remini and I were “promoting violence against scientology and scientologists” and that we had “blood on our hands.” They went so far as to falsely claim we were responsible for the murder of a scientologist in Australia, a lie they managed to spread around the world thanks to members of the press who printed their defamatory statement uncritically.
Detailed evidence from law enforcement, when finally released, proved that we had nothing to do with inciting the horrific and tragic murder of an Australian Sea Org member. I documented this in an another blog post: Scientology’s Blood on Your Hands Lie Exposed
Scientology knew the facts all along and still repeated the lie. And even today, after we exposed this, they continue to spread this grotesque falsehood.
Thankfully, many of you do not believe these smears because you’ve spent the time to learn how scientology, David Miscavige, and the Office Of Special Affairs conduct these operations. It’s a pattern that has been followed for seven decades.
A Rabbit Out of David Miscavige’s Hat
Since I escaped from Scientology, I have rarely had to deal with efforts to undermine my credibility by people who are also fighting against scientology, especially people who have suffered due to its abuses.
Unfortunately, that changed in the last few months.
These “truth tellers” have used and manipulated good people, supporters of our fight, who want to help end the criminal behavior of scientology.
Over the past seven years, Leah and I have found ourselves increasingly dealing with disputes between personalities within the group of former scientologists, rather than focusing on the mission of ending the abuses and holding its leadership accountable. Based on my experience, it seems that some, perhaps based on their scientology indoctrination, believe they need an enemy to fight. Who that enemy is doesn’t matter. Even people on the same side.
Motivating people in this environment is pretty easy to do, especially if they are led to believe that attacking me and “The Aftermath” Foundation is the same as attacking scientology.
With the introduction of YouTube into the world of former scientologists, activism took on a new dimension, not only to tell the truth, but also a space where false narratives can be presented as truth. YouTube is equally an excellent resource for news, information and entertainment and a platform ripe to elevate the most sensational and provocative content, even though it may not be rooted in truth. Add to that the ability to easily monetize videos, and one can end up with content filled with half-truths, mistruths, and outright lies. Sensational framing is designed to get clicks and generate revenue.
The new wave of attacks began when Aaron Smith-Levin was asked to remove himself from the board of The Aftermath Foundation. He originally agreed to do so voluntarily, but when the agreed upon date came he refused to go.
I considered Aaron a friend (Christie, Claire and Marc did as well). Our families were close; our children played, and we vacationed together. We were concerned when we asked Aaron to step down that our friendships would survive. There are plenty of examples in the non-scientology world of people making such difficult decisions, yet finding a way to move forward, in our case with the ultimate goals in mind: maintaining relationships we claim are important to us and staying focused on helping those leaving scientology with the assistance of The Aftermath Foundation.
Because someone isn’t on the board doesn’t mean their work can’t continue, especially when Aaron had lamented that he cared so much for those reaching to the foundation for help.
Sadly, Aaron made it clear that if he didn’t have a title and position on the foundation board, he would not continue to support it. And without a title, he would not be our friend. On a personal level, this scorched earth strategy hurt us deeply.
I am not going to speak on behalf of the other members of The Aftermath Foundation board, but I will speak for myself. I reacted in an unprofessional way to his first video announcing that he was no longer affiliated with the Foundation in which he falsely claimed his removal was a sinister and covert campaign to destroy his character and eliminate him from the foundation he had helped found.
I wish I hadn’t responded from an emotional place, but I did. I was hurt by the misrepresentation surrounding his justified removal (he had agreed to voluntarily step down for reasons he knows).
I should have reacted unemotionally, without any comment at all.
I am not perfect; I have and will in the future, make mistakes.
I want to apologize for my comment about “keyboard warriors.” My intention was misunderstood, and I take responsibility for that. I should have been sensitive to the fact that it could have been seen by those supporting us as being directed at them. This comment was not directed at anyone who supports those doing the work to hold scientology accountable. It was directed at those who took the opportunity in the wake of Aaron’s video to send me many messages and comments that ranged from Miscavige-like vulgar name-calling to the hate-filled “I hope you die” or “you deserve cancer.”
Some believe that Aaron was asked to step down without cause; they are free to believe that, and I will likely never change their minds. Board members of foundations resign or are voted out daily without fanfare or drama. And in this case, we are talking about a voluntary, unpaid, non-profit board; Aaron was not removed from a six-figure job and left destitute.
This new vector of attack appears to come from those fighting against scientology’s abuses. The people spreading the smears are not OSA agents. Unfortunately, the result of their actions is something OSA has only dreamt about and is gleefully enjoying. The anti-scientology abuse community has been split into factions – it is the ancient strategy that Hubbard advocated in many OSA directives: “Divide and conquer.”
The new iteration of smears was ushered in by anonymous YouTuber Alex The Rabbit – apparently realizing that anything scientology related results in clicks for her channel. Her interest has nothing to do with Mirriam’s actual case, which deserves far more than sensationalism. It’s not possible to respond to the numerous people who believe they are owed answers to crafted, hypothetical questions and bad faith demands to prove a negative. “You are lying when you say you were not involved,” or “It’s impossible there is no document.” Then as the first Rabbit video is discussed by others in subsequent videos, the buzz grows, and more well-intentioned people get caught up in the frenzy. Eventually these sensationalized allegations become “fact.”
In this instance, the smear campaign is driven by the lie that I (along with The Aftermath Foundation and the Leah Remini: Scientology and The Aftermath show production team) are unwilling to help Mirriam.
To be clear from the start, no one has ever told Mirriam that the document she claims was withheld from her was ever in our possession or that it was privileged or confidential.
And let me repeat something I have said many times before. One of the broad false allegations is that I am currently withholding evidence of wrongdoing that I allegedly committed while I was in scientology because I fear being prosecuted. I have been questioned/interviewed by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies on numerous occasions over the past 15 years and have admitted to anything I knew or did, even if it meant incriminating myself. In fact, I have spent literally hundreds of hours answering questions and providing documents, briefings and assistance to law enforcement agencies around the United States and worldwide.
I have never refused to answer any of their questions.
I have done everything I possibly could to persuade law enforcement to prosecute scientology.
The usual response from the FBI and DOJ is that they need “more recent information” because of problems with the statute of limitations — even when I have brought them witnesses and documents just a year or two old, which I have done numerous times over the last decade. I escaped scientology in 2007 after being in The Hole and off OSA lines for several years before that. That is more than 20 years ago.
There was also a new claim that the “recently released OSA documents” were somehow proof of my involvement in crimes, for which I was desperately trying to evade prosecution. All of those “OSA documents” were on my thumb drive when I escaped. I gave them to the FBI in the first meeting I had with them in 2010, a fact I have testified to under oath (that testimony was filed again a week ago in Leah Remini’s civil case).
I appreciate that many of those who claim to be experts on what I knew, or more often what I should have known, what they think I covered up and am still covering up were once in the Sea Org. However, none of them were ever in any positions of significant authority in upper management and were not involved with external affairs. Only a handful of them have ever met David Miscavige, let alone worked directly for him. They really have no basis for the assumptions and conclusions they draw, though they try to sound as though they do.
Yes, I was the head of OSA at various times over a long period . But that does not equate to knowing every heinous and illegal act going on in scientology. That would be impossible. What I do know is how scientology follows exact procedures and policies dictated by Hubbard. Those polices are unchanging. I detail in my book and in various other places what my role was – while I always had the job of spokesperson for major media regardless of my position, I also held many other posts including Chief Officer CMO International, ED Int Project Ops, RPFer, LRH Personal PR Officer International, CO CMO International, Book Editor and denizen of The Hole. When I was actually on post as the head of OSA, my primary function was to deal with matters that had come to the attention of Miscavige. For example, I spent several years in Clearwater doing nothing but handling the Lisa McPherson criminal and civil cases. During that time nobody from OSA was allowed to “distract” me with anything unrelated to the McPherson cases.
And as I had already explained to Mirriam (and law enforcement in her case), the details of her molestation was not something I had been aware of until she told her story for The Aftermath show.
Was I involved in Fair Game operations of which I am not proud when I was a scientology executive? Absolutely. As I mentioned at the outset of this blog post, I have spent the last 15 years trying to atone for what I was involved in.
The Mirriam Francis Claims
Let’s look at what happened with Mirriam.
We featured her story on an episode of The Aftermath in 2017.
We were so incensed by what she told us that, with her approval, we contacted the LAPD and arranged for two detectives to come to the location where we were shooting. We shut down the production to brief them and for her to be interviewed. An official police report was filed, and the same detective we originally spoke with is still working this case.
Subsequent to the filming of the episode, I heard little or nothing from Mirriam other than occasional pleasantries until she emailed me on 28 August 2023:
I was very pleased to hear Mirriam might finally receive justice and reached out to A&E and “The Aftermath” production company immediately and arranged for a password-protected link to be created to the episode, which I forwarded to Mirriam and the Australian police detective the following day:
I received a reply from Det. McGarry in which he thanked me for getting the link to the episode and asked me if it would be possible to locate an affidavit from Mirriam’s mother that is mentioned at 34 min 43 secs on a card that appears in the episode.
This is the card:
I then set about trying to locate this affidavit. I spoke to Leah and she was trying to also find it. I contacted the production company several times, as well as A&E and individuals who had worked on the program (they were freelancers, not employed by the production company). I was told by everyone I contacted that they did not have this document and didn’t think anyone had ever had a copy, that it might not have ever been in their possession.
In the latter half of the year, various medical and other matters occurred, and unfortunately, further follow-up on this document was not something I was focused on.
On December 10, Mirriam wrote, stating that she found it “odd” that nobody could find such an important document and that it had been “misplaced.”
The following day, I responded by saying I was now in direct contact with the attorney who had represented the production company with respect to this show, but that the recollection from the executive at the production company after searching all their files was that the affidavit in question had never been given to them, only that its alleged existence was relayed verbally by scientology attorneys.
Rachel is the executive at the production company for the show (IPC).
Mirriam nudged me again on 23 December, and I informed her I would contact the attorney again after Christmas to see if he had yet had the chance to find and search his backfiles. I had asked him to do this as a favor for me — he is not my attorney and would not be compensated for this work. I subsequently reached out to him after Christmas and informed Mirriam that I had received am auto-message back from him that he would be out of the office until the New Year.
I told her I would follow up then.
It should also be understood that neither Leah nor I have access to anything related to “The Aftermath” production without going through A&E and/or the production company. They own and control all documents and footage associated with “The Aftermath”. We were never in charge of keeping records. We don’t even have access to the episodes of “The Aftermath.” Any time someone has needed a copy, even years after airing, we have to track the right person down and ask for a favor to upload the episode and send it to us — just as I did when I requested Mirriam’s episode.
Even more importantly, if Leah, me, the Production Company, the attorney, or A&E did have a copy of this affidavit, we would have handed it over to Mirriam and the detectives in a heartbeat. What reason would we have NOT to turn it over?
The card that appeared on “The Aftermath,” simply repeated what scientology had told the production company and legal department. Our program never stated that we had seen or had possession of the affidavit.
Scientology asserted that it had this affidavit. They did so to try to stop us from airing the episode. That’s what scientology does as a matter of course with media programs; they manufacture speed bumps and potholes.
The affidavit was supposedly written 20 days before airing of the episode in a last-ditch effort to discredit Mirriam and our program, and protect Mirriam’s mother’s (and scientology’s) reputation. Her mother had refused to provide a sworn statement or testimony to the LAPD and Australian authorities in support of her daughter’s case. They were trying to make it appear she had no relevant knowledge — “there’s nothing to see here.”
If we had had the actual affidavit, we would have read it (or portions of it) on air — something we did routinely throughout the series.
That the show aired at all was a major accomplishment, as was true for every episode. Leah and I fought on behalf of our contributors to ensure important parts of their stories were aired each week. We routinely filmed eight or more hours a day and then went to the editing bay to ensure the stories were accurate, included what was necessary for our contributors, and contained all the important and correct information about scientology. It was often difficult, not because the people working on the show weren’t amazing, but because they didn’t know scientology, understand its policies, or know what was important to our brave contributors. The documentary series was exhausting, but we fought for the truth. The level of care we took was unprecedented in this business.
On 26 December, Mirriam emailed me again, stating:
“In March, 2023 I conducted a 2.5 hour long pretext (recorded) phone call with my father in which he made several admissions…” [a pretext call is made by pretending to be someone you are not or having a different motivation than you express while recording the person in order to try to get them to make admissions or statements they would not otherwise make] and then went on to say “I would love to have a discussion with you, perhaps we could do this by phone…”
I told Mirriam I would be happy to talk to her.
On Friday, 5 January, we spoke for approximately an hour. She asked me many hypothetical questions about what would or would not happen within scientology based on my experience, knowledge of the organizations and policies.
I answered all of her questions and informed her I was continuing to follow up with the attorney to get a final answer on her mother’s affidavit and that I would let her know when I heard back. Mirriam told me that, at this point, the affidavit would not be useful for any prosecution of her father and that it was more for her curiosity.
I told her that in any case, I would continue to follow up with the attorney until I had a definitive answer from him, though his memory was that scientology had never provided a copy.
Shortly after finishing the first call, Mirriam called again, stating she had two more questions, the second of which struck me as odd because she wanted to know about any personal information I had about child sexual abuse being covered up in scientology.
At this point, I became suspicious as the questions did not seem relevant to the prosecution of her father.
Given Mirriam’s statement that she had done a “pretext” (recorded) call with her father, I sent her an email the following day (6 January):
I did not express “fear” that I might be “prosecuted for my crimes,” as has now been falsely asserted. I was more concerned that something I said on the call might be taken out of context.
I had been told there was an ongoing campaign to “get Mike Rinder removed from the Board of Child USA” and was worried that a snippet or a statement from the call could be twisted to make it appear I had said something I had not.
It would have been quite simple for Mirriam to reply and say, “No, I did not record the calls,” but she did not.
After sending me plenty of emails asking me to do things for her and speaking for more than an hour on the phone, she fell silent and did not respond.
Was I suspicious? Yes. And I think it is now fairly clear my suspicions were not unfounded.
On 8 January, I emailed Mirriam again, cc’ing both the NSW PD and LAPD detectives, wherein I laid out my concerns. I asked her again to respond and tell me if my assumptions were incorrect. I was now more concerned that Mirriam had recorded the calls and was planning to use them for purposes other than providing them to law enforcement. I had no problem with the recordings being given to law enforcement; I just didn’t want them used by anyone else.
In response to this email, I received an automatic notification that Det. McGarry was out of the office on an extended break until July, so I called the Nepean Police Department and spoke to Det. Ben Walker. Det. Walker knew about the case and thanked me for the help I had provided the Nepean PD. I forwarded him a copy of the emails above.
Mirriam did not respond to this second email either.
I finally received full confirmation from the attorney that he had gone through his backfiles and never had a copy of the Kerrie Francis affidavit.
At this point, I felt uncomfortable sending further information to Mirriam, but giving her the benefit of the doubt that perhaps she had not seen my earlier emails on January 6th and 8th, I emailed her as follows (attaching the two previous emails):
Again, there was no response from Mirriam, but on January 21 I received an email from Det. McGarry that Mirriam had told him she did not record the calls. I responded saying I was relieved to hear this and that I had received final confirmation from the lawyer that nobody had a copy of the affidavit — it was never provided by scientology. I concluded by saying “I have spent many hours trying to assist her [Mirriam] with this matter. I remain willing to do anything I can to further assist.”
On the same day Det. McGarry emailed me (21 January) about Mirriam’s phone calls, Claire Headley, President of The Aftermath Foundation, received an email from Mike Brown, who claimed, “Mirriam and I started collaborating in recent months, sharing my childhood SO experience. This is when she began to confide in me and ask for my views and advice. Because she was being left with minimal feedback from Mr. Rinder about events that should be pivotal in her case, we spoke of ways to clarify the gravity of the situation.”
Mike Brown made numerous false statements about what had transpired in the interactions between Mirriam and me, including allegations that I had lied to her, that she had been “gaslit,” that she was “frankly a bit afraid of his [my] answers,” that she had been sent “intimidating emails” and that I had been “actively withholding evidence from her case.”
According to Mike Brown, their behind-the-scenes collaboration had been ongoing for “some months” – during the time Mirriam was asking me for my help. Apparently she was pretending that she was happy to talk with me for more than an hour just two weeks earlier. Given her admission of doing “pretext” calls previously and her refusal to deny the simple question I posed, it seems reasonable to conclude perhaps she did in fact record those calls. If she had, her only option was to deny having done so to Detective McGarry, as she told him she knew it would have been illegal.
Then, on Monday, January 29, after midnight, I received an email from Alex The Rabbit, which asked for responses to 16 allegations Mirriam Francis was making about me. It was a compilation of scientologyesque “do you still beat your wife” and “prove a negative” style questions about me and The Aftermath Foundation.
Mirriam had also recently asked for financial assistance from the Foundation for mental health counseling using techniques being promoted by former Scientologist, Jamie Mustard, who, I believe has profit participation in these methods.
