Two weeks ago, in a YouTube video and an interview in the Voice, Jason Beghe denounced Scientology as a “rip-off” that “brainwashed” its members. A veteran actor of films and TV, Beghe recently left Scientology after 12 years in the controversial church, during which he estimates he spent a million dollars on classes and training in Scientology’s arcane practices.

Beghe went public with his newest offensive against the church last night by posting online a letter addressed to Scientology leader David Miscavige. In the letter, Beghe demands that Miscavige return his confidential confessional files—dossiers compiled during his therapy, which, Beghe says, are also kept on Tom Cruise and other celebrity Scientologists.

“I want my folders back. There’s no reason for Scientology to maintain them. I paid a million dollars for that shit,” Beghe tells the Voice.

Followers of L. Ron Hubbard believe that they can develop superhuman abilities through a process called “auditing,” which includes discussing past disappointments and bad behavior while holding the sensors of an “e-meter,” a machine that measures electric current in the skin. What a parishioner admits to during auditing then becomes material that is recorded in folders as they progress through Scientology’s many levels, including beginners who are “pre-clear” or “pc,” and more advanced believers who seek to become “operating thetans” or “OT.” Such sessions cost Beghe as much as $1,000 an hour.

In the letter, Beghe demands his “pc, pre-OT and ethics folders” as well as any videotapes of his years of therapy. Beghe says that he’s not concerned about the material that was recorded in his files or what Scientology might do with them, but in part he wants to make a point about the church continuing to hold onto privileged information.

“More people have left Scientology than are currently in it. And yet they maintain these files about what people have said to them in private sessions. Why would you want these people to hold onto this stuff?” says Beghe, who appeared in films such as Monkey Shines, G.I. Jane, and Thelma & Louise and TV shows such as Melrose Place, Picket Fences, and Everwood. “I can tell you with certainty that I’m never going back into Scientology. So I’ll never need their help again.”

He adds that he specifically referred to video recordings in his letter because he believes that celebrities are widely taped without their knowledge in what are supposed to be private, confessional therapy sessions. And he says he has reason to believe that famous Scientologist Tom Cruise, in particular, was taped without his knowledge.

About three years ago, Beghe says, he went through a special series of sessions in Scientology’s “Celebrity Centre” in Los Angeles with Marty Rathbun, who was formerly one of the top officials in the church.

“Marty was in town because he was auditing Tom Cruise. They had set up in a special room at CC.” Beghe says he was told that Cruise had requested that nothing be taped. “However, a friend of mine claims to have designed the system that was used to put a hidden camera in an overhead light in the room, so it was recorded. And I know, because the only people who used that room—I would go in, then Tom would go in, then I would go in. It was just the two of us.”

Because of such tactics by the church, Beghe says, he wants them to release what material they have.

“It’s like writing a diary. Wouldn’t you want that? I just want my shit. Maybe it would be interesting for me to look at. I don’t understand what their claim to it is.” Continue