Note by Celebitchy: We’ve had a lot of requests to cover the HBO documentary “Going Clear,” a kind of comprehensive overview of the Scientology cult and their bizarre origins, mistreatment of members, celebrity ties and many crimes. The truth is that almost none of the revelations in the documentary were new to us. We’ve heard and often reported on these stories over the years. It’s reassuring to see that a major cable outlet is taking on the cult and that they’re presenting the information in a way that will get more mainstream coverage. HBO adds legitimacy to stories that have been buried and which Scientology has worked to hide. Bedhead has seen the documentary, I have not, and so she will be covering this story. We hope that this will help revoke Scientology’s tax free status in America, which was achieved through legal threats and harassment, as Going Clear reveals.

From Bedhead: Overall, Going Clear did a fine job of presenting the history and abusive practices of Scientology to the masses. The documentary is based upon Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Lawrence Wright’s 2013 book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief. We’ve already talked about the general CO$ reaction to the movie. We’ve also covered all of the book’s material on prior occasions. I think the HBO delivery of this film worked well. Viewers spread the word on social media. A lot of people weren’t aware of the CO$ intricities of evil. One problem is that Wright’s book is already dated by a few years. The documentary could have provided updates about Leah Remini and gone more into the Katie Holmes tale of terror. Remini did describe the movie as “brave.” Here are several topics covered by HBO’s Going Clear.

* Hubbard’s early adulthood: L. Ron told tall tales of his military accomplishments during World War II. He didn’t really earn a Purple Heart or the other medals he claimed. The military didn’t even have a record of his alleged injuries.

* Hubbard’s money-making designs & celebrities: He learned his salesman trade as part of the black magic cult called Ordo Templi Orientis, which was based upon the teachings of Aleister Crowley. Hubbard was part of a scheme to create the anti-Christ by impregnating a “goddess.” When Hubbard created Scientology, he specifically planned to use celebrities as recruiters. Countless celebs fell for the elevated status the cult had to offer.

* The Xenu story: The doc covered the top-secret manilla folder containing the Operating Thetan Level III materials. This is the tale of volcanoes and disembodied thetans put into motion by the galactic overlord Xenu. South Park deserves credit for revealing this to the masses years ago.

* Scientology’s discipline: Early on, Hubbard (while enjoying the company of young messenger ladies) made a practice of throwing CO$ members off his ship. The documentary discussed the Rehabilitation Project Force, which is located in prison camps where members go to be re-indoctrinated. They do hard labor in the desert and sleep in crowded trailers filled with ants and vermin. When David Miscavige took the helm, he tortured high-ranking execs with “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

* All of the legal shenanigans: Hubbard preached about attacking foes with lawsuit after lawsuit. The cult filed thousands of suits against the IRS and its employees to regain their tax-exempt status back in the early 1970s. Then (during Operation Snow White) the CO$ infiltrated the Department of Justice and IRS to destroy incriminating documents.

* Scientology’s homophobia: Paul Haggis departed CO$ after a 30-year run because his two gay daughters were harrassed by the CO$. Paul’s famous resignation letter was dissected.

* Jason Beghe is still a cool dude: Beghe talked about how the CO$ swindled him out of far too much money. He dropped plenty of f-bombs while discussing how he was treated like Miscavige’s star pupil. When Beghe got into a car wreck, the CO$ told him it was his fault.

* Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman: The cult conspired to bring Tom back after he got really upset at the OT Level III story. They saw Kidman as a suppressive person who tore Tom away from the organization. CO$ pulled Tom back in, wiretapped Nicole’s phone, and orchestrated the divorce.

* Tom Cruise’s slave labor: Former member John Brousseau discussed how Cruise had his homes and cars tricked out by Sea Org members who made $0.40 cents per hour at most. Some of them worked for free.

* Tom Cruise’s rent-a-girlfriends: The doc went into the story of Nazanin Boniadi, who was physically altered (teeth, hair, and clothing) at Tom’s direction. The CO$ informed her that she was Tom’s girlfriend, and they dumped her (for him) when she offended Miscavige.

* John Travolta’s “black PR package”: The cult created a file of Travolta’s auditing sessions. They also taped everything, so they can hold this info over his head if he ever tries to leave.