Mirriam claimed that because the Foundation’s response was too slow for her liking, she was being “gaslit” and blacklisted from receiving financial support. She also claimed the Aftermath Foundation had sought to “deny her human rights” because she was asked to sign a short waiver that anyone who receives funds is required to sign. This waiver is the sort of document any foundation might use, recommending by legal counsel. And especially a foundation that is the target of scientology.
As predicted, one of the 16 “questions” posed by The Rabbit was, “Are you certain that it is appropriate for you to hold a position on any board which concerns itself with the protection or recovery for children from abuse [Child USA]?” Ironically, the work of Child USA is primarily focused on our very successful actions to abolish the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse.
Abolishing statute of limitations is the last thing I would be trying to accomplish if I were concerned about my possible personal criminal liability.
I am saddened that Mirriam has been led down a path that exploited her trauma and pain.
We all want justice for her and the others who have survived similar trauma in the hope there will not be any more victims like her in the future. I believe the prosecution of her abusive father is long overdue.
Leah and I were always under the impression that we had done some good in giving Mirriam and the other victims of scientology a platform. We also wanted to open the door to helping others get their stories told in the hope all of them could attain the accountability and, ultimately, the justice they so richly deserve.
We did our best and will continue to do our best, no matter what.
The Future:
Due to the amount of hate that has spilled over onto them, this latest campaign has taken a toll on my wife and children – something they neither asked for nor deserved. These unfair attacks are damaging to their mental and physical health, as well as mine. I prioritize the well-being of my family above everything, including ending the abuses of Scientology.
Thus I am stepping back from social media and will instead focus on things I believe are essential to ending the abuses of scientology, something I believe can only be accomplished away from this toxicity. I will continue to work with law enforcement in their investigations against scientology, and assist attorneys suing scientology, provide documents/information and briefings to elected officials, engage in select media and podcast interviews and continue to pursue some confidential behind-the-scenes projects.
I thank you all for your support over the years. You have been there for me, Christie, Leah, Claire and Marc, Amy and Mat, The Aftermath show and Foundation, our podcasts and our videos. For this, we will all be forever grateful. And I especially want to thank all of you who reached out to me in the past two months to offer your support and encouragement and to the numerous people who offered their love, prayers and support over the past 8 months as I dealt with my cancer diagnosis and treatment. I couldn’t have made it without you.
Mike,
I have been aware of the situation of ASL for awhile. I saw that he was turning everyone against you Christie Marc Claire and those who support and who are close to you. It was odd to see. But not completely unexpected. His behavior started turning more concerning around the Danny Masterson trial. Now knowing why because of recent evidence that has shown up. Knowing that this was going on around the time you kindly asked Aaron to resign from the AF makes sense now. You all had every single right to drop him. You where extremely kind to him. Even after everything. In November when he made the announcement I felt like something was off he was blaming everyone else. But himself. He was the real problem. Not you not the AF. Him and inly him. At this time he gained a large following . He seems to have made his own cult. It’s terrifying actually how he gained so much traction and he just got stuck there his ego took over. He soon didn’t care about his friends and it seems like he doesn’t care for his family either. He makes videos all the time. He only seems to care about that and getting views and making money. ASL and his followers are not helping the cause. They are making it worse. It shows where their priorities lie.
You on the other hand do care about getting people out you could care less about the drama. You want to expose Scientology for what it is. And it’s been clear that you wanted to do that from the start.
I think the thing that is the most clear about you is that you put your family above everything. This post and previous posts show that. You didn’t make videos every day. You put family and friends above that. Knowing that this whole situation had an effect on your family is honestly heartbreaking. You being their for your beautiful wife and children. Shows who you are. Making this blg post to set things straight and to go back to focusing on whe abuses of COS also shows that.
ASL and his group that can’t seem to keep you name out of their mouths shows who they are. They seem to be and people hurting not only people trying to stop abuse but the people who are being abused.
Everything that you Christie Marc Claire (Ect) gave done is the total opposite of what they are doing.
I hope you Christie and the boys are doing better since this was posted a while ago.
Hold them close. You deserve to be happy you don’t deserve what ASL and his group are doing. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to have the beautiful family you have now. The friends and supporters who believe in you and care for you. Your children who are not in something so toxic and abusive with you both supporting and caring for them. Ans of course Christie who loves, adores and supports you and you do the same to her.
Reading this made me livid. I am so sorry that this was/is happening to you.You don’t deserve it in any way shape or form. I watched what ASL had to say about this woth his plethora of videos that he has made. And it doesn’t make sense what he is saying.I also watched his followers/friends videos Rabbits, Nora, Miriam, Marilyn and those videos dont make any sense either. It’s actually greatly concerning. Knowing what he has done now it is all the more horrifying. He has started his own little cult. Blaming everyone who disagrees with him lying and harming people he is causing so much damage not only to the people trying to leave but the people like you, Christie, Marc,Claire, Amy, Matt. ECT.
He isn’t doing this to help people anymore. He’s going it for his own personal gain. I remember the night that he made the video about him leaving the Aftermath Foundation. Everything was so incredibly uncomfortable and aggressive. I already had weird feelings about ASL but what he was saying just made everything worse. I also remember the live stream you did following ASL. I remember reading the comments and being infuriated with them. They were wishing death like you mentioned. I think this showed what ASL and his group is like. It shows that they didn’t care. Literally wishing death upon you. I can’t imagine the toll it had to have on you, Christie and your children. In the end I find it very noble of you to keep exposing the abuses of Scientology. But I find it even more noble that you put your wife and children above that. It shows alot about who you are. A person who cares for his family who wants them to be safe and happy. You show you value them over everything. Unlike others who tend to value views attention money and fame more.
I know this was posted a while ago but I hope you Christie and your children are doing well sending so much love to you all.
Mike, I just learned about this situation mainly from this post. So I looked up other sources to hear what they had to say. What they said me no sense entirely none. Especially now after what has been revealed about a week ago. Aaron has turned into something that is kind of indescribable in a way he’s practically made his own cult. Where he lies about outside sources he lies about his former friends he hurts people and he shames people for nothing at other sources. I watch one of his old videos and there is kind of a little bit of light and happiness left in his eyes. That was a video made in January of 2023. But around June of 2023 there wasn’t really much light or happiness in his eyes at all. Then I looked at the most recent video that he has made are one of the most recents the light was gone. I don’t think he’s doing the right thing he’s not doing the thing that he promised he wants to do he’s not doing this to save people from Scientology. He’s causing more harm. As for Miriam’s case I watched one of her videos and nothing adds up there are things that are missing nothing makes sense they were even contradictions that she says one thing one sentence and then says the opposite in the next. I think you and the rest of the Aftermath Foundation board made a good decision with dropping him considering what we have learned now and even if we didn’t know what he did I still think it was a good idea because of how he was acting.
I just wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done to help expose Scientology. So I am relatively new to learning about the horrors that go on within it’s clear that you care and you want to help people so I thank you for that.
I forgot to add this. when I read this blog post and I got to the part where you were saying that it had an effect on your family. The fact that these people who support Aaron and people around him are acting like this taking no one else and to consideration but them. It’s horrible. And it shows who they are. But with that being said it also shows what you are like. It shows that you care for your family and the ones you hold close that’s far more powerful than what they are doing.
Sending so much love to you your wife and your children.
I have recently found out about this whole situation and it’s awful.
Mike you have save countless of people’s lives. And you continue to do so. I have looked in to some of the videos that you mentioned and others that you did not. All of which seem to be involved with ASL in one way or another. And what they are saying does not make sense. They contradict themselves over and over and blame others for what they caused and they even victim shame at some points. I also see that they don’t care about anything but the views and the money. ASLs behavior has been erratic as of late from what i have seen. I am so sorry for what his supporters have been saying to you. It’s sickening. They turn their backs in someone who has done so much good just because ASL got butthurt.
But anyways.. take your time. Spend time with your beautiful wife and children and those who make you happy.
Much love and support to you all.
Imogen
Peace and good health to you and your loved ones, Mike Rinder. Thank you for all of your work to put things right.
Agreed! Youre the Pioneer to me of a person bravely standing up to Scientology and fighting for the rights & escape of its victims.
When Leah first mentioned the Aftermath Foundation providing those leaving Scientology with a safe place to land, financial & living arrangement help I was deeply impressed that you and Leah worked hard to either make the Foundation come to be and/or to advertise it.
I used to watch Aaron Smith Levin’s You Tube channel but promptly Unsubscribed when he went after you, Leah and others.
I don’t know why Aaron continues to bag on you and Leah Remini.
I’ll always love, respect & follow You and Christie Mike. You’re two of the most caring, professional people I’ve come across in a long time.
Mike, please try not to sweat the small stuff. You’ve shown good faith in every venture I’ve seen you do.
Many thoughts & prayers for peace of mind for you and your family.
Praying that you’re feeling well. Please know there are many of us who absolutely adore you!
Best,
Lisa, Los Angeles 🙏🩷
Mike – I for one adore you. Please put this in the rear view mirror and try to go back to taking care of yourself, enjoying your family and getting better. Like the saying goes: Sometimes No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Love you and you wonderful wife. Love & support from California, Lisa 🙏🩷
Thank you Lisa!
Hugs and best wishes for Peace of Mind for you and Christie. No reply needed! Best, Lisa 🙏😘
I’m someone who’s been listening to your podcasts and reading your posts for several years. I also read your book, which was brilliant. I’ve never been involved in Scientology, nor a cult, but I’ve always just been utterly fascinated by them and what they do to people. The work you’ve done will have rescued lots of people already, and mores the point, have stopped other people being lured into their trap. And it’s not just you anymore. It’s all those other people educating and informing everyone about this disgusting, destructive authoritarian cult, including those people like me who now know more about them.
I’ll miss your presence, but I hope others will take up the slack, and you can come back when you’re ready, because you’re also a genuinely great person to listen to.
Long-time follower of established, credible former Scientologists.
It’s clear to me that many of the comments posted here are from Scientology’s OSA smear machine: short, stabbing attacks full of venom. “What are YOUR crimes,” and “YOU must pay,” immediately come to mind, and there are plenty of examples below. It’s pretty transparent. Hubbard would be proud if he wasn’t dead.
I believe Mike’s blog post. I believe Mirriam Francis is being manipulated/exploited as a vehicle to attack Mike.
I hope Mirriam finds the justice due to her after the abuse she suffered, but her abuse is NOT Mike Rinder’s fault.
I suspect many of the YouTube channels trying to weaponize Mirriam Francis’ fight for justice may also be straight out of OSA’s troll-farm playbook. Alex the Rabbit, for example, takes Mike’s post completely out of context in her video exploiting Mirriam. I made the mistake of watching her video before reading Mike’s post in it’s entirety, and I almost fell for her attack. I fear a lot of other people may have taken the bait and been hooked, including several credible former Scientologists with their own YouTube channels.
Who the ** is Alex the Rabbit anyway? I’ve been following former Scientologists for years, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of her. Her other content seems pretty paltry and exploitative from what I’ve seen. In my eyes, she lacks credibility.
I get that there’s some conflict going on in the former Scientologist community. This has turned into something else, though.
What’s happening here reeks of outside influence/manipulation by Scientology, especially given their long-established history of these same types of attacks. I smell a mole or a plant; it wouldn’t be the first time OSA’s done it.
At the very least, Scientology “tech” is clearly being put to use by someone to weaponize the situation against Mike. Don’t buy it.
Also: Is “rabbit” coded language in Scientology for something, similar to “squirrel?”
I originally posted this on YouTube, and I forgot to delete the part about venomous comments. Please ignore that part, as people on this blog are much more supportive of Mike!
Agreed!
Mike, I am so sorry you, Leah and your family are going through all this. We all know who started all this, Aaron. It’s a shame that it came to this, but I want you to know I stand with you. I refuse to listen to any garbage that is being said about you and have unsubscribed to many of the those channels. I’m shocked at Mike Brown, after all you all did for his beloved mother.
Stay strong and keep fighting. I continue to support you and The Aftermath Foundation. Love to all of you.
Mike,
I have so much respect for you. Please stay close and keep in touch. You have so much more to share and contribute to this fight.
You will always be my guy!
Mike I am sickened that anyone has come for you or your family. Today they are coming after Amy and her pets! I can’t. It’s nauseating. Be well Mike and yours.
It’s so sad to hear all this and all the stress this has caused you and family. No one deserves this especially when one is sick! I read your book and admire your bravery, whit and passion to do better. Not many people take ownership of their misdeeds and then steps up to the plate like you have! Best thoughts and wishes
Mike, I have been following you and other ex-scientologists for some time (I am not an ex-scientologist). I happened upon Mike Brown’s YouTube video about this last night. In reading this blog post, I am more than convinced that you went above and beyond to help Mirriam. She is obviously on a mission to find justice against her father, and that is totally understandable. But it sounds like she is trying to do that with blinders on. Your responses and activities were well thought out and timely based on your own personal life. I commend you in your commitment to helping others. And you do not deserve the attacks you and your family are receiving. I will miss seeing your smiling face and stories on social media but it is totally understandable. Please take care of yourself and I hope to see you back when you are ready.
I’m just an internet stranger who has followed you since Going Clear, but I have always respected and valued you and the work you’re doing, Mike. You seem to me to be a man of integrity and that means a lot.
Thank you.
Thank you, Christie.
Thank you Mike’s family, friends, co-laborers, and supporters.
Much love, good health, and continued success against the CO$ to all of you.
I’ll miss your face, Mike. Keep using your voice – wherever and whenever it’s needed. I’m sure we’ll hear about your continued fight. Be well. Be proud. Be happy.
“Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine.”
I also, am taking another look at my subscriptions. I am fairly new to this, so to be fair I decided to start here at the beginning and that’s all I needed. The chatter out there is alarming. Please everyone, don’t believe everything you hear. Do your own research and make your own decisions. That is our Freedom!
Thank you Mike for your response to the situation. I see how it can take a toll..being mis characterized and harshly judged. Sometimes people just want to see things a certain way. It’s confirmation bias
Thank you for all that you do to help folks understand the destructive nature of Scientology and their cultish ways. Your you tube and podcasts and shows have been hreartfelt and profound
I wish you and Christy and your family a long happy loving wonderful life moving forward
I am still Team Mike and always wish the best for you all
Take care…
peace
I will.continue to support the three couples on the Aftermath foundation. I have unsubscribed from most of the others. The foul language and the almost vigilante tactics while.protesting is unacceptable. It would appear they have forgotten everyone is is on the same page trying to expose Scientology. This is playing into Miscavage hands. Like someone else said , divide and conquer. They also forget the stories of suffering by the three couples. I would like to say may God Bless Mike.and Christie, Marc and.Claire as well as Amy and Matt. Family should always come first. Not worth even trying.to explain yourself.
Hi Mike. What a year for you. Take a step back. Breathe. Be with your family, and come back to keep us informed when you’re ready. We know you are a person of great integrity faults (as we all have) and all. Be well and fight the good fight. Sending love and happy thoughts for better days ahead. Leah, Claire, Christie, and Marc too.
I have to unsubscribe from a few sptv you tubers. It is mostly juvenile analysis in support ASL. I can’t take it seriously when their agendas are so obvious. Keep working behind the sciences and enjoying your family.
I certainly understand you stepping back from social media, but I selfishly hope it will only be temporary. I have admired the way you, Christie, Marc and Claire have handled this situation over the last few months. I have considered both of your channels as a place to be educated on the dangers of scientology and the good work performed by the AM Foundation. I did not tune in for the purpose of being entertained with silly hats, arrogance and pot stirring. I unsubscribed from that channel long ago, and was never interested in subscribing to the hangers on.
I do hope you will continue sharing your blog, and I hope it won’t be too long before we will see you on with Leah, or Marc and Claire. I believe things will soon begin to crumble for those who are wanting to see you and the AM Foundation harmed. I think the cracks are already starting to show.
I send my best thoughts and prayers to you, Christie and your boys. Like you said, your family and your health are your first priorities.
And I have to end this note the way I always do…..ROLL TIDE Y’ALL! 👍👍
Dear Mike,
I so admire the work you have done. You have always been such a steady voice of reason through the Aftermath programs. Please do not think for a minute that any of your work has been undone. The truth remains and dust settles. I hope you will continue the podcast with Leah and your mission. You’ve soldiered through so much resistance over the years, I hope you will continue your needed leadership. Hugs
Dear Mike,
thanks for the good work.
Take care of your health!
Best,
Joakim
Hi Mike,
I have never been in a cult; however, I see what you have been doing to make right the wrongs is amazing and brave. I have been watching several videos of you, Marc, Aaron, Serge, Claire etc… Pretty much been glued to this. I used to live in the Largo area and frequently drove downtown Clearwater to reach various destinations, even went out to the pier several times. Even living in that area, I had NO IDEA.
