Inside Scientology - Janet Reitman [175]
Tanja, meanwhile, remained at Int, where she faced daily pressure to divorce her husband. Steadfastly she refused, even after it was made clear to her that Stefan might never return to Int, which, after all, was a privileged post. An edict prevented Sea Org members from being married to staffers on other compounds, Tanja knew; to stay with Stefan she'd have to give up her job, and her life, at Int. From Shelly Miscavige on down the ranks, the RTC women reminded Tanja that she had the best job in Scientology, working for "the most ethical person on the planet," Miscavige. How could there even be a contest? Finally, after months of coercion, she agreed to initiate divorce proceedings.
Shortly afterward, in February 2002, Stefan completed the rehabilitation program laid out for him by his auditor. Aware that his wife had filed divorce papers, he submitted a request to begin the process of reacceptance into the Sea Organization. If he could just return to the base before the final papers were signed, he thought, he might still have a chance to save his marriage.
But the RPF refused to let him go. Another year passed. Stefan remained imprisoned. Every day his auditor worked on him: why was he still so in love with his wife? "It was like this Machiavellian thing had been unleashed against me—I didn't know who was doing this to me, or why," he said. "All I knew was that somebody really wanted to make sure that I got divorced."
More months went by. His auditor told him that Tanja had signed divorce papers. Stefan began to understand that he would never leave the RPF unless he agreed to let go of Tanja completely. "And so I let go," he admitted to me.
Accordingly, he forced himself to stop talking about Tanja. He told himself to stop thinking about her. He agreed not to write or in any other way try to communicate with Tanja. He pledged himself to serve the Church of Scientology in whatever way it asked. Finally, in June 2003, Stefan "graduated" from the RPF, a broken man. He emerged from the Cedars of Lebanon building as cleansed as Winston Smith, in the book 1984. "I felt just like him," he said. "Everything's great, the organization is great, the propaganda is great, the technology is great, it's all wonderful. I'm divorced."
Less than twenty-four hours after Stefan got off the RPF, Tanja's mother, who worked at the PAC Base, approached him and gave him a cell phone. Soon Stefan received a call. "I still love you," Tanja whispered into the phone. She'd never signed divorce papers. They were still married.
For all the years that they had been separated, and in spite of all the pressure she'd endured, Tanja had never let go of Stefan. By the summer of 2003, she'd even begun wearing her wedding ring again. "It was my little statement," she said. "I didn't care what anyone said; the only thing that mattered was what was between him and me."
To understand just how dramatic this quiet act of defiance was, consider that during her thirteen years of working for Miscavige, Tanja had never voiced an opinion about anything that happened on the base, from her husband's banishment to Miscavige's increasingly brutal behavior, let alone express opposition to any of them.
Certain officials and inner-circle members like Tanja report that in addition to routine tongue-lashings, Miscavige from time to time physically attacked executives who angered him.* One frequent target was Mike Rinder, his unflappable Australian deputy and the head of the OSA, whose job was to manage lawsuits and do damage control. One time, Miscavige, furious over the negative press coverage of the Lisa McPherson case, called the OSA chief to his villa; then,