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Arts & Entertainment

Katie Holmes Has Nasty Lawyers, Worries About Scientology's Hold On Suri

2012_06_katieholmestom.jpg
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes at this year's Vanity Fair Oscars party (Phil Stafford / Shutterstock.com)

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For his 50th birthday, Tom Cruise flew back in Los Angeles—he had been filming his new film Oblivion in Iceland—yesterday. It's believed that he's meeting with lawyers to discuss the divorce filing wife Katie Holmes surprised him with last week... and apparently Holmes refused Cruise's plea to meet with him in Iceland for reconciliation.

According to US Weekly, Cruise had been planning a surprise birthday party for himself in Iceland, but the divorce situation put the kibosh on that: "'He begged her to come to Iceland for one last try at reconciliation,' the insider says. Holmes -- secretly plotting to file for divorce and move into her own rented NYC apartment -- refused, and the pair had a 'huge fight,' the source explains. Although Cruise was aware that things were tense and severely estranged with Holmes, 'he was confident he could talk her out of it and keep her with him,' the source says."

Holmes has claimed "irreconocible differences" and asked for division of property and sole legal custody for their child Suri, 6, in the divorce, which was filed in New York, a state that more typically grants sole custody. While Holmes, raised as a Catholic, studied Cruise's Scientology prior to their marriage, reports suggest that she's now uncomfortable with the controversial religion. In particular, how they educate children and the possibility of Suri Cruise going to Sea Org, the "ultrazealous offshoot of Scientology." According to TMZ, Scientologist children undergo an auditing process:

The subject holds electrode handles on a device called an e-meter and is then asked a series of personal questions that help the Church locate "areas of spiritual distress." Some ex-Scientologists claim the questions include:

-- What has somebody told you not to tell?
-- Have you ever decided you did not like some member of your family?
-- Have you ever bullied a smaller child?
-- Have you ever lied to a teacher?
-- Have you ever done something you were very much ashamed of?
-- Have you ever refused to obey an order from someone you should obey?
-- Have you ever gotten yourself dirty on purpose?

TMZ adds, "Several ex-Scientologists have come out against "sec checking," claiming it's a mild form of psychological terrorism designed, in part, to get children to report on their parents." And former high-ranking Scientologist Matty Rathbun tells the Daily News, “The whole purpose for being a tutor for the kids is not education; it’s to get them on to be full-blown zealots at an early age. The thought process is to turn them into zealots."And Holmes'
lawyers appear ready to play hardball. The Daily Beast spoke to a woman whose ex-husband was represented one of Holmes' attorneys, Allan E. Mayefsky: "[Katie] needs cutthroat lawyers because Tom is really powerful. The dirtier the better, so I think she made a good choice. They are known for being ruthless, and they normally win. They beat the shit out of me. They make you out to be the biggest piece of trash there is. It took me a long time to get over it... [Katie] has really good, nasty, horrible lawyers and she should do really well. They must be having multiple orgasms knowing they have Katie Holmes. They love the press and publicity. It is big excitement for them."
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