With that being said: Being on the outside looking in, I agree with what you said about Scientology:
“Divide and Conquer” I truly believe that YES there is a divide, But I still feel with the outpour of awareness through YouTube, Tic- Toc etc. that Scientology will go down and you and all the ex-scientologists will prevail.
Please keep up the great work you all are doing and remember these children that grew up with the abuses are hurting and are bitter. No matter what you say or do…. they will only see it through their eyes.
Glad to see that you are doing well (physically) My love to you and your family.
I fear the type of interest being generated by certain YouTube quarters is loud but fleeting. People tuning in for “Tea” are easily turned into a mindless mob as we see now. And the misinformation on those channels are already creating a credibility issue for the movement. They are what Televangelists are to the Christian Faith. And one of those characters is on police bodycam footage admitting cyber stalking and then verbally insulting a woman at a bar “because she’s hot”. He’s drunk on success and it’s just a matter of time before he does something truly vile, something that will taint the movement as he’s now the face.
Finally, they have now discovered that internal feuds boost views and engagement. This assault on the old guard will continue because it’s good money and when that well dries up, they’ll turn those guns on each other. For a reference point ask your kids about the YouTube Beauty Influencer wars that eventually destroyed that genre. Or how Commentary channels are dying because they all “exposed” (aka made crazy allegations) against each other. If Miscavige has someone around him young enough to understand YouTube culture and this inevitable cycle, he must be overjoyed.
Anyway, I wish Rinder a peaceful semi-retirement and pray that a new celebrity comes forward to take some pressure off Leah and more importantly, to surplant the bombastic YouTuber. I appreciate his contribution but he must not become the face of this movement.
I absolutely agree with you. I think the YouTube movement can cause more harm than good at this point. The moment when parasocial relationships took over from interested viewers, it has turned more and more into content not connected to cos but more to do with other personal feuds. It’s sad but true
I think this is just a flash in the pan and it won’t last long. Especially if the motivations are money-driven and ego-fueled.
I’m just sorry to think that DM will try to spin all this mess as their victory when it’s actually the gift of a group of reckless individuals.
However, I’m very glad that what happened is completely useless in boosting scn or pulling it out of the slippery slope it’s already in. It might at most squeeze some extra donations out of the few remaining whales.
Finally, I agree with Mike’s smart choice to step back from this chaos.
Take care of yourself Mike.
Yes , take care of yourself .
How sad to be caught in this new cultish mind set .
My money is on OSA and the old concept “ divide and conquer “.
Ignorance is not bliss , I wish the younger generation would educate themselves more thoroughly.
Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do , away from the social media cesspool.
So much to say , but this not the time to have a rant !
Dear Mike,
I want to thank you for all you have done to bring light to the atrocious crimes and dreadful behavior of the cult of Scientology. My family was also split when my son and I left the cult.
Thank you also, for laying out the facts and history leading up to you wish to no longer engage in social media. I wish you and your family much love and prosperity.
Dear Mike,
I want to thank you for all you have done to bring light to the atrocious crimes and dreadful behavior of the cult of Scientology. My family was also split when my son and I left the cult.
Thank you also, for laying out the facts and history leading up to you wish to no longer engage in social media. I wish you and your family much love and prosperity.
Dear Mike and Family,
I am never really compelled to comment on blogs, YouTube videos, social media and so forth but I wanted to leave you a message. I, with my family, escaped our own cult (and associated abuse) during my adolescence. Learning about Scientology through internet culture helped me heal, as a youth, as I saw many similarities with the “church” I was apart of and your “church”. Into my adulthood the documentaries, YouTube videos, books and of course, Leah’s show became important in my own healing but also in my need to understand others. Mike, your ability to make amends and write your wrongs, is amazing. To compare with my story, it reminds me of my mum who was an “elder” in our “church”, taking in people and families who have left or been expelled, speaking to law enforcement and warning local communities on Facebook. The growth of “sptv” and other cult content online during 2022 onwards was, again, another excellent comfort for me but I noticed that it started to become like any other corner of YouTube and be filled with drama. I stopped watching videos frequently around the time of the Danny M sentencing and by the end of 2023 I heard of the divide between yourself and the Headleys and all these other channels. It made me sad that a community that should be unified, not always in agreement, not always liking each other but unified against a cause, was now in tatters. I’m sorry it’s came down on you. I also do feel for Mirriam. I see myself in her actions. Seeking justice isn’t easy and you’re left in the dark of many legal processes along the way.
I hope you and your family are doing as well as can be and that this latest blip in the road smoothes out soon.
Take care.
Dear Mike,
As the saying goes, “no good deed goes unpunished.” I have followed you for at least a decade. I watched all of the Aftermath, your many interviews and read your book. I willingly contributed last year when you had your cancer diagnosis. I also, ironically, monetarily supported Aaron in his failed city council election. I have supported The Aftermath Foundation. I have never seen you waiver from being the kind, hardworking, honest person we have all seen. I’m sorry for Mirriam; she knows not what she does.
You deserve a break. And while you’re gone, the swarm will have to find someone else to vilify. And they will. Some people need to Get A Life.
Much Love,
SMoore
Mike – Thank you for all you have done for so many. You are more than entitled to put down your sword. You have done more than anyone could have expected. You could have disappeared and built a career & a life and done nothing. You and your family have given up so much for the rest of us.
One thing I would ask, if possible, is that your posts remain where people can read & access the information in them. An on-line book of sorts. If that is not possible then we would all understand. I think that if your posts are up then it would help those still in, those that have left & those that might join to avoid & handle many situations.
If there is ever anything we can HELP you with – just ask. Go walk on the beach, turn your face to the sun & enjoy the sunset.
My goodness, Mike; this whole thing seems to be a lot of misunderstandings from people (you included) due to their personal feelings. With my legal background, I have been told the art of being objective, and I think more people need to be taught this very important social skill. I had hoped that there could be a resolution between you, Marc and Claire, and Aaron, but it seems that more charged personal feelings are flowing. I admit I was not happy with you in how you responded initially, but I do appreciate you making your voice known and apologizing in this post for how you reacted with emotion. No one is perfect, we should never put perfection on another, and we should all accept that mistakes will happen; and the only way to come back from a mistake is to own your piece and learn from the experience. I think you did that in this post. I also commend you for overcoming who you were when you were brainwashed and under the thumb of this cult.
Now on to what your post is about. I don’t see how you knowing or not knowing something is relevant. In a high position in *any* institution; especially one that has abuses of all kinds happening by the second; how you could know of intricate details of each specific case of abuse, how you could have done anything about it, or how this could reflect your character now. I do believe the emails you posted are the emails you sent and received; and nowhere did I see how anyone could have thought you were hiding things. That’s just not practical to me why you would – especially with law enforcement involved. I also don’t understand how, if she wasn’t getting the document from going through you, why she didn’t contact Leah or the production team directly. Plainly put, why keep going through you to get said information? There had to be some level of trust in you and in your ability to do the right thing and get her the document. It can be easy for a victim (I being a victim and trying to get my case heard) to start to wonder about the intentions of someone who say they will help you, but you not receiving what you ask for in a timely manner. Plainly put: a victim has one goal in mind when filing a case (because we know that there is a huge chance it might not make it to trial) and that is to be heard. When you couple wanting to be heard, the emotions of being a victim and wanting that and some form of justice, it is easy to see how someone could misconstrue your intentions. But the fact of the matter is, you don’t have anything to gain or lose by producing something or not. And it is not the best thing to tell a victim to slow down and that they are possibly becoming paranoid in subconsciously looking for someone to blame for why their case is stalling. Again, being subjective is a very difficult thing to do, and to ask someone to do it when they are flooded with traumatic emotions is not the best thing to do.
The reason I came on your site and read your post is because there is a video Aaron posted that says you come after him and Jamie Mustard. I am acquainted with Jamie, and we were introduced because of the medical technique you mentioned in your post. To say that Jamie might make a commission off of referrals to the treatment isn’t a stretch, but I don’t know if it’s true or not. However, I don’t see it as an attack on him, and I will kindly let him know what my opinion is of this. Also, did the Aftermath Foundation deny her requests for medical help? Did they do it because the procedure would be considered experimental to the average insurance company? I worked in health care for a few years, and I also have an autoimmune disease, so I know that if procedures, medications, etc., were not commonly sought from the average doctor, that insurance won’t cover it. I digress, I still don’t see how it is an attack on Jamie personally, and I don’t see how you’re tied to it unless the Foundation denied her requests for the treatment.
Lastly, I don’t see how people can jump to the conclusion that because you held a high ranking in a cult that constantly abuses and discredits its victims, that you should not be working with and for abused children. If anything, I would think your “expertise” in said cult would make you more qualified to do so since you can offer your viewpoints on how some children could be feeling. The Aftermath show alone exposed all kinds of child abuse within the cult, so I don’t see why someone asking for your help would then turn against you and try to dismantle you from the charity work you do – unless there were unrealistic expectations (you could get such a document that is looking to not exist), do it in a fast turn-around time (trials and getting to a trial can take years just for what legal professionals call discovery), and seemingly becoming paranoid (due to heightened emotions, which again is common among victims), and turning on you (subconsciously doing it because us victims in these times want someone to blame, and *you’re* not providing what she *needs* for her case) like you are somehow guilty by association of being in a cult.
I don’t know. I just don’t know how this can be resolved where all parties (with the help of a moderator, maybe Leah since she loves you all) say their piece, hear the other’s piece, and realize that there is just too much emotion going back and forth.
I think stepping back from YouTube is a wise and sad thing for you to do. I will continue to pray that a resolution will come for everyone involved, and I will continue to be objective to all parties.
All the best. Breathe. Center yourself and be surrounded by people who know you, your intentions, and will be your cheerleader to get through this! Lots of love and support for everyone involved!!
I think people understand how bitter someone can become when shown the door. Aaron was so terribly messy and made the AF vunerable. He should have quietly resigned for everyones sake after the hotel incident. And the third party youtubers are making cash on issues they know nothing about. They are highly suspect, are they just opportunists or sci spies? I hope he comes to his senses and calms the waters before he destrys everything he helped create. Support you and hope things work out.
Mike, I completely support you, even moreso having read your blog and also watched the “youtber’s” most recent slanderous, insulting barrage. Talk about a scorched earth policy, his is a textbook example of such. He has an extremely self righteous attitude as he derides and insults his former friends. This is a ticking time bomb as m sure you can see. It is sad and the actual enemy (Scientology the organization) is laughing with glee! Shame on him, he is an actual disgrace! Peace an love to you and your family Mike.
Re: “Thus I am stepping back from social media…”
Welcome, Mike, to the world outside, or away from, social media. I’ve been here for a year or more. The air here is fresh; the water inviting.
May you enjoy your stay.
Well said Fred!😊
Wow! So many comments and well wishes! 💕
I just want to say Mike, you have helped many of us, me included.
I suggest you do 2 things (I am 71 and can say so)
#1 Wait 48hrs to respond to triggers (or more if needed – listen to your body response)
#2 Listen to social media – don’t disconnect
And foremost embrace your family. You are all very loved. 🥰
The hope is we all heal together from this.
I’ve watched Aaron decompensate for some time now. He has always been the weak link in the Aftermath Foundation because of his incurable narcissism. No matter what trouble he gets into, he puts up video after video showing how and why it was not his fault. But he always glosses over that he started those incidents. He is the common factor in every event he blames others for.
What were his known incidents?
Aaron, while out drinking with an Aftermath client and others, concocted a plan to steal private Cherch data from one of its computers. He first claimed it was just guy talk, influenced by alcohol. But in fact the conspiracy reached Stage Two, which was the failed attempt to infiltrate a Scientology building and locate a computer with details of actual cherch membership that could be downloaded and published without permission. Luckily for all involved, the Clearwater police decided not to prosecute.
Then there was the bar ‘fight’ where Aaron got too loud and apparently too rude and ended up with a fist in his face. That is not uncommon in bars, but it is uncommon among men who are running for public office, and Aaron was running for the Clearwater City Council. The ‘fight’ meme took off, fueled by his opponent, and Aaron was creamed at the polls – not that he had a chance of winning anyway. But Aaron, true to form, claimed he ‘came close to winning.’ People can look up the election results and decide if Aaron ‘barely lost’, or if in fact he got creamed.
Then Aaron sounded off too loud in the hallway during a break in the first Masterson trial. The court Bailiff heard him and intervened. It was thought one or more jurors heard Aaron’s remarks; the Masterson defense counsel was quick to move for a mistrial on the evidence of jury influencing. The motion for mistrial was not granted, but nonetheless it was a serious incident – started by Aaron.
Then there was Aaron again ostensibly reporting on the Masterson trial. He blames this Cohen woman, for what followed, when in fact he had every adult opportunity to just say no – he was in LA for a reason, which was not to pick up females. But like most teens – and if you don’t see the teen here too bad for you – he led with his libido on day one. Then his libido was his leader again on day two (and associated nights). But on day (ornight) three he was just tuckered out, and like any teen male wanted the b*tch to shut up and get out of his hair so he could get some sleep. But she was a crazy little floozy, and for once he didn’t get to plaster over his own involvement. Now, I don’t believe for a minute that he assaulted her or any of that sort of thing, but you have to be a discerning, intelligent person if you are on a Board of a growing non-profit, and leading with your teen-age libido (and justifying it with some cockamamie story about an “open marriage”) is not the adult decision in a case like this.
I hate to write this but there is more. When Aaron says “But what do I know, I grew up in a cult!” we should all firmly believe he has accurately described his behavioral profile. He is still at best a teen, certainly not an adult. Adults take responsibility for their mistakes rather than painstakingly producing video after video to promote their excuses, always a little bit but not entirely believable, always leaving out or glossing over the part where Aaron started the scuffle, the libido nights, the loud talk in an inappropriate time and space. In Aaron’s case truth is stranger than fiction. It is a wonder that Scientology has not yet found in Aaron’s behavior the fodder they need to file a civil suit that would bankrupt The Aftermath Foundation pretty darn quick. Scientology bankrupted the Cult Awareness Network. They destroyed the Lisa McPherson Trust. They have destroyed attempts to bring them to justice time after time by having members lie under oath.
When up against Miscavige, a narcissistic cult leader with all the money in the world to try to drown any person or organization critical of him or the abuses of his cherch, Aaron was and remains the weak link in The Aftermath Foundation.
I’m 73, and I’ve been on the board of a non-profit larger than Aftermath. Personally, knowing his propensity to get into schemes and troubles that no other board members would touch with a ten-foot pole, I would have fired Aaron long ago. But now, like the scorned teen caught doing something unacceptable for the second, third, or whatever time, he blames everyone but himself for his predicament. Aaron may try to make people think this was about one incident, but I think it was about a loose cannon with way too many poor choices behind him already, and who knows how many more coming in the future?
Yet Aaron still manages to create all sorts of long, rambling videos full of nit-picking that always shows him to be the good guy. The worst thing is not the storm he is trying to bring into Mike Rinder’s life, because that will pass now that Mike is refusing to play that game. The bigger problem awaits us in the future, when Aaron truly discovers (if he hasn’t already) the income potential of being a shock jock, trying to fill the shoes of a Howard Stern or an Alex Jones and maybe comes up with his own gold mine of an issue. I know there are YouTubers grossing $80k per month, which is a good living by most standards. Is that the goal here? Are subs, Patreon, superScoops or whatever donations the real reason for the growing schock shlock on various YT channels?
I have been subscribed to Aaron for awhile, but no more. I refuse in my small way to add to his narcissism. I wish him well, even if he never grows up. I support the adults in the room, especially Mike, Christie, Mark and Claire. Even if they might have made some mistakes in handling Aaron, they were trying to do what is best for the Foundation, and that is the purpose of its Board.
Great observations. Ironically I had unsubscribed to Aaron’s channel before all this attack on Mike started I had enough of his ridiculous petty videos. He basically got a lot of the info from Tony O and other sources and then made it a bigger drama. I’m over these people jumped on his bandwagon knowing little about Scientology or Mike except what he spouts and other YouTubers. They have all forgotten about the real goal and instead are attacking other ex Scientologists. No one is saying we don’t believe or feel Miriam is needing help. What we are saying is that the way she went about it as her vehicle was to her detriment even if she can’t see it right now. That Rabbit person is a pot stirrer looking for an audience and money. I wish the best for Mike and his family and will miss seeing and hearing from him regularly. Hopefully he’ll continue his blog in the future.
Excellent post! I was with Aaron’s channel from day one and when I say day one, I do mean DAY ONE. I unsubscribed from his channel after I saw how immature he handled the AF departure. I’ve noticed a huge change in him and I attribute it to him achieving 100K subscribers and the silver plaque from YouTube. Many streamers let this go to their heads and Aaron is not immune. I noticed a change in him as his channel grew to 200K as he became more arrogant and egoistical. I’m not the only one who noticed this as I’ve spoken to other subscribers that have watched him from the start. I wish his friends or somebody close to him would talk to him and point out that he’s not the same person he once was. Unfortunately, he’s surrounded by other ex-scientologists who I think believe they are doing the right thing in supporting him. I fear that they won’t see it until he turns on them and they have a falling out.
