Mike Rinder, a former senior chief of the Church of Scientology who later started publicly criticizing the controversial spiritual group with a weblog, podcast and docuseries starring former member Leah Remini, has died. He was 69 years outdated.
The Emmy winner posted the information of his impending loss of life on his private weblog on Sunday, asserting that the missive – titled “Goodbye” – could be the final submit on his web site.
“I shed this mortal coil in response to the immutable regulation that there are solely two certainties in life: loss of life and taxes,” he mentioned. message he mentioned, including: “Rest in peace.”
“My solely actual remorse is that I did not get what I mentioned I wished: to finish the abuses of Scientology, particularly the disconnection, and to see (my son) Jack turn into an grownup,” the whistleblower wrote. “If you’re in any manner combating to finish this abuse, proceed to carry the flag excessive, by no means surrender.”
THE Tampa Bay Times reported that Rinder died Sunday in Palm Harbor, Florida, of esophageal most cancers.
Rinder — who appeared within the bombshell 2015 documentary “Going Clear” and produced and appeared within the subsequent A&E docuseries “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” — mentioned his web site will stay lively as an archive with greater than 4,000 submit. He described the location as “a labor of affection and keenness that allowed me to specific my opinion and provide my perspective with out exterior filters.”
“I used to be fortunate: dwelling two lives in a single life. Second 12 months is probably the most great 12 months anybody may ask for with all of you and my new household!” he added.
In a cross-post on Rinder’s Instagram web page, his spouse Christie confirmed his loss of life.
“I converse for therefore many after I say that the unhappiness and ache we really feel displays the depth of our unwavering love for you,” he mentioned. he wrote. “Your braveness, braveness and integrity are unmatched and can encourage us without end. You have been the pillar of stability in our lives, filling our days together with your power, knowledge, love, laughter and devotion. The world will bear in mind you. My greatest good friend, my hero, my love, Michael John Rinder.
Journalist Tony Ortega, who has lengthy coated Scientology, introduced in a June 2023 submit on his Underground Bunker weblog that Rinder had advanced esophageal cancer.
“Mike Rinder despatched us an e-mail right now, letting us know that he has freed himself from this mortal coil,” Ortega tweeted Sunday. “It was so like him, considerate till the tip. We are simply coming to phrases with this information.
Remini posted about Rinder’s go to to Florida in December amid his battle with most cancers and praised the neighborhood that rallied to look after him and his household throughout his ultimate days. The “King of Queens” star has not but posted publicly about Rinder’s loss of life, and his consultant didn’t instantly reply Monday to The Times’ request for remark.
Rinder was born on April 19, 1955 in Adelaide, Australia. He was raised as a Scientologist after his dad and mom joined the group when he was about 6 years outdated. He mentioned he “lastly escaped the group” in 2007, when he was 52, talking publicly towards it in an investigative collection for the St. Petersburg Times in 2009.
As a baby, he twice traveled along with his household from Australia to England within the Sixties to go to the house of science fiction author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. His dad and mom took superior Scientology programs and auditing – or counseling – and he joined the Sea Organization at a senior degree when he graduated from highschool in April 1973.
“This is the devoted core of Scientology, Sea Org members signal a billion-year pledge to hold out the targets of Scientology and stay communally with different Sea Org members, basically exterior the skin world,” Rinder mentioned on its web site.
He mentioned that as an grownup he first met Hubbard, a god-like determine within the group, in October 1973 aboard the Apollo ship. He remained within the Sea Org till 2007, marrying and having two kids born within the Sea Org branches in Clearwater, Florida, and Hemet.
The “A Billion Years” creator mentioned he and his first spouse, Cathy, divorced after he left the church and his mom, daughter Taryn and son Benjamin “disconnected” from him, alongside along with his brother, his sister and their relations.
The former member accused the Sea Org of selling a tradition of “violence and abuse that has turn into endemic” below the management of Hubbard’s successor David Miscavige, who took over upon Hubbard’s loss of life in 1986.
“Whereas Hubbard had been unpredictable, at instances merciless and harsh and at different instances humorous and compassionate, Miscavige was completely merciless and harsh. He had seized energy and held it ruthlessly,” Rinder wrote on his web site.
During the Nineteen Eighties, Rinder turned govt director of the Office of Special Affairs and the group’s public consultant. He dealt with media and public relations and claimed to have overseen many controversies for and towards the church, coping with Scientology’s “so-called enemies” and directing their “destruction.” During that interval, he mentioned, the church coordinated smear and intimidation campaigns towards journalists, former members and critics of Scientology.
More lately, Rinder was the Times’ supply for tales in regards to the high-profile trials of actor Danny Masterson and director Paul Haggis, each of whom have been affiliated with the church. The church Rinder publicly denounced AND Rememberwho testified on behalf of former member Haggis, and mentioned they “haven’t any credibility” and make up lies in regards to the church for cash. The group additionally campaigned to cut back Rinder’s credibility and mentioned he was faraway from the church “in utter shame” by its ecclesiastical chief, “stripped of all authority and in the end expelled for critical wrongdoing”.
Church representatives didn’t instantly reply to The Times’ request for touch upon Monday.
Rinder is survived by his second spouse, Christie, son Jack, and Christie’s son, Shane. In lieu of flowers, she requested that contributions be from Jack university fund.
“Let the flowers develop and look to the longer term,” Rinder wrote on his web site.
