When Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise divorced after 11 years, their children Isabella and Connor were barely older than Suri is now — just 8 and 6 at the time. According to Vanity Fair's new investigative cover story, the Church of Scientology reportedly used the kids' ages to their advantage to turn the kids against their mother after their parents' split.
"The central problem [in the marriage] was Nicole did not want to deal with Scientology," former high-ranking Scientologist Marty Rathbun claims in the story.
After Kidman left both Cruise and the Church, she was labeled an "S.P." — Suppressive Person (a spiritually toxic person to be avoided at all costs). By Scientology standards, this is worse than being a nonbeliever, so members of the Church were directed to instill this idea to the kids, who were living in Cruise's primary care, sources claimed to Vanity Fair.
"They rejected Nicole — they've been instructed," says John Brousseau, another former Scientologist who was also the bodyguard and brother-in-law of Church leader David Miscavige.
Bella and Connor, who were both attended to and homeschooled by members of the Church on Cruise's staff, allegedly accompanied Cruise to his auditing sessions and were taught how to detect and avoid an S.P., the sources explained.