Mike isn’t the first person to have a falling out with Aaron. He’s had issues with others in the scientology world i.e. Doug, Tony O., Chris S., Mitch, and now Mike/Claire/Marc/Amy. It’s a shame because he doesn’t know how to adult.
Very good post, and I couldn’t agree more.
“I have been subscribed to Aaron for awhile, but no more. I wish him well, even if he never grows up. I support the adults in the room, especially Mike, Christie, Mark and Claire. Even if they might have made some mistakes in handling Aaron, they were trying to do what is best for the Foundation, and that is the purpose of its Board”.
I couldn’t agree more.
It’s all so very sad and I wish it would stop, but we talking about people here and unfortunately human beings do all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons, even if some of the real reasons are outside of one’s awareness and even when the resulting behaviour winds up hurting others.
Mike, there are people here who have your back and are here to support you. I hope you can take some time away from all of this to find joy with your loved ones. You’ve all been through enough already.
“But she was a crazy little floozy”,
Did someone say this about this poor woman? I have heard her referred to as being ‘crazy’, as well as lots of other disparaging descriptors- all value judgements. I can’t even begin to imagine how she might be feeling now. Is anyone reaching out to her and asking ‘are you okay?’
My understanding is that she does have mental health issues and substances were used the night the incident occurred.
Isn’t it unfortunate he just “wanted the b*tch to shut up and get out of his hair so he could get some sleep”, instead of recognising she needed care appropriate and proportionate to the situation and her reactions/experiences. Isn’t it unfortunate, the blame is repeatedly being externalised on to this poor woman and others on other channels and spaces now get to call her ‘crazy’.
I think there might be a good chance, from the beginning she was vulnerable.
The word ‘crazy’ was descriptive, adding to the words ‘little floozie’ to give a flavor of the sort of behavior Aaron reported. It is not a diagnosis, even if I were presently qualified to pronounce a diagnosis. Saying a person is crazy, or acts crazy, really means their behavior is beyond the norm, unexpected, possibly dangerous to self or others, and in this report of throwing around video gear in a small room I would grant it to be dangerous behavior. Much behavior that Scientologist see as a prerequisite for so-called spiritual advancement I see as crazy nonsense; but that is only descriptive from my point of view, not a diagnosis.
I’ve read, sometimes studied, and often used every revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual from its original through II, III, IV, and now V. There is no use of the word crazy in any version of the DSM; it is only a lay term normally used to opinionate about the behavior we see or read about.
If one does not want to see the word crazy in describing their own behavior, they should not act crazy. Same with floozie, a descriptor one might use for a grown woman trolling the halls of a courthouse looking for a date, then later wearing out her welcome with absurd demands. But it’s not a diagnosis; there is no diagnosis for crazy, we all see it however we see it.
Mostly we are glad the craziness happened to someone else, and not to us.
Your initial post well overall executed, now this : Stellar.
You’re an extremely well articulated individual, and I appreciate the time and effort you took in your posted comments. With sincere Regards and Respects , I thank you .
I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Unfortunately it does seem like there has been a lot of toxic behaviour from different people over the last months and it have spilled over into the community of supporters for your cause. These people are willing to risk the goal of stopping the abuse, just to feed of the parasocial relationships that have cultivated over YouTube. I found myself stepping away from the community because I found questions to be met with abuse and hateful comments.
The job you and the Aftermath have done should not be questioned over smear campaigns and I’m beyond saddened that victims might suffer because people have chosen hate.
I wish you and the family will get some peace and that you will get well. You have already done so much and it’s more than okay if you are just going to focus on you and the family. I’m sending you all the virtual love I can ❤️❤️❤️ Know that for every hateful person there are many more loving people out there.
Mike, you are an outstanding writer and person. We appreciate you!
I’m so sad that it’s come to this. I’m a never-in who’s read many books on Scientology and followed events on this site and others. You’ve always impressed me with your intelligence and sincerity in your mission. And all the hostility against you is uncalled for and detrimental to the cause.
Take a good rest and all good wishes to your family.
Oh Mike, you dear sweet man.
I’m so sorry for this latest round of nonsense, it’s all so unnecessary.
Scientology…this pretty little doll full of maggots we picked up and brought home one day… and fifty years later we’re still picking out those maggots from the corners of our lives and being sickened by them.
The doll head broke open for me almost ten years ago.
Your blog was my first and longest lifeline. I was so scared for so long, So hollow eyed and gasping. Gripping the edge of this new reality with fingernails bitten to the quick, .. I can try to lace some words together here, but I’ll never ever be able to let you know how deeply and often you have helped me hang on.
Thank you for this place, for your words, your efforts and deeds, for your constancy.
You’ve always been a presence of relief. Good, Mike’s here. A deep breath, let out slowly, a racing heart slows.
I’ll keep looking out for you. I’m glad you’ll still be around. I hope you go on many more cruises, and hold your family close, and heal and heal and heal. As you have helped so many of us heal. I’m glad for the riches in your life, and how much love you naturally engender. I hope it soothes your brow.
I’m still squishing maggots out of nowhere, and gripping that edge, still tripping over whether it’s worth the effort…
but every day I open my mirrored medicine cabinet to the bobble head & book shrine, and say good morning to you and to hope.
Love you Mike
Rip
P.S. I just looked up after posting this, glanced out the window, and saw my first Robin of the year. It bodes well.
The descriptive arrangement of your linguistics, is hauntingly beautiful. Hubbard’s facade didn’t suffocate and choke your spirit, mainly because the true condition of your soul is: PRISTINELY GENUINE.
Genuine was something Hubbard was certainly NOT .
I have no idea what it took for you to overcome….. But the fact remains you did and are continuing to rekindles my HOPE in Humanity. …. And Hope, in whatever its form, ALWAYS BODES WELL……🕊️
my dear friend mike,
thank you from the bottom of my heart for your extraordinary help, support, detailed information, sharing your insider knowledge on many of my questions. especially your information about the last european celebrity scientologist gottfried helnwein remaining in the scientology organization was very helpful for me during the last months.
many, many thanks for everything and i wish you all the best and above all good health, dear mike.
see you soon, your peter reichelt from germany
Thank you Mike and all.
Calling 911 is the best advice for new abuse exposing.
Encouraging Scientologists to just call 911 immediately.
————-
I agree your choices above are correct.
Keep helping authorities and law enforcement.
Hubbard’s policies will continue to obstruct law enforcement.
Exposing Scientology’s Hubbard policies and how those nefarious policies go on and on, in waves, over Scientology’s continuing history is always vital information to tell authorities.
Scientology supposed to heal soul trauma, instead does the opposite.
Outside education is the solution.
Getting Scientologists up to calling 911 immediately needs to happen.
In my opinion what you, Christie, Marc, Claire, Amy and Mat should do is not respond to anything. With social media it only fans the flame. There is a group of people who think they can do better, let them. As I have commented to many of them “why don’t you stop complaining about the AF and start your own foundation and run it like you want”. They don’t want to do the actual work, they want to criticize your work. Social media is a cesspool and it brings out the worst in people.
I also think there are a lot of mental health issues at play here and they can’t be addressed on social media. Again people need to do the work. Most of us were not born into a cult but a lot of us have childhood trauma, it takes work to build a life.
Thank you for all you have done, especially keeping us informed about what the cult continues to do against and your family. Best wishes! Hope you will eventually come back. Peace
When you are feeling better you can always come back. Looking forward to that.
I really liked your book.
Mike, I’ll watch for your work. I’ll pray for your continued healing. I admire & respect you greatly. I periodically send you e-mails with my deeper thoughts on things you address. You, your family & your work all continue to get my support.
This entire situation is not right. It’s trauma-drama in spades. Unaddressed trauma comes out in other ways, creating drama that substitutes or recreates trauma so things go to a familiar status of discomfort & distress or pain. Publicly I guess you’re not “touchy feely” enough for some. But I saw nothing that should cause offense. If it’s that you didn’t show the proper emotions considering the “accusations” (my word & my sense of what’s happening) my sense is that some were & are “triggered” by you– you’re in the damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. So you are right to step back & focus on your health & the well-being of your family.
We’ll be here when you get back to this work, or if you go forward to do other work. I’ll be watching for you. For now, you are in a different season of your life & work. I’ll reach out by e-mail from time to time. Hugs to you, Christie & your sons. I miss you already.
Mike Rinder, in my humble opinion you are an exceptional human being. in the future if anyone contacts you for episodes of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, instead of jumping through hoops to assist them perhaps you could direct them to the way back machine search engine located at the Internet Archive website or have them follow this direct link
https://archive.org/details/leahreminiscientologyandtheaftermath/Leah+Remini+-+Scientology+and+the+Aftermath/S01E01+-+Disconnection+(1080p).mkv
All episodes are available for your viewing pleasure starting with Season 1 episode 1 and ending with the season 3 finale.
Team Mike! Always!
Well, I have been doing less and less regarding Scientology personally but wanted to make a few comments when I heard this issue is being addressed here.
I have had to make a lot of mistakes in my own life after leaving Scientology in 2014 and had numerous blunders and poor choices along the way.
It would have been far better in some ways if I had learned far more about how the vestiges of Scientology affect people who have left, even decades after they leave and even if they reject the doctrine and practices of Scientology as sincerely as they can.
A lot of the people who have left Scientology have parts of the indoctrination and the abuse and the dynamics of cultic relationships and behavior embedded deeply in themselves.
By looking at parallel phenomena in other situations I realized that this issue is prevalent in the ex Scientology community.
I looked at the show Loudermilk that portrays alcoholics and drug addicts in a more realistic way than most shows. These people are like real alcoholics and drug addicts. They have trouble holding jobs and trouble with relationships and they lie about their drinking and drug use and they lash out unfairly at people around them.
I have seen a bit of writing by people who have left abusive relationships and families and many people who go through these situations go through similar things. Many are quick to condemn people in black and white terms and rapidly call people narcissists, sociopaths and label behavior as gaslighting or abusive and rush to judgment and frankly make hasty generalizations.
They are sometimes right but they often see the world in pure black and white, and if they see a glimmer of grey in a person they are quick to label that person a human predator and the behavior as all bad.
To be clear this is not something everyone in these circumstances displays, but for those who do display it, it can be a problem.
The point in bringing these examples up is that we have the sad reality that a lot of the behavior from some ex Scientologists at times is similar to that of these people who are in different situations.
You can try awfully hard to take the Scientology out of yourself, but try as one may, it is quite difficult to completely scrub that indelible mark off yourself. You have to face the reality that some of the people who have left Scientology are going to make choices and these are going to be influenced by their time and experiences in Scientology.
I hear about “reports” being sent and meetings that remind me of knowledge reports and committees of evidence, both relics of a life in Scientology. I see whispering campaigns and third party reports that are being used.
I think that some of the participants are sincerely good people trying to escape Scientology and trying to not do the harmful things they did while in Scientology, but these things often were indoctrinated deeply and thoroughly into them in a manner designed to persist below their conscious awareness as an insidious influence.
Scientology indoctrination is a “gift” that is designed to keep giving!
I would have done many things differently if I realized how deeply many people who were in Scientology were affected and harmed.
I would have avoided a lot of fights and arguments. The fact is these are often people who don’t even know they are repeating what was done to them.
I hope this brings some comfort to you and you are not brought down by the attacks of people who have been grounded down by Scientology.
Dear Mike and family
As someone who has lost three family members to the big C. I am stoked to hear that your battle is going in the right direction.
Over time I’ve witnessed a couple of things. You aren’t afraid to own your actions, both past and present you conduct yourself in a highly ethical and honest manner.
You’ve earned the right to take a step back and focus on the family
Mike, I hardly know what to say other than I will miss you very much, while at the same time, for your sake, I am very glad that you have made a decision which you know to be the right one for you and your familiy’s physical, mental and emotional health. Its very important though, that you know and retain the truth about yourself. You’re a good person, Mike. Only a very good, basically honest and clean person has both the courage and humility to take responsibility for the harmful acts one has done, not only acknowledging them verbally, but reversing them. Life is a continuous creation. What you’ve been continuously creating for the past 20 years has been honest and clean and good, and enormously helpful. Don’t be discouraged, and don’t ever doubt yourself, or your own goodness. Don’t let anyone acting out of their own misdirected pain and anger, make you doubt yourself, ever! Rest, take a breather, and rejoice in your love for your family and in their love for you. Thank you for all you’ve done, all these years. I can’t thank you enough. Whether or not you return to social media I’m always going to feel connected to you. Please know that I will be sending you my positive thoughts. Be well, be happy. Life is a precious gift.
Mike,
Thank you for all you have done. I am ex-sea org and have been out for many years trying to understand my “Scientology brain”. You, Christie, Marc, Claire, Matt, Amy and Leah, have helped me in ways I cannot express other than Thank You from the bottom of my heart. I understand that you have to do what is right for you and your family but I will, selfishly, miss you. All my best to you and your family. ❤️
Mike, I wanted to just say that I’ve enjoyed your blog and your videos over the years since I first found this place when the Aftermath started airing. Your book was excellent as well. I especially appreciate how you’ve been able to describe the inner workings of this cult in more layman’s terms so never-ins like me can more easily understand how Scientology operates. I don’t comment much on Scientology matters these days (on any forum), but I do still keep up with things to a decent extent (including reading your blog).
I’m sorry to see everything that has happened. I know it must be difficult for you. I’m sure it’s not easy for Mirriam either, and my heart goes out to her for what she went through. I sincerely hope that her father is brought to justice for the damage he caused her.
Conflict between individuals happens all the time (as anyone who has been married more than 4 minutes can attest to), but when it gets thrown into public, and people start taking sides and hurling personal insults back and forth, it makes thing worse more times than not. That is, unfortunately, what has been happening. Many of us know there’s not really much you can do to prevent the current attacks. It’s damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. If you stay silent, you’re accused of hiding something. If you post your side of things in response to public accusations to offer your perspective, you’re the one who is gaslighting everyone, even if you’re not the one who brought this public to begin with.
I appreciate your desire to not try to “fan the flames” so to speak, and I appreciate you giving your perspective here. Sometimes there can simply be cases of miscommunication between two well-meaning individuals. It’s when one side groups together and gets their fans into the middle of it that causes it to spiral out of control.
As I said, I don’t comment much these days, and the kind of hatred being directed towards you and others (and some even towards Mirriam) is one of the main reasons for that. The vitriol that I seem to keep witnessing is just not worth it for me to stay as fully engaged in speaking out about this cult as I used to. And I have learned the past 7 years that, in many cases, it comes from one person who seems to feed off of causing public conflict whenever possible, and I hate to see that.
I’m sure I may have some folks that I have come to know and greatly respect see my comment here and get upset with me, but that’s ok. I just wanted to express my appreciation for all you’ve done, and will hopefully continue to do, in helping to bring this cult down. I also appreciate how you have always seemed to try to keep the peace and stay above the mud-slinging, even when others have attacked you publicly.
While I’m not too enamored with some outside individuals who seem to keep feeding this counterproductive onslaught towards you for reasons of their own, I truly do wish both you and Mirriam well, and I hope you both can find some peace moving forward.
All the best to you and your family, and again, thank you everything you’ve done in helping to expose this demented cult.
I’m going to miss you Mike, hopefully not for long.
I have never met you in person but I have followed Something Can Be Done About It ever since the first day you created the blog.
I got involved with the COS in 1967 and left around 2008. But, I always refused to make a billion year commitment to the S.O. or allow my minor children to do so because it just didn’t seem like a smart thing to do. In retrospect I guess I must have made saying “no” to recruiters into an art form. 😁
I want to personally thank you so much for letting me get a glimpse of what was going on in the upper echelons.
And also for letting me see what scientology is from the point view of someone who was born into it.
Having this perspective was very helpful to me in protecting my seven “kids” who are now adults. None of them, thankfully, are still connected with the COS. What you have been doing is a wonderful service to mankind. I also want to thank you personally for your help in keeping my family safe.
And my wish and hope is that there is some sort of a breakthrough for you and that you are reconnected with all of your children too.
I can easily imagine it happening. Good stuff that isn’t “supposed to” happen can still happen.
Love,
~Karl Woodrow
Mike
I hope you are well.
Thank you for this reply not needed but thanks anyway.
I actually could see something like this coming. I stopped watching a lot of the You Tubers a while back as I could see agendas beginning to overpower the MAIN agenda – STOP COS.
I remember thinking during The Aftermath you are incriminating yourself by openly admitting your own crimes. The Whole premise of you covering up things just doesn’t make sense.
Keep fighting the good fight and I hope you Christie and the boys are well.
Mike
So sorry for all you have been going through. You stood up against Scientology when there weren’t many, before it was popular and when it was dangerous to do so. The work you have done to expose their abuses showed bravery and I am gutted to hear that for all you did to help history is now being rewritten. I stepped away from the SPTV community and only watched yourself, Marc and Claire after seeing people that were never in Scientology engage in toxic behaviour and in my opinion become its own cult listening to one man as though what he says is gospel. I am shocked to now hear about these attacks on you and your legacy.