* Scientology is still rich? According to Going Clear, the cult holds around $1.5 billion in assets. Much of this amount comes from the cult’s tax-exempt status and signficant property holdings. Liquid assets are a problem, as people aren’t falling for the sales pitch anymore.

In response to the documentary, Scientology has kept with their usual “fair game” game plan, which is to attack and insult critics (just like Danny Masterson did). They’re going off on director Alex Gibney but also pretending not to care. I hope the CO$ is toast soon.

#AlexGibney, Doctor Of Propaganda: If you need propaganda, the doctor is in! http://t.co/TeWAqs5jMS #GoingClear pic.twitter.com/8lClehRHw6

— Freedom Media Ethics (@FreedomEthics) March 29, 2015

#AlexGibney lives religious bigotry. #GoingClear #propaganda http://t.co/KbYJ02Xuh4 pic.twitter.com/hfS7lBOpWk

— Freedom Media Ethics (@FreedomEthics) March 30, 2015

#AlexGibney’s #GoingClear – talking heads, insufferable music, way too long…Zzzzzzzzzzzzz… pic.twitter.com/VYxcqmXSMf

— Freedom Media Ethics (@FreedomEthics) March 29, 2015

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Getty & WENN

Such a sweet family photos of Kelly Clarkson, husband Brandon Blackstock and their 9-month-old daughter River.

“Trying to take a nap before the iHeart Radio Awards….haha didn’t work :),” the new mom, 32, Instagrammed the pic snuggling on the couch with her family-of-three.

Hours after the image was taken, Clarkson took the stage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and performed her hit Heartbeat Song.

The Grammy Award-winning singer also shared a shot with her music manager husband at Muhammad Ali’s Annual Celebrity Fight Night on Saturday (March 28) in Phoenix, Ariz.

“Me and my baby 2nd night of Celebrity Fight Night!! We bid on an amazing Italy vacation and won! WOOHOO!! #HereWeComeItaly,” she captioned the photo.

The couple were joined by none other than her famous mother-in-law Reba McEntire, who is Blackstock’s stepmother.

Also during the event, Clarkson led the crowd in a round of Happy Birthday to mark McEntire’s 60th birthday.

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One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson and producer Naughty Boy, who’s working with Zayn Malik on some new music, got into a fight on Twitter. Louis thought Naughty Boy (do we have to call him this???) was disrespecting the band and the fans and Naughty Boy (who can take this name seriously?) was like, …      

Kontour!!!! Not finished with my make up yet but wanted to share a pic of some contouring make up tricks!

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 30, 2015 at 3:11pm PDT

Kim Kardashian posted this photo ^^ on her Instagram yesterday because she wanted to spread the gospel of contouring. CB is always trying to educate me about makeup because I really don’t know what I’m talking about (I wear makeup very, very rarely). I think for Kim, “contouring” is code for “trying to make my tweaked face look like it’s not made of plastic.” Or maybe I’m wrong, because Kim does love that plastic Barbie look. Literally. She would love to be as hairless and manufactured as possible. Anyway, I think whatever is going on with Kim’s nose is ridiculous.

Meanwhile, on Sunday night’s episode of KUWTK, Kanye apparently lashed out at Kim’s trainer. The trainer had told her that her dream of getting back down to 120 lbs was a pipe dream, basically. So Kanye went and yelled at the trainer. Which… eh. Does Kanye really care about Kim’s weight? One of the few things I liked about their relationship was that Kanye seemed to prefer Kim when she’s a little bit heavier. I guess not.

Kim also posted some cute photos of North going on an Easter Egg Hunt. That was one of my favorite things when I was a kid! What is it about Easter Egg Hunts? They’re amazing. I’d much rather hunt for eggs/candy than dress up for Halloween.

Northie was so proud of all of the eggs she found! She wouldn’t stop talking about it all night! ????????????

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 30, 2015 at 9:26am PDT

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and Kim’s Instagram.

