Scientologist claims she was held prisoner on measles ship for 10 YEARS after signing contract swearing loyalty to Church ‘for a billion years’
Valeska Paris claims she was barred from leaving the church's 'religious retreat' cruise ship Freewinds
AN EX-Scientologist claims she was held prisoner on a measles ship for 10 YEARS after signing a contract promising loyalty to the secretive church “for a billion years”.
Australian Valeska Paris spoke out after being “imprisoned” on its cruise ship Freewinds, when aged just 18.
She claims she was forced to do hard labour in the engine room, where she recalled it was “hot, extremely loud and smelly.
“I was sent down there at first for 48 hours straight on almost no sleep. I was not allowed to work by myself.”
Those on board the cruise ship take part in Scientology’s highest level counselling course, “Operating Thetan Level VIII”.
According to the church’s website, this level “is the most significant spiritual accomplishment of [a follower's] lifetime and brings with it the full realisation of his immortality”.
It says that ‘Operating’ means “able to act and handle things”, while ‘Thetan’ alludes to “the spiritual being that is the basic self… it means one becomes wholly oneself”.
Freewinds has been quarantined at St Lucia’s cruise port since Monday, after health bosses in the Caribbean nation were told that a female crew member was diagnosed with measles.
The order means that all 300 passengers on board – along with the crew – are barred from leaving the vessel while in port.
'BARRED' FROM LEAVING FREEWINDS
ABC News said Freewinds cruises around the Caribbean docking at small islands.
In an article the broadcaster explained: “The church says ships have religious significance to Scientologists because its founder L Ron Hubbard had research and ministered the first Operating Thetan levels aboard a ship.”
Ms Paris told ABC News that she was sent her to the ship to stop her mum taking her away from the church.
She said she was barred from leaving Freewinds for the first six years without being accompanied by an escort.
Born into a Scientology family, Ms Paris moved from Switzerland to the UK at the age of six, where she was placed in the church’s then youth wing, cadet org.
When Ms Paris turned 14, she became part of its elite Sea Organisation, “signing a contract binding her for a billion years”, reported ABC.
Her mum denounced the religion on French TV after her multi-millionaire ex-husband, Albert Jaquier, reportedly committed suicide.
He was said to have blamed the church for stripping him of his self-made fortune after he allegedly spent £4.6m ($6m) on its high-priced courses.
CLAIMS DENIED
The Church of Scientology rejected Ms Paris’s claims as false, telling ABC News in a statement that she “certainly wasn’t ‘forced’ to be there.
"She was also never forced to perform labour in the engine room.
“The Freewinds is a wonderful place as even Valeska said on numerous occasions.
"Her allegation that she could only leave the ship with an escort is totally false.”
'ASBESTOS ON SHIP'
Her duties on board the ship included ironing the clothes of leader David Miscavige and making his coffee.
She was allegedly ordered to be sent to Freewinds as her mum had caused a PR furore when she publicly criticised the church after the death of her former husband.
Ms Paris told Daily Mail TV: “The ship was full of blue asbestos – every night we’d get on our knees, we’d be picking chunks of blue asbestos with our bare hands.
“To this day I have a cough which won’t go away.”
VIPs boarding Freewinds included the church’s most famous member Tom Cruise and his then-girlfriend Penelope Cruz, in 2003.
She and fellow Sea Org members were warned they had to follow strict rules while looking after them.
They were banned from looking them in the eye, and told to “stay the f*** out of [the actor's] way”, Ms Paris alleged.
As a woman, the former Scientologist claimed she was also barred from serving the Mission Impossible star.
Her boss on the ship said: “He’s so good looking that if you serve him, you’ll end up falling in love with him.”
DENIAL
In a statement to DailyMail.com, the Church of Scientology denied that Mr Jaquier's death was a suicide.
It also said his passing had “no bearing” on Ms Paris being transferred to work on Freewinds while a teenager.
The church provided a death certificate to Daily Mail.com showing that the cause of his death was determined to be “natural”, and that he had a history of heart disease.
He was worth about $1.2m at the time of his passing, it said.
The Church of Scientology added in a statement: “Ms Paris served as a crew member about the Freewinds religious retreat as a volunteer religious worker from September 1996 to December 2007.
“She was an adult and there of her own free will as part of her religious commitment to the [church].”