Stay true to your calling and hopefully everything settles down enough so you can continue with the great work you have been doing. May you and your family have peace moving forward.
Mike I wish your family and you all the best. Stay true to yourself! This shall go by and maybe one day all of you will look back and just laugh about it. a lot of bridges and feeling are burnt. Only time will tell, if you all will be able to sort things out and come to terms with what was said and what went wrong. People on both sides are hurt and things have been said and done that were/are purely emotional. Take all the time you and your family need. It is no ones business but yours.
Mike, I am so sorry to hear of the abuse that you and Christie and the kids are being subjected to. I have so much respect for you, and gratitude for your truth telling even at great risk to yourself. I am glad that you are prioritizing the health, and mental well-being, of yourself and your family. Please take however much time you need but I would love to see you come back! Blessings to you and your family.
Mike,
I’m so sorry that you are having to deal with this hate campaign. I’m also sorry you’re having to go to such personal details to defend yourself. People can be very mean and hateful and no matter what that’s not okay. I will continue to keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you guys can find some peace and continue to do the good work I believe you all are doing when it comes to helping people!
Mike, I can’t speak for *all 700+ members* of the SPTV Discord server, but as its admin I am proud to tell you that one of the reasons it has been deemed a Toxic Cesspool is that the chatters overwhelmingly support you and everyone doing the real work. I wish you never had to make this post, and I hope it serves its purpose, but I never doubted you.
Dear Mike,
It’s always been a pleaser listening to you and getting your thoughts on the COS. I’ve always felt that you’ve been truthful and shot straight with us.
Like you said this is OSA been waiting for. For the record I think you’ve been backed into a corner have taken some really hard shots. Please take a moment to heal. Nothing has to be done right away. Your health and family is the priority. When you’re ready your real friends will be here for you.
Having never been in the COS, I can’t imagine the horror you’ve gone through sense leaving (and before you left) along with all the other survivors. That is why I believe in what the organization is doing.
Not being someone who speaks out much, I will continue to support the Aftermath Foundation and still believe in the work that you’re doing and if I can help in anyway, you got it.
Take care,
Hi Mike. I’m the Freewinds pictures person from last year. I feel so sad for everyone involved in this mess. I usually have a pretty good sense of people and you have always been an honest, good hearted person to me.
I knew from the beginning of this mess that there was more to the story. I didn’t know what the ‘more’ was but in my heart I knew you would never, not ever intentionally inflict pain on another human being.
I have read posts and watched some of the videos and I’ve had an eerie feeling about a couple people on the SPTV channel. I feel like I’ve watched some people on SPTV change over time, and not for the better. You described reacting emotionally in your post and I feel like that is happening to so many right now. The polarization is breaking my heart. So many people that CoS made vulnerable to this type of thinking.
Thank you for this post so that while you take a break from social media I’m not left wondering and worrying if you’re ok. I know we’ve never met, but I’ve been a follower for many years. I feel like I know you as a friend so I only want the best for you and your family.
Take Care,
You are a hero to MANY. It’s understandable and admirable to put you and your family’s welfare FIRST.
I imagine, (and hope) you’ll find strength and resilience in taking a sabbatical from the socials… Your content will be missed for now – but I think collectively – we ALL look forward to you (and the team) delivering the final blows to the cult. Health & Peace.
– Please keep fighting, Mike.
Like 💞 I’m just pretending there is a like button! I would like to say that I have felt that there was some immaturity showing on some popular “SPTV ” channels for awhile now and “people” appear to be listening to the wrong influences and blaming the wrong people. I appreciate the blog post and am sending warm wishes and peace your and your families way.
Dear Mike (and family),
Three nights ago, I accidentally stumbled upon the video you spoke of in your post. I didn’t finish watching for several reasons. First, the inconsistencies in her story were clear early on. The first thing that my logical mind thought was… Why didn’t she respond to Mike’s simple question about recording? Asking someone, especially a former COS member if they recorded a conversation, is a legitimate question. Add on the history of fair-gaming that you’ve endured and it’s even more plausible. Receiving no response from this person after she sought you out from the start understandably raised more red flags. When she went on about you not producing the affidavit, I found myself saying out loud, “Call A&E! Mike or Leah don’t have it nor should they!” From that point forward, it became increasingly obvious that she needed to blame someone for what happened to her and since going after the COS or DM is a dauting task, she decided to use you as her punching bag. Let’s face it, there was absolutely nothing “dramatic” about your emails to her and no reason to claim that they caused her “trauma” (as she stated).
Finally, when I got to the segment where she stated that she talked to Claire and wanted financial support from AF, I rolled my eyes and closed the video. You asked that we don’t bash this woman so I’m going to honor your request by wrapping up my feelings about the legitimacy of her claims because what I would say next wouldn’t be very nice. But when I closed the video, I sat thinking to myself, “Why does Mike even bother at this point?… Between Aaron, fair game, cancer, the plethora of crazy channels that have spawned from SPTV, and now this woman, is continuing to fight for victims of COS even worth it for Mike any longer? The entire “new movement” of youtubers are tacky and money/clicks driven! I my opinion, they discredit the true purpose of exposing the abuses of Scientology that you and Leah embarked upon. Aaron going out to LA and getting himself arrested (regardless of who was at fault) was a sheer embarrassment to me and personally I was glad that he no longer sat on the Board! Not a good look for a professional organization!
Sidebar: How Aaron ended up on Jordan Peterson’s podcast is beyond me! All I kept thinking while listening to it was “Jordan, you’re interviewing the wrong guy! You need to interview Mike Rinder!” Enough said.
Mike, truth be told, I admire you! You have repeatedly shown incredible strength of character, tenacity, conviction, empathy, and in recent months, genuine gratitude! Additionally, I continue to be extremely impressed with your intelligence, insight, and class! I was saddened last night to hear that we won’t be hearing from you anytime soon, but I completely understand your reasons!
I have followed you and Leah on a weekly basis since 2017. Prior to that, I did a lengthy paper on the COS for my graduate degree in Clinical & Counseling Psychology. I invested a great deal of time researching and becoming familiar with the practices, beliefs, and criminal doings of the COS. Far more of my time was spent gaining knowledge and understanding of the mental repercussions that current and ex members face both while in the church and more importantly upon leaving as the latter was the focus of my writing and research. And this, my friend, is where you played a crucial role!
Words cannot express how much you (and Leah) helped me gain profound insight into the world of Scientology and how it permeated every aspect of your lives. When Scientlogy and The Aftermath aired, I was glued to it with pen and paper, feverishly taking notes, posing questions, etc. I found myself desperately wanting to interview you! As the weeks went on, many of my questions were answered in future episodes and I found the content to be riveting. While my coursework had been completed, I was hooked on the show until its conclusion. After the show commenced, I was thrilled that you and Leah decided to do the podcast!
The years went by… the pandemic happened, the podcast got scraped, SPTV came to be, you got incredibly sick with cancer, we all rallied around you, and in your absence many of us stuck around for the then relatively new SPTV channels. Like myself, many never really “took” to some of the content but we checked in mostly for any updates on your health while we patiently awaited your recovery and return. Others jumped on the spawns of SPTV for more “enticing” content. Personally, I found myself annoyed at Aaron’s petty feud with Tony Ortega and his overt capitalization of new fame (let’s face it, he had recently lost the councilman election so he seemed to be grasping for the “next thing”) and I was willing to hang in there out of respect for your mutual friendship. But in the end, his content became far too sophomoric and I stopped tuning in. Between Aaron/s antics and all the other new channels/people reporting their stories, learning about the current status of COS seemed to have taken on it’s own “cult like” following and it started to feel sensationalized versus informative. Another sidebar: I’m personally well aware of the monetary payout from YouTube. I know what Aaron is making monthly based on his subscribership… almost to the dollar! I don’t begrudge him for making the money at all, but using that platform to cry and bash the rest of you was self-serving and pathetic! I lost all respect for him! (Don’t get me started as I’m embarrassed that I donated MY hard-earned money to his campaign years ago.)
When you and Leah came back with your new podcast I was elated! It was wonderful to have credible, informative, intelligent, and factual content again! And this leads me to why I became sad last night! I will miss your “investigative journalism and reporting”—because that’s what I liken your content to. I honestly felt as though I was told that my favorite show was cancelled. I know this sounds crazy but I feel as though you have become a friend or extended member of my family. Many of us have been loyal viewers and fans of yours for almost 7 years now. We’ve been here from the onset; we celebrated your Emmy win. We watched the sometimes very guarded Mike of A&E become more relaxed and jovial in the podcast with Leah. We purchased your book and celebrated that wonderful accomplishment. (Some of us bought it twice!) We got to know your beautiful and supportive wife, Christie. We even got to know your two amazing sons! We stood by your side (virtually) and cried with you when you received your cancer diagnosis. We prayed, continued to cry, bought any and all #teammike merchandise we could get our hands on! We celebrated your recovery with tears of joy – literally! And finally, we welcomed you back by never missing an episode of your new podcast/YouTube shows. Mike, as I said, you have become our family and because of this, it’s imperative that you understand how much you will be missed!
I truly hope that you return to your podcasts with Leah and that you do it with your head held high! Those of us who have followed you for the entirety of your public career know your character. We believe in you and remain steadfast in our support. Please know that when you choose to return, we will be here!
If you and Christie (and boys) are ever back in Philly in the coming months, let me know and dinner is on me! Restaurant of your choice! It would be my honor!
Fondly,
Marybeth
PS: It was me who sent you guys all the water ice back when you were recovering. I sent it on a Sunday evening (DoorDash) on a whim because I was so worried about you all. About an hour after I sent it I thought to myself, “What was I thinking? They’re probably going to throw it all out since they have no flipping idea who I am or where it came from!” It was too late to cancel the order so I just left it alone. (It was probably an overkill amount of sweets!… but I was worried that you were still having swallowing issues so I thought a cold treat on a hot night would be welcomed). If you threw it out, no worries! 😊
Thank you Mike for all your help over the years and your continued help. Sad this had to happen.
Bless you and your family.
I’ve had to unsub from Aaron after his latest video. This blogpost isn’t even about him but reacts with typical emotion and anger, completely self obsessed and not caring at all for the consequences of the carnage he creates. As I read it, the only reason he is mentioned is to explain the wider context that a lot of this started after he was removed from the foundation. His fans will back him whatever he does, he could shoot somebody and they will defend him. Aaron admits he threw off a women who took a nasty gash to the head and he simply fled from the scene leaving her bleeding – none of his fans cared at all. All this is important context to the wider situation where Rinder was receiving a lot of attacks from Aaron’s hundreds of thousand of fans which has created an atmosphere where others have sort to join the pack.
I cannot support the conduct of Mirriam who is using her own case as a pretext to try to weave Rinder into wider conspiracies which she has no evidence for. What happened to her was appalling but this does not excuse using her case as a rouse for other issues. As Mike Brown proudly states in his video, she is a formidable person who is not to be messed with – she even fell out with Aaron some years ago. Ironically today there’s no way she could survive such a falling out with Aaron reputationally given the nature of his fans.
“I cannot support the conduct of Mirriam who is using her own case as a pretext to try to weave Rinder into wider conspiracies which she has no evidence for”.
Unfortunately, there may be a very good chance that Mirriam is still ‘in it’ trauma wise (still in the trauma). So, there’s also a good chance her sympathetic nervous system might be influencing her decisions just as much as it may be influencing her feeling and thinking. That in itself, if it be true for her, also leaves her open to being taken advantage of to support other agendas. It’s unfortunate many with agenda’s also end up doing harm, even if they believe in their heart they are doing good. For others, her story just provides more clicks.
Mirriam needs care and support and lots of psycho education – we can never have too many of these things.
So much has been said already here, but I must add my well wishes and support for you. I’ve been a reader of yours since before you began this blog and I will miss your posts. I was never in Scientology, but the experiences of control and abuse are common to a lesser degree in many fundamentalist religions, including the one I was raised in. I have been helped by things I’ve read here. The good you are doing goes way beyond the Scientology community.
I look forward to following your work in the future albeit less directly. Good luck and keep your head up!
Dear Mike, it’s pointless to repeat everything these good people are commenting here. I’m simply sorry about it. But there’s one thing I want you to know. Several years ago, even though I had been out of scn for years, I was still completely indoctrinated. I had been a SO for almost 15 years. I was constantly contacted to come back on lines and even to return to SO, and I almost fell for it.
Then one day I ‘stumbled’ by mistake onto your blog and contacted you. From there, I began to emerge from the limbo I was in. Without going into too much detail or exaggerating, I can say that what you do has saved me. Please know it and remember it, I’m not being extrvagant.
I wish you and your family all the best. And as I already told you once, if you happen to come to Italy, let me know, you have my email.
I wish you the best and an eternal thank you. Giuseppe.
Hi Mike,
I have been a supporter of the former scientology community since The Aftermath show. I appreciate the personal risk you all take to expose the ills of this cult. Nothing said by anyone can take away from the good you all have done.
I think this most recent episode was made worse by the letter sent by the Foundation attorney. Additional fuel was added with Marc’s response. As you noted, emotional responses rarely have the desired effect.
With all that being said, we are all flawed human beings who make mistakes and filter every interaction through our own experiences. What offends one of us, makes another laugh. The fervent taking of sides in all of this drama could be quelled and undone with a little tolerance and recognition that we all have faults. Something about being without sin and casting stones.
Sincere wishes for health, happiness and well being to you and your family.
I very much appreciate your coming forward with your statement. I’m so sorry you are being put through this, Mike, by anonymous social media influencers who obviously don’t understand the first thing about Scientology or cults in general. If it’s between you and some newbie anonymous “Rabbit” influencer, your credibility wins out every time. I’m also very saddened that Mirriam is being taken advantage of and being love bombed by these influencers in this way when she is at her most vulnerable. It looks to me like she is being victimized twice. I completely respect and understand your choice to back away from this social media circus and live your life in the most meaningful way you can with those you love.
Man, I missed all the drama because I unsubscribed to Aaron’s channel and affiliated the minute he started complaining about you guys and the Aftermath foundation. That smelled to high heavens and anyone who’s been through the grinder can recognize the signs. The minute someone who pretends to be your friend or ally stabs you in the back, you know everything there is to know about that person. Not a big loss, believe me, and you’ll be better for it. Now I am down to four or five channels of SPTV with people I trust, respect and love and you and Leah are at the top of the pile. Be strong and, to quote LRH in one of the truest things he said ; “Even heroes have lice”.
Thank you, Mike – for everything so far and for everything to come. I have the highest respect for you. And maybe Dave is celebrating your announcement today – though he shouldn’t get too excited: you’re just getting started.
By the way, I like the gentle irony of the headline for this blog post. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Thomas
P.S.: Fortunately, I only wasted three months as a staff member at the Hamburg CC back in the 80s. Then I learned quickly enough what a dump it was.
Dear Mike,
I’m late to this post. Your truth-telling and admission of being imperfect is a sharp focused beam of light, disinfecting the messy ambiguity spraying/spewing on YouTube.
I’m so glad you wrote this post. I applaud your decision to spend happy time supporting your family. I’ve always been amazed at your generosity to the community of exes, sharing your opinions and knowledge and hosting other ex’s essays on aspects of scientology that opened up lively commenting conversations.
The daily read of Mike Rinder’s blog was a vital part of my daily routine after leaving the cult.
Seeing the outpouring of love and support in the comments here, brought a tear to my eye. So much love. So much gratitude.
Mike, I want you to know how much you helped me. You gave me space to tell my story as Lili Ryder. You’ve always been someone I admire. I know you know I’m your friend, but at this time, I had to thank you for how much you’ve helped me. That help included that you created a space with this blog, where community grew. You shared people with me through the creation of a space where comments inspired reframing and helped me find peace. Those people commenting in turn helped while I confronted what had happened to me in the cult.
Take care of you, Mike. Hug Christie and the boys. You’re all my heroes.
This is so surreal and easily predicated. For lack of a better word, this is all due to 3rd parting.
You’ve done a lot of great work Mike and we are aware of your intentions. Take a break or two or three. You’ll be vindicated concerning these attacks and your personal explanations in due time.
Thanks for your contributions.
100%! I believe when the dust settles vindication will be there.
I agree. I believe many people are going to regret how they attacked Mr. Rinder. They won’t find out for a while, but it will come. One has to ask themselves why a certain bald man seems to have so many issues and drama all the time.
Uh… no
Thank you for the detailed post, Mike.
I have long been a deep lurker on former Scientology channels well before there was SPTV. Though I was never in that particular cult, I sympathized with the victims who had managed to extract themselves from Scientology whether they chose to speak out or not after their departure.
I also recognized that you were just as much a victim of that cult as any other former member. You may have been a senior spokesman and leader in the organization, but it was a dystopian world created by Ron Hubbard that was continuing its abuse of its membership under David Miscavige.