Here are some photos of Helen Mirren and Katie Holmes at the NYC premiere of Woman In Gold. Ryan Reynolds did not attend the premiere, strangely enough. But Helen and Katie were there and they both looked good. If I’m telling the truth, I think Katie’s expression is “when you realize your 69 year old costar looks so much hotter than you ever could.” Helen is wearing Badgley Mischka and Katie wore a cute little Zac Posen dress. Posen was her date to the premiere too, which is smart. I totally forgot that Katie was in this film, but this might be why Katie is suddenly back in the tabloids and blogs – the Jamie Foxx-dating rumors could be her way of promoting the film.

Meanwhile, Helen sat down with Yahoo Movies for an interview, and I would seriously suggest you read the whole thing. It’s so funny and sweet – Helen was being interviewed by a younger man, and she ended up giving him advice about how he should clean his apartment and get a laundry service before bringing a lady back to his one-bedroom apartment. But here’s the best part – Helen wants to be a villain in a Fast & Furious movie. FOR REAL!

Helen’s thoughts on franchises like Divergent & The Hunger Games: “I love the fact that female teenagers are finally being catered for, though. Finally, you’re getting great female teenaged heroines, and as far as I can see, that’s what Divergent is. I love that, I think that’s great. And they want to go to the cinema, bless them, thank God. I can come along and play the baddie.”

Helen loves Vin Diesel: “My great ambition is to be in a Fast and Furious movie. I so want to be a mad driver in a Fast and Furious movie. My claim to fame is I always do my own driving — I was on Top Gear, and I did [my lap] in a very good time. I keep putting it out there, and they never ask me. I’ll be in Fast and Furious 8. I have to say Vin Diesel is brilliant. I love Vin Diesel. He’s a great guy, smart — I love him. It’s partly because of him I’d like to be in one, but also the driving. I’d also love to do another Red-type movie, because those are such fun to do.”

She won’t play characters that demean women: “I won’t do anything that demeans women in a particularly unattractive and insulting sort of way… Push the world forward, not the world back.”

[From Yahoo]

Helen is amazing, right? OF COURSE she has an opinion on Vin Diesel. Of course she finds him charming and brilliant and of course she wants to work with him in some kind of badass-villainess way. Mostly she just wants to drive those magnificent cars though. Long live Dame Helen! PS… I hope Vin gives her a call.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

For Christy the Rabbit who has come back after four years – I’m sorry about the heartbreak but you sound strong and determined and the key word for me in your message was “independent”. I’m excited about what’s ahead for you. By request, here’s Christian Bale.

Pat is 34 years old. He was purs…      

Dear Gossips,

If you believe the bookies, Princess Catherine will be having a girl. And right now, they’re betting on the girl being called Alice. In second place is Elizabeth, followed by Charlotte and Victoria. I’m a gambling person so, obviously, I’m into this. Because someone’s just put $…      

View image | gettyimages.com

I don’t use Spotify, but CB does and she says she likes it. But the big-name artists have gotten mad at Spotify. The big-name artists have decided to take their toys and launch their own exclusive, expensive, artist-owned streaming service, courtesy of Jay-Z. Jay-Z bought – for $56 million – the streaming service Tidal. Yesterday, Jay-Z and all of his celebrity musician friends did a big launch/press conference thing. Gawker called the event “bonkers” and said “the entire music industry stood on a stage in a collective display of how rich and out of touch they are.”

At an event in New York on Monday, Madonna, Beyonce, Kanye West, and 13 other performers announced they had become co-owners of Tidal. The service launched last October, but was recently bought by rapper Jay Z. It is hoping to compete with the likes of Spotify, Deezer and Google Play.

However Tidal offers 25 million music tracks, fewer than the 30 million offered by many rival services. As well as a standard subscription for $9.99 a month, Tidal offers a “high fidelity” option for $19.99, which claims to deliver better sound quality.

Singer Alicia Keys spoke on behalf of the artists as they all lined up on stage at Skylight at Moynihan Station in Manhattan. Describing the event as a “graduation”, she said the artists hoped Tidal would alter musical evolution. “So we come together before you on this day, March 30th, 2015, with one voice in unity in the hopes that today will be another one of those moments in time, a moment that will forever change the course of music history.”

Their mission, she said, goes beyond commerce and technology.

“Our intent is to preserve music’s importance in our lives,” she said.

