Callum Jones
The niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige has detailed the disturbing questions she was asked by the church when she was just 12 years old.
Jenna Miscavige 'escaped' the Church of Scientology back in 2005, and has been speaking about her experience in the years since.
The 41-year-old sat down with LADbible for an episode of Minutes With, where she explained some of the questions she was asked by the church during her time as part of the establishment.
Jenna recalled being asked ‘traumatizing’ questions as a child, saying: “I knew of Scientology before I knew of anything else.”
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She added: "We had what was called checksheets, which was like ‘read this’. We had to do 30+ hours of manual labour a week. We were told because basically we had a place to live and food to eat, that we had to exchange [and] give as much if not more than we were being given.
"That’s why we had to work. If we didn’t give back and if we took things for free we would become criminals."
Jenna then went on to detail some of the questions she was asked by the church, as she added: "They would ask anything, from ‘have you stolen anything?’, ‘Were you unproductive?’, ‘Did you flirt with anyone or have sex with anyone before you were married?'
"I remember the first interrogation that I got. I didn’t really know the procedure, and so they just started out asking me if I had done anything bad."
Jenna explained how it was like to be interrogated with an ‘E-meter’, which is short for ‘electro psychometer’.
She explained that the ‘E-meter’ is a device with ‘two cans’ that the person being interrogated holds.
"Basically, it puts a tiny current of electricity through one side, goes through here, then back into the E-meter, and then the needle registers what's going on. It’s sort of like a lie detector," she continued.
Jenna also said that the interrogators ask questions to see ‘if you’re telling the truth’, but also use it for other parts of Scientology processes like ‘counselling’.
Miscavige claims the church would often do ‘what’s called the murder routine’, where questions about ‘really horrible things’ are asked in a bid to get you to confess to something else.
“[It’s] to make you say, ‘No, I didn't do that. I just did this’. So they have all these like, mental tricks,” she added.
When contacted by LADbible Group, a spokesperson for the Church of Scientology claimed 'Jenna Hill is to David Miscavige what Billy Carter was to President Jimmy Carter', describing her as a relative who is 'shamelessly exploiting the family name for attention and profit'.
The church added that Jenna was dismissed from the Church two decades ago following alleged assaults against her fellow staff members, adding: "Ms. Hill has freely admitted her misconduct, which is a matter of public record."
The statement further claimed Jenna's comments coincide with her relationship with former Scientologist Aaron Smith-Levin, saying he was 'arrested recently for a felony hate crime after attacking a Church of Scientology staff member outside the religion’s spiritual headquarters in Clearwater'.