It was surprising to me how quickly so many turned against you and the Aftermath Foundation after Aaron’s removal from the board. It pained me that this happened as I realized it would hurt all of you. Since then I have seen simple concerns about board membership develop into a barrage of accusations and ad hominem attacks against you and the other board members, speculation on the evil of your intentions that were ridiculous yet being readily believed and repeated by people who should have known better.
The latest scandal surrounding Mirriam and Rabbit, the letter from the Aftermath lawyer and subsequent YouTube videos by Rabbit firstly on the letter and secondly with Mirriam and her questions lived up to my fears. Rabbit previewed the scandal by working her viewers into a frenzy over Fleas and Dogs. Then Mirriam came on the subsequent video and presented her questions and reasoning for thoughts and actions. It was painfully obvious how troubled Mirriam is and how much she needs help. I deeply wished she had approached the Aftermath Foundation for help long before her legal journey and then breaking off her communications with you. I had expected that the questions would be of the “When did you stop beating your wife?” variety and only watched the video so I could actually see what they had sent to you and expected you to respond to.
The matter of child abuse is deeply upsetting and I am sorry it is being used to continue to drive a wedge in the online ex-Scientologist community. Of course it is an emotional issue and people are likely to respond with their emotions and not parsing the information they are being fed. And I can see what are obviously Scientology plants or sympathizers taking advantage of this issue, people who have been showing up in comments over the last two months only to attack you and your motives and stir up the pot.
This deep lurker was considering making his own video to outline my feelings and offer support. I think this blog post is fine in its own right, and very important.
I am sorry that this has been affecting your family as well, and understand fully why you have to step back. Please take care of yourself and family first.
We will miss seeing you.
Mike this is so sad to read but I completely understand. I used to look forward to listening to all the podcasts but I had to stop a few months ago because seeing all the hate just broke my heart. It isn’t about stopping Scientology anymore it is just about attacking anyone that doesn’t follow the mob. People are no longer thinking with logic and reason. You have alway come across as a kind person and you will always have my support. You and your family are in my prayers.
I have been fascinated/disturbed/disgusted by the evils of Scientology since watching Going Clear when it first came out. Since that time I discovered the St. Petersburg articles, your A&E series with Leah and all of the memoirs so well written and deeply disturbing written by ex members Jeff Hawkins, Marc Headley, Amy Scobee, Ron Miscavige Sr., Leah Remini, Jenna Miscavige, Mitch Brisker and of course you. I am anxiously awaiting Claire Headley’s book as she and Marc are two of my heroes, I’ve learned a lot about the fair game policies, gaslighting and determination to destroy any enemies used by Scientology under the direction of LRH and DM.
As soon as Aaron started his campaign of smearing you (I especially found his making your cancer all about him distasteful) and the Headleys and the Foundation, and his cult like followers took up his cause, I have been very disturbed and disappointed to the point that I recently disengaged from watching SPtv and following them on social media. It did my mental health good and I am not even personally involved.
I am glad that I did see and read your blog today because I had heard of MF’s accusations and the prodding on by other younger ex Scientology SPtv members who seem to be directing their anger toward Scientology towards you.
I understand MF’s anger about her sexual abuse. I understand she is hurt and lashing out. I’m sorry though that she’s placing blame on you when you had no knowledge or involvement.
Your health and your family comes first and obviously you have your priorities straight despite your years in Scientology. Take care and know that you have touched many lives with your honesty, passion and values. Peace, joy & many blessings.
Mike, I’ve only caught bits and pieces as mostly am knee deep with work and three teenagers but did want to comment as someone who knows you and worked with you and also Kerrie Francis.
My recollection is that when Kerrie arrived at PAC, she still had clearances to do to go to Int base. We ended up on a Mission together, so have personal memories of Kerrie who was very upset about leaving her daughter behind and was doing everything within her power to bring her over from Australia.
And as someone who was there at the time, remember a specific instance when there was a child at the PAC base who was hit by a car on Fountain, and they brought him to the OSA Office. You were shocked by this response and told them to take the child to Children’s Hospital which was around the corner.
I find it ironic that a random person on the internet, Rabbit, who doesn’t wish for her personal details to be known is lecturing others about being transparent, yet, ‘every inch’ [lol] of your life has been made public and oh such an easy target.
One criticism I do agree with is that the Aftermath Foundation should have is an expert in trauma who can act as triage so they are able to access professional help as needed but also to prevent Board Members being subject to attacks personally.
And am still really apologetic about blowing up your speakers.
Love to you and Christie.
Hi Sara. Thanks for this. The Foundation does have a wonderful mental health/trauma expert who helps us.
I am sad I won’t be able to see you on your podcast anymore😢. I am sadden by all the untruths said about you but I knew from the start where they came from. I am shocked by Mike Brown but I really only viewed him a few times. As others have said, the truth will come to light but you need to take care of you and your family. My husband passed away from cancer in 1996 and I know you absolutely do not need this stress. My prayers will ALWAYS be with you and I will miss you terribly! Much love and many prayers Mike. You have done amazing work while taking full responsibility for your past in the terrible cult of Scientology. ❤️
What has transpired in the last few months is nothing but sad. I have followed all of you for years in your quest to expose scientology and to stop the abuse and I have routed for you all. All your work has been so inspiring, so to see what has happened between you breaks my heart. You are after all aiming for the same thing. I truly wish the things done/being done that hurt each other will stop and I truly wish for the best. You are inspirational xx
My feelings exactly.
Mike, I support all ex-Scientologists exposing this insidious cult for what it is: evil. Division is exactly what DM wants and is getting, and it’s sickening.
I will continue to support all who are brave enough to speak out–Miriam included, you included.
I truly enjoyed your presence on social media and am sad to see you go.
I hope all trauma can be healed for all.
~Shari
Everything has been said so just a note to wish your family and yourself well. Keep up the good work with the AF and when we reopen the bar for summer season We will begin fundraisers for the AF.
Hi me again. I just wanted to comment on these fantastic messages of support for yourself, Christie and your boys. Read them often so that you remember the love and appreciation so many of us have for you. Often the minority can make the loudest noise. You have done so much good!😊🇦🇺
Cathy (catbaloo)
I can ritually understand why you need to step back. Your health is the most important thing — which includes the mental health of you and your family. I also know how toxic YouTube and other social media can be. I have seen a friend get embroiled in some unhealthy controversy on a very personal level through YouTube and my advice has always been for them to do what you are doing.
I rarely watch YouTube — even the good people using it, so much of what I know has come from you, the Aftermath, and people like Yashar. This blog has been important.
You are a voice of compassion, honesty, and trustworthiness — these are rare qualities in today’s world. As one who was never in, your personal example as well as the knowledge you have given us, has been extremely important. You have helped me know more about what it means to be human. I am sure you have helped many — and that is also not an easy thing to do given the destructive nature of Scientology.
I can only imagine what it has cost you to be in the direct line of fire.
Before I retired from the law, I had a client who was raised in a different cult. He eventually could not handle it and committed a capital crime. What I learned from you helped me understand his experience. So thank you for that. And so many other things.
My thoughts will be with you and if there are things you think we should know, I trust you will find ways to tell us.
When I began The Scientology Money Project with a few posts 10 years ago, Mike Rinder gave me a great deal of support and encouragement. I appreciate his help.
Mike’s contributions in the work to expose Scientology have been enormous.
Without giving OSA any details, I can verify that Mike gave the FBI the documents in 2007. I know this for a fact.
The work Leah and Mike did on Aftermath was groundbreaking and I was proud to be part of it along with so many others to whom Aftermath gave a voice in its three seasons.
Jeffrey, I trust your judgment knowing your history of fighting this evil. It appears that a lot of fans of SPTV are out for Mike’s blood no matter how they get it. It’s very sad.
Side note: I love love love your content! Keep preaching it!
It’s so awful and painful being betrayed by someone you consider a friend or someone you sincerely only tried to help. Me and Renata suffered that very same pain and we can understand what you’re going through. Is terrible
But it f this can help there is a saying coming from south of Italy that says: “ one that plays with kids can get shit on his lap”
Again sorry for what you’re going through
Be strong
We love you
Claudio and Renata
That sounds similar to Benjamin Franklin’s quote about lying down with dogs and catching fleas!
Mike, I am so glad you will be continuing the podcast from time to time. I’ll be sure to look for you there. I’ve eagerly followed your and Leah’s podcast since the beginning.
The last couple of months have been very difficult for you, I’m sure. I watched with dread as Aaron’s channel morphed into a weird sort of cult of personality. He and his followers chose to channel their negativity not towards Scientology, but to you, then Mark and Claire, then Amy and Mat – even Leah. It has been ugly and disturbing to watch. Very, very sad. I unsubscribed… from many channels. I can only imagine the mix of emotions all of you had as those who you supported, helped and mentored turned against you, virtually overnight.
You do, however, have many, many people who stand by you and whatever path you choose. I am one of them.
I am a never-in, who watched an elderly friend try to survive the heartbreak and loneliness of her adult daughter’s commitment to Scientology at the expense of their family connections. Her pain made me hate this cult and I will always support your work to bring them down while raising their victims up.
I have never met you, but I love you just the same. I wish you peace, continued healing and a long life. Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do. May you find joy and happiness always. Always, Team Mike! ❤️
Hey that’s my line, #Team Mike! Always! I am in total agreement with Sally, almost word for word. Mike Rinder is an exceptional human being. Thanks for educating me over the years on all things Scientology.
Mike, you are a star in a reality TV series called ‘taking down the cult of $cientology’ and we the never ins are glued to the screen and all have our different emotional attachments to the TV stars (you, headley’s, leah, aaron etc etc) we love all the drama and excitement and daily updates as our boring 9-5 lives have not much else and it has become apparent that some fans will defend their favourites till the end of the earth just because its their favourite.
You have been putting up with nonsense for years and this is just the latest chapter, the thing that annoyed me the most is people like mirriam want JUSTICE FOR HER, when you have been fighting for JUSTICE FOR ALL since the day you left. (not to mention she didn’t even have the worst trauma until she was informed of the child SA 30 years later! Literally a case of some things are better of left unsaid)
There are several other characters in the story with ‘my agenda first’ and they are all chumps, but there are people out there that resonate and connect with those feelings and take sides, not realising the classic divide and conquer and doing OSAS work for them, missing the over all goal to end $cientotlgy and not say sorry for shit happened 30 years ago, we are trying to stop the history being repeated.
Anyone with a brain can see who the real movers and shakers are, and thank god most of $ci will be dead in 20 years.
So don’t sweat the small internet drama shit Mike, do what’s best for you and the important things to you, you wasted too much time in there already and now its time to live.
Mr. Rinder, I did my best to cover your back over on ESMBR against an attack poodle mob. Thanks for this update. I hope this episode doesn’t lower your spirits for too long. Your efforts are still needed!!
Mike,
I am deeply saddened to hear how the ugly and poisoned branches of Scientology have hurt you and your family again. It has been truly inspiring to follow your journey over the years. I may have squealed with glee when I saw you pop up on YouTube and your podcast again!! You have been through it and you sincerely deserve a break. Enjoy your family, health and friends. Take a vacation, read a book for pleasure or whatever is your form of self care. Squeeze your family extra tight everyday and know that all of your faithful supporters will still be here when or if you are ready to return to the trenches of social.
With love and many prayers your way,
Mary Fran
Mike, I really don’t know what to say, This saddens me that due to some questionable behaviour to put it mildly, the movement is divided playing right into Scientology’s hands. I’ve watched you for years now I don’t comment much but always read and watch along with Leah, Marc and Claire and Amy and Mat. The PTS among SPTV who started all this with a small taste of fame and money spread a virus throughout the community not only with him poisoning ex Scientologists against you but gullible neverins who freely “donate” to their channels after feeling guilted or sorry for some creators. OSA must be sitting back and just watching with glee. It sickens me that of all people Mike Brown is involved with all this I do hope Miriam gets justice one day for what happened to her it’s just sad the way it is all playing out. What also bothers me is the fact that the aftermath foundation has been tainted by an ex disgruntled member who was too proud to leave with grace. I wish you, your family and the board good health and peace at this time. Erin P.S go the Swans sorry NSW gal here:)
I felt the same way about Mike Brown. He seems so level headed I was terribly disappointed. Sadly, I don’t feel that Miriam would have followed this path without the urging of ASL. I’m afraid this has become a path of personal revenge for him. While he’s doing good work publicly I don’t think he realizes (at least I hope he doesn’t) the lengths people will go to “defend” their favourite creator.
Mike, blessings to you and your family. Keep fighting the good fight. We’ll always be in your corner.
So many people in the world are very interested in Scientology. But, this subject attracts drama. And now that sooo much money can be made on Utube, it is out of control. There are so many utube channels now by people that have never been in Scientology and literally use ex scientologists only to create drama and make money. It doesn’t matter to them if they are accurate. It doesn’t matter to these “creators” if they smear you. It matters to them, how many views they received.
Here is the important thing, you know that you do have many friends and allies, Matt and I appreciate your friendship and will stand behind you. Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge to help so many.
Sincerely,
Cindy Plahuta
Thank you for such a thoughtful letter. You are very brave to do it. I think it takes a very mature person, who was so entrenched by Scientology, to one day realize that you were wrong, and then to decide to right that wrong. Most people would want to hide so they don’t have to face what they did. But you faced it head on and used your experience and knowledge to help spread the truth about this cult. That makes you a hero in my eyes. And while I am sure it is hurtful to hear people spread lies about you, please know that most of who are listening to you and reading your words, know you are a truth teller. Please do take care of yourself. I use to work at Moffitt years ago and I know that your mental health is as important as your physical well being when fighting any chronic illness. So take a well deserved break and Thank You for all you have done.
If it weren’t for the you, Leah, and the show I would still be in Scn and my child would be in the SO. We didn’t even realize how miserable Scn was making us until we left. Suddenly the world is a better place, we both are excelling in our careers like never before, and we are not only happier, we have the time and money to enjoy living!
You saved us both.
YOU saved us.
I can never thank you enough!
So sorry to hear this, Mike. You will be missed.
I have belonged to several non-profits. They all end up eating themselves at one point or another. And the default response is that leadership begins going dark. The Org doesn’t go away, it just gets silent.
And I hate that.
Leaders should stay in the public eye and carry on. The silence is all the more deafening & discouraging to the many who need them.
I hope you reconsider.
Take care Mike, et. al.
Mike, I am so sorry to have witnessed what you’ve been going through. Unfortunately, I had a feeling this was going to happen once SPTV started growing and it seemed like everyone and their brother was starting a channel and calling themselves SPTV. I’ve seen this happen numerous times in other communities on YouTube. It is a cesspool and has been for quite some time. Notice that YouTube’s CEO was the only one who didn’t show up to the recent Congressional hearings regarding social media toxicity. YouTube is the worst there is and they do not protect their content creators.
I am extremely disappointed in the people who have attacked you, Christie, Marc, Claire, Amy, and Mat. So much so, that I’ve been banned from quite a few of the ex-scientology channels where I’ve vocally spoken about how I feel albeit in a not so measured or calm manner. My emotions take over because it’s horrendous to see how people like yourself who have fought against COS all of these years are being treated as if you’re DM!
I have tried unsuccessfully to warn the other ex-scientologists about the Rabbit channel. After all, I think I should know since I was in the true crime/crama/drama community, so I know all about her tactics. I sincerely hope they will heed my advice. If they don’t, then all they care about is drama and that’s not what I tune into for information on scientology.
I wish you and your family nothing but the best! I hope you will continue to do the work like you have been doing for all these years. YouTube is just a speck in the bucket and is not really needed to achieve the goal of taking down scientology.
Mike I just wanted to say what so many others have said — you have had such an amazing impact, and not because you could make money, but because you wanted to make a difference. It may be hard for some to see – but YouTube is a big money maker if you can put content out there that people click on, even if it’s untrue or hurtful. I also unplugged from the COS social media from most of the sensationalist content creators because it felt like they weren’t in it to help people anymore — it was all about a name they could make for themselves, no matter the cost to others.
Your health is so much more important … and I am sending love and prayers your way. I have never been in COS, but I have been in a high demand/cultish religion … and watching you and Leah and hearing your stories – and those from the Aftermath foundation — helped me and my family. YOU HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE… and don’t let them take that from you. You will be missed!
Take care of yourself and your family. That is what is important. No stress. I recently unsubscribed to 99% of SPTV YouTube channels. Too much acting out and trying for publicity, especially Aaron. It’s hard to believe them. It appears they have to have a target and you are latest victim. I feel bad for Miriam too as she is being used. Good luck.
Sadly, the lingering, long term effects and the damage this hideous organization has caused is again rearing it’s ugly repercussions through a person who, as an innocent child, suffered such unspeakable horrors. Unfortunately, the long term effects of lifelong indoctrination have conditioned her to be susceptible to further manipulation. Social media is a tool used to do good but sadly, manipulation of truths and facts occur far too often.