Notably, the majority of the company will be owned by artists, a symbolic move in a business where musicians often have little control over how their work is distributed and consumed. Jay Z’s strategy will include encouraging artists to lobby their labels to give Tidal new music a week in advance of other services, giving it a short window of exclusivity.

[From BBC]

Eh, my thought? Let the market take care of this. If people really care about paying more for music just because the service is “artist owned,” then Tidal will be a success. But I assume most people really won’t care and the market will swallow Tidal. Jay might even make a profit when he sells it to iTunes or whatever. CB thinks that this is just a shallow cash-grab by already-rich and well-established artists and I tend to agree. That being said, I doubt it will really go anywhere. We’ll see.

View image | gettyimages.com

Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.

Thank God I wasn’t standing when I came across this Esquire UK cover, because the sight of Tom Hardy’s bearded, beautiful face made me weak at the knees. Literally. My body had a deeply visceral reaction to this cover. It feels like every so often, a dude comes around and like 90% of the ladies in the world are like “OH YES.” George Clooney was that guy in the 1990s. Then Russell Crowe was that guy for a few years. Then…I don’t know? Brad Pitt was that guy for a while. Clive Owen could have been that guy. And now Tom Hardy is that guy. Tom is starting the promotional work for Child 44 and Mad Max: Fury Road. And he gave a lengthy interview to Esquire UK – you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

Working with Leo DiCaprio in The Revenant: “He’s a tough kid actually, Leo. Brilliant bloke, really supportive. I shamelessly don’t read scripts. But Leo called me up and said, ‘Dude, you have to check this out, I think it’s a brilliant piece and Alejandro’s a genius – will you read it?’ I was supposed to be doing Splinter Cell, so I was like, ‘I’m going to jump out of helicopters, mate. I want to go and play soldiers!’ and he said, ‘Just read it, you idiot!’ I was like ‘Mmm, all right’.” So he read it at least? “Half of it. Because Leo told me to do it.”

He calls his wife Charlotte Riley “Charlie Monkey:“She’s in London doing Monkey business. F–king right.”

Being encouraged by his teacher to go into drama school: “Yeah, but in this case it’s not like Billy Elliot or anything because I went to a nice school and I was given loads of f–king lifelines. What a f–king arse I must have been to my poor parents. ‘Oh, go on Tom, just take one…’ At the same time as accepting that I had a really good home environment, I went balls-out to f–k that up. I was committed.”

The nightmarish film shoot for Mad Max: “We were in the middle of nowhere, so far away from the studio system that [Warner Bros] can’t really see what’s going on, and just getting things to and from the set was a nightmare. We’d lose half a vehicle in sand and have to dig it out. It was just this unit in the middle of x-million square-kilometres of desert, and then this group of lunatics in leathers, like a really weird S&M party, or a Hell’s Angels convention. It was like Cirque du Soleil meets f–king Slipknot.”

Whether he’s difficult: “I have a reputation for being difficult. And I am. I am actually. But I’m not unreasonable. It used to be that if somebody hurt me I’d lash out a bit, in order to get them to stop. It ultimately comes from fear. If I cause enough of a mess, then people will never ask me again to do something I don’t want to do. But that sort of backfires after a while so you don’t want to do that. You grow up.”

[From Esquire UK]

Tom has nice things to say about most people he works with, but he was given the chance to directly contradict the rumor that he and Charlize Theron didn’t get along, and he didn’t really contradict it. But that’s when he started talking about his “difficult” reputation. And while Mad Max sounds like it’s probably going to be a visually stunning film, it also sounds like they wasted SO MUCH money making it. Oh well – I hope it’s a hit for Tom’s sake.

Photos courtesy of Esquire UK.

We’ve heard that Robin Williams’ children and his widow are feuding in court over his personal items, including a pricey watch collection, and other effects that were reportedly removed from the home he shared with his wife of three years, Susan Schneider. In February TMZ reported that Susan had filed legal documents “complaining someone came into the house days after Robin’s death and took some of the actor’s belongings.” According to TMZ, Robin’s three children countered that they were barred from the home by Susan and had not removed anything. Robin’s will left his personal items including movie memorabilia to his children, who are presumably legally entitled to them.