Thank you for all you have done and still do to shed light on COS and help victims. I sincerely hope you and your family find some sense of peace with your decision to step back, you all deserve that. I do hope you pop in from time to time to let us know how you are doing.
FYI, I have forbidden my husband Mike from using my Team Mike mug….I tell him it’s my favourite and hands off. Much love to you and your family.
Mike: Sorry to see you go from social media. But I totally understand why. As far as my involvement with the different Scientology YouTube channels as a viewer goes, I’m over it. Way too much drama and turmoil. Life is hard enough. i wish you luck and good health. Keep up the good fight as they say. Much love.
My apologies, I too thought you were still one of the evil ones. This blog post reads like a REALand CARING PERSON, not A SCIENTOLOGIST. It took a lot of guts to write that. Just a real shame that you and your family AS WELL as Mirriam have had to go through this. ThAT EVIL CULT HAS MANAGED TO HURT PEOPLE and spread hate again. ….dividing those who want to help victims and turning them against each other. All the peaceful and welll intentioned protests are worthless if scientology victims and ex-scientologists (and those who support them) are pitted against each other and treated as enemies. COS is the ENEMY….and a sneaky and dangerous one.
Wishing you all the best….A never-in supporter.
Thanks Astrid I appreciate this
I believe you Mike and have been suspicious of the accusations against you from the beginning. I know how social media blows up for the good and for the ill. Unfortunately you became a scapegoat over a very small matter and that matter turned into a huge hate campaign. You and Leah were incredibly brave to do a protracted series against the many lies and evils of Scientology. I will never forget what you have done in that series. It started the fire that burns today in the protests by individuals and groups against this cult. I don’t blame you at all for withdrawing for the sake of your family and your own health. It’s the last thing you need for all the good you have done. God bless you and your family. My prayer is for the peace and health of your family.
Dear Mike
So sorry this is out of control. I will miss your content and you. I think it’s horrible the piling on. I believe you have done your best to atone for your time in Scientology , but seriously people dealing with trauma have trauma based responses. Mirriam is traumatized and one off- handed remark and suddenly you’re the devil. I don’t believe anything I have heard from the rabbit et al. That rabbit is out to lunch. Talk about using clips to skew fact to fit the narrative. I couldn’t stand it. I have unsubscribed.
You concentrate on your family your beautiful wife and handsome boys and your health. If you’re ever in Ottawa Canada. Look me up
You do what is best for you and your family. You have done so much for so many people. May God bless you and your family. God’s speed.
Mike and Christie, I have followed you and your story for a long time, I admire your strength and your perseverance. I am so sorry that this has all happened. It amazes me how ugly so many people have become. I stopped watching YouTube once Aaron decided to blow everyone’s life up and starting his own cult. I wish you peace and happiness, you deserve that and so much more. You have helped so many people including a never in like me. Your book really showed me that it is never too late to start a new life. Love each other, love your boys , stay healthy and be happy ❤️.
Dear Mike, I will never forget the impact your and Leah’s show had on me and how much I learned. I would race home to catch the next episode and sit glued to the TV. I then went on to watch all of the YouTube videos made by all the exscientologists, read your books and listened to podcasts. All so well done. You are ALL excellent communicators. I’m sorry and saddened by everything that has happened and the division among your ranks. I understand how these things happen due to my own experiences as a staff member of a church. Please know I wish you ALL well. I thank you, Leah, the Headleys, and the others for your dedication to see that awful cult brought down and to help those wanting to leave. Please take care of your health and family. May God bless you all.
What can start as an excellent tool to amplify voices for change can be wielded ruthlessly and spread misinformation quickly—with incredible reach—and allow for so much reactionary pain. It’s so unfortunate to see the avoidable tsunami that can come from the throw of a well-intentioned pebble.
I am sorry for what you are going through and will miss your voice. It is one I turn to for inspiration and courage. Thank you for taking the time to lay it out there so that we understand and for continuing to be transparent and vulnerable. It is appreciated. Much love to you, Christie and the kids. Wishing you health and happiness xo
I am a proud never-in and self-declared SP, and from the outside looking in, it is clear what is going on here. I am so sorry you have to deal with this on top of everything else. I adore you and Christie, Mark and Claire, Amy and Mat, and of course, Leah, who led me to you. It’s so tough to see the broader group divided and turning against each other at the expense of the mission to expose the truth. Frankly, some have become unhinged. The effects of trauma are clear, and it’s hard to watch people spiraling down a dangerous path while others take advantage of it. I’m so glad to hear you are putting your family and yourself first, but I’m sad to know I’ll be seeing less of you. I hope you’ll pop up once in a while to let us know how you are doing. Be well and know that you have a lot of people supporting you, your family, and your commendable efforts.
Standing your ground is seldom, if ever easy. Well documented, must have been quite the emotional effort.
Honor, integrity and honesty are only for the brave. Cowards and liars know nothing of such things personally except their corruptional value and weaponization against others.
Keep alert, and best of luck Mike.
I have been fascinated by your journey going back to discovering those videos of you and Rathbun fishing. In no small part to your efforts, Scientology is broadly viewed today as a ridiculous fraud. Peace and love to you and your family
I just want to say that I so appreciate you and your family for all that you have done and will continue to do. You make a huge impact for good in the world! I will definitely miss you and wish the best for you and your family,
Thank you Barbara
I am so sorry and heartbroken about all that happened to you M. Rinder. It is unfair and undeserved. I hope you know how many people support you and admire your work. You are a living proof that people can admit they were mislead, change and make amend, and it is so important in our world where everything has to be black or white. I will miss watching your videos and hope in the future we can see you again. All the best to you and your family.
Mike-
Selfishly I will miss you and Christie and all the “old guard” gang. You, who have been fighting and absorbing the abuse and expense both actual and emotional that comes along with fighting those monsters for DECADES. You’ve done the work when the work was not popular, profitable, and sometimes outright dangerous.
However, as I have stated in my emails, and as a 3x cancer survivor myself, you really do need to remain vigilant about your health, and this toxicity cannot and will not be good for you long term. It effects you in ways that cannot be measured in hours or days- but months and years.
As a never in- I cannot even begin to imagine the hell you have all been through, however, universally I find that hurt people- hurt people. Your current attackers seem to be very willing to forget that you too were brought into this cult as a young person by a family member. Your role was different than many others, but you all served whatever role you were assigned and it seemingly changed wildly based on the whims of a raving lunatic. You’ve spent more than enough time taking the fight back to Scientology publicly – and my heart hurts for you and your family that most of the ugliness now comes from people who should understand more than most others-how these things came to pass . I’m immensely disappointed in many of the people who SHOULD know better, or should at least take the time to find out facts. There will always be outside, opportunistic people – especially on YouTube where money is the motivation- that will gladly spread half truths or flat out lies to promote and grow their audience.
The only good thing about hard times – is it exposes true colors and weak constitutions of those around us. If you don’t want to extend a hand when I’m at my lowest- please lose my number when I’m soaring!
You have a whole community (yes, community- not fan base, not followers, but community) behind you – cheering you on in whatever endeavors you take- be it fighting behind the scenes, fighting cancer, or just fighting traffic. Please take the time to relax and enjoy life and your beautiful family. Let the rest sort themselves out!
Love and respect to you and the family!
Lori
Lori, your care, compassion and support have meant a great deal to me. Thank you.
Mike, you cannot imagine how many times as I have read these comments, I’ve looked for the “like” button or heart emogii so I could say, “YES! This!”
SAME!!!
What a good observation: “hurt people – hurt people.” I realize I’ve seen this a lot. It makes it hard to be supportive and sympathetic when you have to duck the blows that aren’t really aimed at you.
On a lighter note whenever I hurt my younger cat’s feelings( by gently moving her from between me and the screen) the next thing she does is attack the other cat. I guess the response is a very basic one. “I hurt so I hurt you”
Mike, I wish you the best for your health and family. I’d love to help you with any legislative opportunities that may present themselves. I’ve worked in state legislatures on the legislative assisting side. I’d be happy to do talking points, an awareness sheet, whatever you may need if you decide to go an advocacy/lobby route politically at any time. Please reach out if there’s ever an interest. Sending my best.
I feel so badly for Mirriam and the unfathomable trauma she has lived and is still experiencing. With no law enforcement agency bringing “quick” justice for her, she must be at wit’s end — I don’t know how she is managing all of this on top of also being a single mother. My heart goes out to her… I hope her father will be prosecuted and that that will bring her some measure of peace.
At the same time as I genuinely feel for Mirriam, I also find you — and your post with respect to this matter — believable.
I notice the inconsistencies and half-truths being presented on popular SPTV channels. For me, it has gone from being informative and insightful about the abuses of Scientology, to being a kind of guilty form of entertainment watching folks demonstrating their understandable, yet unhealed, traumas…
My love & support to you and your family — as well as to Mirriam, to other ex-members, their followers and to all of us trying to find our own ways home.
Be well.
Thanks for this thoughtful comment
Great post, very detailed, and it makes perfect sense how this all went down.
I think you’re right to get off social media for a while. It’s basically in a frenzy right now with the protests, assaults, accusations etc and there really is no winning for you. Aaron’s antics are part of it, but it’s also a bigger movement than just him, stemming from viral Tiktok videos. Lots of newcomers are jumping in and getting involved and stirring up drama. I doubt it will be like this a year from now, it’s simply not sustainable…
Hi Mike (wish I had a nickname like you have for your friends, like Lea-Lea and ClaireBear!)
Through Mirriam’s video, it is clear that she is angry, distraught, and wants some control over a near life-long trauma of which she had zero control. I do not blame her for feeling suspicious and confused about the affidavit being missing, though we know now it wasn’t ever seen in writing. I do, however, feel that her anger is misdirected at you. I feel so sad that she had to endure that as a child and that the cult was complicit. I also feel profoundly sad that you have been attacked for actions that you may or may not have been on the periphery of decades ago. Thank you for explaining that you did not have any prior knowledge of the cover-up. It does feel like you were being set up to be trapped. My love and sympathy to you also, for “losing” your eldest son and daughter to this cult. I am sure that is painful and traumatic to deal with as well. None of you have been immune to the pain the COS has inflicted.
Warm wishes to you and your family; to the Headleys, ASL, the SP’s, and to Mirriam. You have my support from afar.
Mike,
I don’t have the words to tell you how sorry I am that you are going through this. Please just don’t doubt the impact you have made on so many people. You have genuinely helped so many. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your life with us both in your book media and social media. You deserve so much better.
Well said. Thank you for giving all of the details and timeline. Thank you for all you do. You do and always will have my support.
Thank you Katherine. We will continue to do the work…
Mike,
After working with and around you for 15 years inside Scientology’s Sea Org and what our respective posts were, you and I were probably the most unlikely of folks to join forces to expose Scientology. I am so glad it worked out that way.
Having our kids grow up as “cousins” and spending so much time together, laughing and crying over what we have been through, was the only way we could have navigated this world. Channeling those experiences into doing the work we do today has resulted in countless people getting out of bad situations and starting new lives. You did that. Christie did that. We did that. This work and these results will have lasting effects for years to come.
It is sad that David Miscavige’s favorite activity in life, Hatesport, is also so popular on Social Media. I know you will continue to do good work no matter where or how.
You know that we have your back no matter what.
TONS OF LOVE,
Marc
Thank you Marc. The Headleys are our family of choice for a reason – or actually many reasons. Thanks always for your unbreakable friendship and support-you and Claire and the boys are the best. And we will continue our work together…
Thank you Marc. Your message brought me to tears. My love for you and your family is infinite. I don’t know where we’d be without your support. – Christie
Marc and Mike. I enjoyed watching all you guys on YouTube. SPTV has changed drastically over the months and sadly the ones I enjoyed the most like you, Mike, Claire, Christy, Mat and Amy aren’t doing much content these days. And this is understandable with all the drama you are living within this community today. You all have been victims of the cult and were following the doctrines and beliefs that you all were raised in. The craziness in the cult was the norm for you all. I would think that ex scientoligists would embrace this concept and refrain from in house fighting amongst others battling a common cause. By the grace of God some of you that escaped and chose to expose and help others do the same. I have the utmost respect for you all… Mike Rinder, focus on your health and family sir. Please tell Amy and Mat we wish them well and miss their cuteness. 😃
Mike, you have been a stalwart for so many years and have honestly exposed what you know about the cult, its leaders and how the whole thing works (or doesn’t work). I am so sorry that you have unintentionally and undeservedly been hit with this mess, particularly at a time when your immunity is low. I agree with what others above have said — look after yourself, it will blow over eventually, etc — but you should not have to deal with this kind of attack from anyone, never mind our people (free-thinking exes). For what it’s worth, my observation is that Scn/SO is particularly demented regarding anything to do with the “second dynamic”. For one thing, it’s the only dynamic a person can be “out” on — ever heard of anyone being “out 1D”? Or “out 5D”? As its creator was, so is his creation — and in my opinion Scn/SO is as crazy and aberrant on the “second dynamic” as its inventor was. This means is that if something has any relation to the “second dynamic”, in the Scn/SO world it will be ramped up and rage mined (excellent phrase!) to the max. It is hugely unfair that you have to be the target. Hang on, and trust yourself and your friends.
Mike, I wish for you and your family every joy you deserve. I will continue to hold all of you in prayer. Take care of yourself and your beautiful family.
Big Hugs!
Thank you Peggy!
Thank you Mike for all you have done over the years to bring the truth out, even at great cost to you and your family. I am so sorry that people find it ok to display this kind of hatred towards you with the absolutely ugly things they say. I don’t blame you for stepping away from social media. Perhaps we all should!
I hope you continue to get well. Know that you are loved and in our thoughts.
Thank you Kelly
Thank you for everything Mike. Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do.
Mike, I am so happy to read your blog today and ur extremely well written and clear to follow side of these hateful and hurtful things being said about u. Iam glad u spoke out and spoke up for yourself in the classiest way only u can do. Just be never been in Scientology but have followed u since the moment I learned of u threw Leah. I absolutely love both of u. I read ur wonderful book or I should say listened to it because I wanted to hear u tell ur story. I swear u could read me the phone book and I would listen. Ur voice and ur presence I find to be so soothing, warm, intelligent and caring. I understand a million percent ur need to remove yourself from such a toxic environment but I do hope u continue to do podcasts or videos with Leah. It makes me sad to think of not being able to hear u explain all the evils of Scientology. I feel u are the most knowledgeable person out there on the topic in all areas.
I’ve seen the videos and the hatefulness and blame being directed at u and it broke my heart. I consider myself pretty good at reading ppl and no matter what I as said I just didn’t buy it. I was actually shouting at my screen during Miriam’s interview because all I could think was how is everyone a victim of this cult and excuses there own behavior while in but yet act like anything u may have done is just who u are! I was yelling “ He is a Victim!” Same as everyone else. And u can’t convince me that if ANY on of these ppl could have had ur position in OSA that they wouldn’t have jumped at it! AND, done every last thing u were ever told to do! So hypocritical. Iam not suggesting that u ever covered sa crimes by any means, but if u had to cover anything horrific in any of ur job capacities U ARE STILL A VICTIM! Anyone who can’t see the burdens u have carried and all mends u try and do on a regular basis is an idiot. My heart hurts for u more than a lot of others because of what u have to live with. How r u suddenly responsible for everyone else’s brainwashing, bad parents, ignorance and there bad behavior? It’s ridiculous. You have done everything u could do to make amends for anything that might weigh on u from ur years in that cult. Iam sry for my rant but it really upsets me. I don’t like mean ppl who bully and blame others for there lives that u have no part of.
Please remember that there r millions of ppl who love u, admire you and want nothing but happiness and love for u. Continue being u and doing whatever ur heart desires in Whatever capacity u choose. Don’t ever give ur power away. U have and still are making a difference in ppls lives. I wish Christy and ur son all the love and happiness too.
I hope after ur break from the crazy and when ur healthy and feeling fantastic we see u or hear u in some capacity. U will be missed more than u know. I am so sry this happened to u. It’s not fair and Its not right.
Love and Hugs to u Mike. Ur a great man with a beautiful heart. Go have some fun.
Always,
Amy
I have admired what you and your family have done for all of us. Through your honesty, compassion and grace you’ve given your audiences peace and greater certainty.
I think the world of you.
Hugs,
Rheva
P.S Not to make light of what you’ve written, but I must admit that I am utterly devastated to learn that you are not perfect!
Hi Rheva… I know, it’s a shock that I’m not perfect. Love to you
It breaks my heart that you are stepping back from social media. You are a powerful voice against Scientology. Thank you for the tireless work to end the abuses and to hold this evil cult accountable. But I am also angry about the smears and lies against you. I keep reminding myself that most of these individuals are damaged by and victims of the cult too. And am praying your explanation puts an end to the drama. Best wishes to you and your family. Thank you
Thank you Andrea
Perfectly stated. Thank you for all you have done to expose Scientology and for all you will continue to do. The good fight is never easy and comes with pit falls, betrayals, twist & turns you could never expect but your determination, courage and strength is unmatched. Family first always – it’s proves your character and deep devotion to your wife and children. Much love & respect Mike Rinder. Wishing you the very best!
Thanks so much
Hi mate. Sorry that you’ve been targeted by the trolls to the point of it affecting your family the way it has. Reminds me of the wars that erupted on ESMB back in the day where OSA undoubtedly got in the ear of some of the various denizens there and flame wars erupted that led to several of the best activists retiring for their own mental health’s sake. Toxic kult creates a toxic environment for all who have anything to do with it, for or against. And seems like a lot of the lies spread then about you when you first escaped are still being believed by the easily deluded. I’ve been there and copped just a little of what you’ve experienced and your bravery and integrity warms my heart. I’m glad you’re taking time out for the sake of your nearest and dearest.
Please always remember that you are the most important person you need to protect as it’s you happy and healthy that your family and friends need. And it’s never people that let you down, it’s your expectations of them when you’ve over-estimated them somehow. You’re a good bloke.
Scooter. Thanks so much mate. Toxic Kult creates a toxic environment is a wonderful summation…
Mike, I appreciate your thorough and incredibly thoughtful response to all the noise. Thank you for all you do – take care of yourself and your family!
Thank you for all that you have done and do each day. Take care of your health and family. (And now you’ll have more time to watch that horrible EPL team you support. 😉 I keed).
Good luck in all that comes your way.
All that has happened ti you is just awful. You have done so much to help others and it shows. Taking a step back from socia media and focusing of you and your beautiful families health is the most important thing. Myself and many others are sending our love and support to you.
Thank you
Beautifully written and addressed.
Few people have done the sheer quantity of actions to undress and dismantle the cult.
You have always been my friend…right through the Marty days and when I was prime
target of cult vicious campaigns.
I will never forget the 1+ hour phone calls when I first came out, the support was over and beyond.
10 years ago I made this video.
Every word I said stands true today.
Much love and support and positive energy.
My friend Ex- Scientology Spokesman Mike Rinder and wondrous CULT whistleblower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2H1RrMLMTo
Thank you Karen. You are a very dear and loyal friend. We have walked many miles down this road arm in arm…
Mike, I don’t know how to reply on your blog so I just hit this reply. But I am Sky Madison from Twitter good friend of Stefani and I wanted you to know that I am behind you 100%. Also I have every show of the aftermath I bought it all so if you need any copies, let me know.
I’m so sorry you’re going through this.
Unfortunately, it seems many people who were raised in Scientology default to Scientology tactics when emotions are running high.
Thank you for this well- written and informative post. I will forever support and respect you for your work to bring down Scientology, but mostly for protecting your family. I hope to see/hear much more from you on other platforms. Much love and blessings always.
You will…
I have always stood with you Mike and I do so now, quite happily and proudly. It is very sad what has transpired over the past year due to bad actors in this space and the toll that has taken on so many of us just trying to help. No good deed goes unpunished, and all that, but the fact is that your good work stands the test of time and stands up strongly against the nonsensical accusations being thrown about, mostly by individuals who have no idea what they are talking about in the first place. It’s been a rough ride lately but I’m so glad to see you rising above it and moving on. I wish you and your family nothing but the very best.
Thank you so much Chris. You have helped Leah and me many times, in fact every time we have ever asked you. Keep your strength. Keep doing the work. Your shoulder at the wheel is needed
Whatever side Chris Shelton is on…. I know that’s the right side to be on. Seems you are one of the few voices of reason these days.
Solidarity with Mike.
“Whatever side Chris Shelton is on…. I know that’s the right side to be on. Seems you are one of the few voices of reason these days.
Solidarity with Mike.”
Agreed!
As a sufferer of Cancer I realise that you and your family need support and care. I have followed your journey for many years, and am utterly aware that you have always worked with law enforcement and the FBI to ensure that the wrongdoings of the church are investigated thoroughly. You should take time away from social media, and I realise that Cancer has a physical and emotional impact. It is a life changing experience! Keep up the stellar work you do…
Thanks for your kind words
Mike, your and Christie’s bravery and perseverance through the years, despite the despicable tactics of scientology, is beyond commendable. There probably isn’t a day that goes by that a thought of gratitude for your friendship doesn’t goes through my mind, and for all your efforts that have helped me and so many others recover from the devastating impact of our decades of being in the cult. Thanks so much for taking the time to so articulately and thoroughly lay out the facts to provide clarity midst the cacophony. I love you both and wish you and your family joy and peace every day forward!
Thank you Marti. We value your friendship and support enormously
Fortunately you nowadays are in a position to set your own priorities and not have them micro-dictated by someone else. Your words have been, are and will be more important than you probably realize.
Dear Mike & family, standing behind you with much fondness, appreciation for your work and support you fully but sure will miss seeing you around. Ev
Thanks so much Ev
Thanks for all your contributions and continued fight. I’m sorry for the betrayal you’ve once again experienced by someone or people you helped and trusted.
I knew the story was false and posted as such on Outer Banks FaceBook group as well as the Underground Bunker.
If you’re ever in Pittsburgh, dinner is on me or a Steelers or Pirates game.
Thank you Chad
Thank you, Mike! This is all very sad; It was obvious there was a lot of manipulation and half-truths involved in the recent drama. I like many others am beyond weary of ex-scientologist attacking others in their community. The rage mining those channels are doing will result in a raging community and lots of ugliness – nothing positive will result. I hope they all take a moment to acknowledge you “have the receipts” as they are so fond of saying (but I doubt they will – communal anger is too much fun).
Please focus on your family and health – you have done enough fighting.
We will all remain fans even if we don’t get to see you as often as we like.
Love to you and yours!
Thank you Kathy. I had not heard the term “rage mining” before — very apt
Said beautifully Kathy.
100% agree with your comment, Kathy.
Take care of yourselves, Mike & Christi. Look forward to when you’re ready to return when you’re ready.
Much respect!
Everything you have done in the fight against Scientology the last 15 years has been nothing short of amazing. No one can ever dispute that. You have total respect and admiration from many, many people. You can be proud of all your efforts and know you have our thanks. Focus on yourself and your family. We will always have your back.
Thank you for your kind words
So very sorry y’all are going through this mess. Thank you for this blog post. Continued prayers for you and your family.
hi mike. i already knew this intuitively about you. i never doubted you or your intentions! you have done so much to fight scn abuses i can’t believe anyone would overlook that. youtube can and has gotten out of control. i bet there’s 1 or 2 plants plugging their version to attack you. the others are as you said misguided then they believe comments then they expand on hearsay BS. we love you and Christie and Marc and Claire and believe it or not Aaron too. the others are rather incidental to this group but have spread a wave of dark accusations and innuendos. my heart goes out to you guys. i cannot imagine what this is like for y’all. so very hurtful! i know you are strong like bull. i hope you guys can just focus on the outpouring of love we all have for you guys. hugs and blessings to all of you.
Thank you so much Rosemarie. You and Dave are cherished friends!
Mike, 1st thing – what a well written article. As I read along I was struck by how “well said” everything was expressed. (A great big hat tip to you, Sir.)
2nd thing – you have my condolences. The evil $ci. will be rejoicing that your voice has been quieted if not silenced.
Take care of your family and get back to us when you can or feel the time is right.
Thanks Philip. Hope they think I’ve gone away entirely so I can get more done!!
Excellent response, and not really required. I have believed that this has been an effort to destroy you and the Headleys since Aaron’s dismissal. You are correct that Youtubers want clicks and likes and don’t care who they destroy in their path. I was surprised with Mike Brown jumping on the band wagon, very disappointing. Social media is judge and jury without facts. You are right to not put yourself and family through this. You will be missed but your best work to destroy Scientology is not on YouTube, great for good content but not worth what you are going through. Keep up what you do so well behind the seens, let all the second gens use these platforms to continue spreading half truths. Good luck and hope to hear from you again. This might make a good second book which I would buy. I hope you go back to your podcasts down the road, I think the listeners are more mature and intelligent. Good Luck
Thanks so much. Yes, the podcast is a very different audience. I hope to continue with the Exposing Scientology podcast
I hope you do continue! I am a longtime Bunker reader and have only recently learned of the stupidity clamoring around the internet about this. It makes me really mad. I feel badly for Mirriam who has been caught in this, and for you and your family. This is so unfortunate on so many levels.
Mike, I am so sorry that you and your beautiful family are copping so much hate over this. You are doing the right thing.
Nepean Police are in my area – well done Det. McGarry on his assistance!
I haven’t commented once way or the other. Not only is it not any of my business but I detest all the crap that has come out of YouTube over all this.
Stay safe, mate. Hope to hear from you again soon.
Big love from Penrith NSW Australia 🇦🇺
If and when you do go back to the podcast, I’ll definitely be listening.
I’ve read and listened to all sides and I believe you. The ‘community’ has become a cesspit, particularly over the past year. Taking a step back from it for a while would be advisable for anyone.
Thanks for your understanding
All the very best to you and your family Mike. I am saddened by this decision as I so appreciated your contributions on u-tube. I completely understand why you have made this decision. I never doubted that you were innocent of the quite horrendous accusations levelled against you by other u-tubers who used to call you friend. I have posted comments in your defence, some of which were deleted. I decided to withdraw from the drama and unsubscribed from those who in my opinion were on a witch hunt. I wish you and you family love and peace. I hope you and Leah restart your podcast again as I miss it.
All the very best Mike,
Cathy (catbaloo)
I became interested in uncovering Scientology’s abuses when I watched Scientology and the Afteemath years ago. I am a never-in, but I am a medical professional and have been the primary care provider for patients who have survived abuses in other cults.
I have been so disheartened by the tension and division in the ex-Scientologist community, particularly the online attacks I have seen towards you and the Headleys. I do try to avoid the comments section for this reason. The internet can be a vast wasteland of idiocracy.
In my opinion, stepping away from social media is the best thing you can do, for the sake of your family and your physical and emotional health. I have no doubt you will continue doing the work behind the scenes, most of which we as viewers, only see a fraction of.
Thank you for fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves. Thank you for inspiring us to do better. And I am so sorry that these events unfolded.
Family and health are the most important aspects of life. Sending healing vibes to all.
Thanks Doc. Words of wisdom.
First, take care of YOURSELF. As indispensable as you are to the cause, trying to stay above the ocean of toxic garbage (whether misguided or intentional), is sometimes more effort than it’s worth. Poison pens are for rent everywhere, and you know better than most, how much energy belligerent zealots have. There is no reasoning with the unreasonable.
Your family needs you and cannot replace you. They come first. I’ll miss the sound of your voice, but nothing could be better than knowing you are safe, doing what needs to be done, without having to put out another dumpster fire every other month.
Thank you Maria. Your constant, vocal support has and always will be greatly appreciated
I’m so sorry, Mike. This is a lot to have to go through, but hopefully you and yours can find some peace.
We will be fine. What we’ve been through makes us strong and this will make us stronger dtill
I will miss your voice greatly 🙁
Get the audiobook – not his smiling face, but you can get your fill of that amazing accent 😜 🫶🏻
Dearest Mike, Christie and family,
I myself was greatly affected by the recent toxicity in the SPTV community and I cannot imagine the level that you all must have experienced. I am so so sorry to hear this. Mike, I am forever thankful for all that you and your family have done. Your endless efforts to help others, as you try to make the world a better place without scientology abuses is admirable. I am so proud.
Hugs and Love,
Lorna
Thank you Lorna.
It will all blow over, it always does.
Take care of yourself and just pop in every so often and let us know you’re OK.
❤️
Mike – I think you SHOULD stay on socials .. you are wealth of knowledge and people learn from you and you help more then you know.. I understand where you are coming from but don’t let them drive you out .. Keep up the good fight and many prayers and blessings for the Rinders.
Thank you. I will keep working but at this point I know I don’t want to devote any brainpower of time to social media.
I can appreciate that.. check in with us every once in while ..
Oh, Mike. I’m in tears here. I don’t want you to go away, but I understand. There are just too many haters out there who need the drama. This in many cases ruins the overall picture. I love you, Mr. Rinder. You have a huge ❤️! Thank you 😊!
I’m not going to be too far away
You mean the WORLD to this movement. Everyone who speaks is important. OG’s are just as relevant as the bright young protesters. I am hoping to see ya’ll soon 🙏 ❤️. Please take care of yourself! Love to everyone 💕!
Jamie Mustard is selling dangerous pseudoscience and probably profiting greatly from ex-Scientologists. As you well know, dear reader – that’s called a confidence trick. Jamie Mustard is scamming former Scientologists.
I asked my neuro and psych teams at The Mayo Clinic and they were practically tripping over themselves to shut it down. Scary.
Yes, and I thought it was VERY telling that the torch and pitchfork brigade never brought him up once, and once again it seemed a series of dog whistles being blown for the benefit of an audience I suspect has been primed.
Wow – really valuable information here, thank you! I had no idea.
I think it will backfire on them. karma.
Mike, much love to you and your family.
Bill Ketchup though is the guy you really need to be concerned about. Too much sweet talk …
Family first, Mike. Stepping back from online engagement is something that will bring you more peace. There are too many voices, some caught up in a frenzy and making suppositions sound like fact. I wish you well.
Thank you Kelly
I’m so sorry for everything that has happed to you and your family in the past few months. You have saved so many peoples lives from Scientology. I am sending so much love and support to you and your family Mike.
Appreciate that!
When I had lost my son, my husband, had no support and was in my darkest hour, there was Mike Rinder.
There was no Aftermath Foundation or members of You Tube to reach out to for help or love or guidance.
I had a long distant friend who would call me every day to make sure I didn’t have a nervous breakdown and locally I had Mike Rinder even though we had never met, he provided much needed kindness and guidance.
This nonsense with YouTubers has gotten way out of control. It’s a strange world.
I’m glad you’re stepping back from social media. I love and support you, your wife and family.
May you be able to continue defeating the church of scientology and its abuses with no further distractions.
I wish you and your family Peace.
Thank you Mary. And you have returned the kindness and support. We love you.
Mike…you must do what is best for your health and family. I have loved following everyone even when they had differing views. There is no denying your contribution to this effort and have no doubts of your intentions. You keep doing what you are doing even if behind the scenes and know we are here for you and the others. Many well wishes to you in the future.
I will continue….
Amen! We love ❤️ Mike Rinder ☺️!
You said your peace very well Mike. Time for everyone to draw a line under it and move forward, together or apart, and continue with the fight against the multi billion dollar cult of scientology. Best Wishes x
Hear, hear!
Very well said Mike. Scientology seems to be like a mind virus and has infected many of those who came in contact. Some recover and some continue to be spreaders. Or maybe it is just human nature, either way I applaud your decision. You have earned a break.
And don’t forget …… we have your vacation ‘rental’ ready and waiting with rooms for you, Christie and the kids! Don’t be a stranger.
Thank you my friend. We will be out to visit you guys sometime soon I hope.
I am so sorry Mike. Thanks for clearing things up.
Your family and your health must come first. Will miss hearing your voice. Hope you return soon.
Such a shame that all this has happened to you all.
Keep your chin up.
Will be thinking of you all.
Thanks so much. I will continue the work, but just not on social media
Thank you and I wish you all the best.
Thank you so much
Mike
I’m so sorry for what people have done to you and your family I hope you are able to heal and find peace the work you do is so important both with the AF and Child USA hold your family close and continue the good fight many out here support you in all you do
I appreciate this
Mike
You never needed to defend yourself towards those who have supported and respected your work ever since you escaped. Its a downright shame how some have lost focus of the true cause and jumped on a bandwagon full steam ahead, with no regards to critical thinking.
Please know that people out there still and will always have your back, more than you realize. Please keep exposing this horrible cult. I myself can’t put into words how deeply I respect you, Marc, Claire, Christie, Amy. You guys are heroes for all you do.
Thanks so much
Mike, I am so sorry for everything you have been through when all you have done is trying to help people leaving a vile and vicious cult. I cannot imagine the effect all of this would have had on you and your loved ones. People are cruel. I hope Miriam finds some peace as she is obviously a very troubled woman and i hope Alex the rabbit offers you the apology you deserve. Its time to focus on yourself, and your family now. Wishing you all the best.
Appreciate your comment
I stand with you Mike Rinder. Don’t let it get you down. Damaged people act out in many ways. Thank you for all you do. Don’t lose heart. Hug your family and take one day at a time
I will carry on in my own way
I’m sure you will.
I’m feeling sad and angry (with the trolls and opportunists) for what you and your family have gone through. And I’m feeling grateful to you for all you’ve done and will continue to do.
Yes Jodi. With or without the mental trauma that scientology inflicts on individuals there is a deep layer of corruption that sometimes surfaces and there is really nothing that can be done about it, except the individual being willing to look inward on their own.
Mike has gone the extra mile (IMO) and has a clear conscious on this matter. Stay strong Mike !