The good news is that lawyers for Schneider and for Williams’s children have agreed to settle this matter privately through mediation. They reached the agreement in a court hearing yesterday in San Francisco. Lawyers for both sides told People that they didn’t want this matter to become public at all. In a new post to Tumblr, Robin’s daughter Zelda attempted to set the record straight. She stated that nothing had been taken from her father’s home and that reporters have gotten the story wrong:

While I have not had, and will continue not to have any comment on my family’s current legal proceedings (as their private nature has already been violated enough), there is one bit of misinformation being proliferated by the media that I have been made aware of and strongly feel the need to correct. My brothers and I have not at any point since dad’s death been invited to or visited his and Susan’s house in Tiburon, nor have we removed anything from it. For reporters to twist Susan’s court petition to imply that she believes my siblings and I did otherwise is to attempt to create drama where there is none and spread outright falsehoods, sadly a more and more common occurrence on the ‘news’ these days.

At least in this instance, it is gossip I can disprove with actual fact.

Anywho, that’s all for now. So long, and thanks for all the fish!

[From Tumblr]

You may assume that Zelda is refuting reports by outlets like TMZ or Radar claiming that Susan’s court petition stated that she and/or her siblings took some of their father’s belongings. In fact this story seems to have originated in the New York Times, which cited lines in Susan’s court documents claiming that “property was ‘unilaterally removed’ from their home ‘days after Mr. Williams’s untimely death.’” In response at the time, a representative for the children refuted that, stating “Notwithstanding Ms. Schneider Williams’s insinuations, the fact is that neither the Williams children nor any representative of theirs has been in the house or had anything taken from it since Robin Williams’s tragic death.”

Just to clarify, it was Susan’s legal documents that seemed to claim that the children took some of their father’s things, which they denied and blamed Susan for insinuating. Zelda is again denying that and stating that reporters twisted the story. Zelda’s statement is well put and she has impressed me so much in her very brief public appearance supporting her father’s charity work. It’s just that there’s more to this story than just reporters gossiping and getting it wrong. There’s a rift here that played out in court, and Zelda seems to acknowledge this by stating that she and her siblings haven’t been in her father’s house since he passed. For the family’s sake, I hope they can work it out peacefully. It looks like they’re doing that and it’s surely what Robin would have wanted.

Now let’s look at some puppies from Zelda’s Instagram.

Happy National Puppy Day! All the munchkins we raised in the house have gone on to their new forever homes now, and I couldn’t be more grateful to all those who opened their hearts and doors to this little rescue brigade. Still, remember to spay and neuter your pets folks. These puppies found great homes, but many aren’t so lucky. The fewer unintentional pups born on the street, the fewer fluff balls forced to sit in shelters and be at risk of being put down. We all love puppies, but there are too many out there right now for all of them to be loved and love back. We can start to fix that ?? have a great day folks.

A photo posted by Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) on Mar 23, 2015 at 3:22pm PDT

My days of being a puppy landlady are almost over ???? Half the pups have already gone off to their loving new forever homes. Remember folks, spay and neuter your pets! Their mama Loki is lucky @twoforyouglenncoco took her in off the street, and not everyone would have the awesome @shannonbuttons to deliver and care for the pups so we could find them great homes too, but if people spayed and neutered more often, there’d be fewer strays starving on the streets or overcrowding our shelters. I’m for rescuing, all day every day, but the fewer puppies born out in the cold, the fewer strays put down in packed shelters ????

A photo posted by Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) on Feb 27, 2015 at 1:31pm PST

The first of these little rascals is going to their new forever home today! Thankfully @atg511 takes fabulous photos, so we’ll get to watch Doug grow up in style. ????

A photo posted by Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) on Feb 16, 2015 at 12:54pm PST

The Adventures of Moo the Wonderpup! She’s doing really well in her new home. They’re almost three months old now! ????

A photo posted by Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) on Mar 8, 2015 at 4:47pm PDT

Photos of Robin are from 2009 (header) and 2011. Photo with just Zelda is from February, 2015. Credit: WENN.com Other photos credit: Zelda Williams/Instagram.