My Friend, My Hero: Mike Rinder

I am heartbroken to share the news that my friend Mike Rinder has passed away after a nearly two-year battle with cancer.

Mike was not only my friend; he was one of my heroes, and I will always be grateful to my dear friend Leah Remini for introducing me to Mike eight years ago.

For those of you who have never watched Leah’s series on A&E, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, or seen Mike in other documentaries, Mike was a top official in Scientology for decades before escaping in 2007.

Mike was brought into Scientology by his parents when he was a child, and later on, he lived and worked on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s ship. Mike was one of the few people still alive in this century who spent a lot of time with Hubbard and had direct experience serving him.

For a vast majority of his life, Mike was a Sea Org member. The Sea Org is Scientology’s workforce. Members of the Sea Org are essentially enslaved—they are held against their will, they are made to work 18 to 19 hours a day, seven days a week, escaping is virtually the only option for them.

For many years, Mike was in charge of the Office of Special Affairs, Scientology’s global intelligence agency tasked with the surveillance and silencing of anyone that Scientology deemed an enemy. Mike oversaw the hiring of hundreds of attorneys, private investigators, and other operatives who were tasked with destroying the lives of anyone or any organization that got in Scientology’s way.

The definition of “enemy” in Scientology is very broad and almost always includes anyone who is trying to get the abuses of Scientology to end and for people like Scientology’s criminal leader David Miscavige to be held accountable.

Enemies include former Scientologists, activists, survivors of rape, survivors of Scientology, David Miscavige’s own family members, reporters, and, of course, yours truly.

Eventually, the very agency that Mike helped build was turned against him after he escaped.

When he was in Scientology, no one received more abuse at the hands of David Miscavige than Mike. He endured dozens of beatings by Miscavige himself. For years, he was kept in “The Hole,” a prison that David Miscavige set up on a Scientology base where he held Scientology officials he wanted to torture. Mike lived in The Hole for years, where he endured harsh interrogations and ate slop (literally) from a bucket.

After enduring dozens of beatings, being held prisoner, and undergoing psychologically devastating interrogations and threats, Mike fled Scientology with nothing but his passport and a briefcase.

Escaping Scientology is considered a high crime, and as a result of leaving without authorization, Mike was not only declared a suppressive person (the highest form of enemy in Scientology; Scientologists are required to do everything they can to destroy SPs), but his wife was forced to divorce him, and their two children, Taryn and Benjamin, were forced to disconnect from him.

It wasn’t just his children and ex-wife, Mike’s entire family, including his mom and brother, were forced to disconnect from him. He found out his mom had died from someone who felt bad that he had been banned from seeing her.

Most of his family filmed mean-spirited videos (all under the command of David Miscavige using tax-exempt funds) that were filled with horrific lies about him. These videos were published on the websites Scientology setup to attack Mike. For years since he escaped, he had to endure seeing his children and brother attack him with lies whenever he logged onto the internet. The videos were everywhere. The videos are still up and will, per Scientology policy, remain up as long as Scientology exists as an organization. Death offers no reprieve from Scientology’s attacks.

Mike could have negotiated a multimillion-dollar settlement for himself from Scientology, agreed to stay silent, and enjoyed a nice, quiet life. He wouldn’t have been the first former official to do this—there is a long history of cowardly former Scientology officials agreeing to remain silent in exchange for a big check.

Instead, Mike spent the past 17 years doing everything he could to fight Scientology and David Miscavige. After 2010, he accepted nearly every interview opportunity, no matter how small the outlet. He helped many former Scientologists leave and find safety. He wrote an amazing book. He gave law enforcement agencies like the FBI many, many hours of his time to try to convince them that Scientology and David Miscavige needed to be investigated. He co-hosted and co-produced The Aftermath series with Leah, and they also co-hosted a podcast with nearly 100 episodes revealing Scientology’s abuses.

Mike was constantly followed and harassed by Scientology’s private investigators.

Mike was the first to admit that he was involved in some terrible things as a Scientology official, and he spent nearly two decades making up for it.

Because of what Mike endured, it was always difficult to imagine him dying. He put up with so much in Scientology and after he left that cancer almost seemed like a bump in the road rather than what would take him from us.

As many of you know, exposing the abuses of Scientology has been a two-decade-long obsession of mine and one for which I have sacrificed a great deal.

Scientology is an incredibly complex subject, there are thousands of policies which govern Scientology and Scientologists and there are many nuanced and contradictory beliefs.

So receiving praise from Mike on my Scientology reporting meant the world. Frankly, I longed for his approval. Whenever he told me that I got something right or understood a complex Scientological issue, it would make my week.

Mike was quintessentially Australian in that he was never over the top in his emotions, and if he offered praise, it was just a quick text. That didn’t bother me—it’s who he was. But in June of last year, after I published a long investigation into Shelly Miscavige and the LAPD, he called me and told me how proud he was of me (something he had never expressed before) and said, “You got everything right. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought you were a Scientologist!”

He then shared my piece on his blog and wrote:

“I am posting this to help get the widest possible distribution of this very important piece by my friend Yashar Ali.

He has done an astonishing job of telling the story of Shelly Miscavige, especially the cover-up by Scientology assisted by the LAPD. He has uncovered new and shocking information about the circumstances of how the LAPD ‘verified’ Shelly was OK. And a tragic photo of Shelly, taken from her last issued driver’s license, that tells so much.

It is a masterpiece of giving the big picture while including and explaining details of the Scientology world that make the big picture understandable. And he has some new reporting that will have both the LAPD and Scientology spinning.”

I am sharing this because I never got to properly thank Mike for it. Mike, when we got off the phone that day, I cried because what you said meant so much to me. Thank you for your friendship, for teaching me as much as you did, for always believing in me, and for forgiving me when you did.

My friend Mike Rinder; Mike Rinder, Christie Collbran Rinder, Jack Rinder, and Christie’s son and Mike’s step-son Shane Collbran

Something that former Scientologists have in common is that once they leave Scientology, they want to, understandably, get as far away from it as possible.

So after Mike fled Scientology and got remarried, where did he end up living? In the Clearwater, Florida, area. Clearwater is where the headquarters of Scientology is. It would be like someone escaping North Korea, then choosing to live near the border of South Korea but still in North Korean territory.

But he did it for one simple, heartbreaking reason: he knew that if anyone was likely to leave Scientology, it was his son Benjamin, and Benjamin lived in Clearwater. He thought that if Benjamin was going to escape Scientology, he wanted him to be able to find a refuge nearby.

Benjamin and Taryn, if for some reason you’re reading this now, it means you have some doubt about Scientology. Your dad was the first to admit that, like every Scientologist and especially every Sea Org member, he was not a good father. But he did everything he could to help you once he left. He even wrote his book for you. I’ve included the letter he wrote to you in his book below.

There is an incredible world waiting for you, Taryn and Benjamin—one where you aren’t forced to endure abuse or be told what to say, think, and do 24/7. I know you have been told that the WOG world (WOG is the term Scientologists use for non-Scientologists) is some evil, horrible place where everyone suffers, but that is a lie.

You have a brother, a stepbrother, and an incredible stepmom who have never had the pleasure of meeting you, and I know they would love to.

Reach out to the Aftermath Foundation, and they’ll help you leave. I promise you, you won’t regret it.

Mike Rinder wrote this letter to his daughter Taryn and son Benjamin and published it in his memoir “A Billion Years”

In his final letter, Mike said that his only real regret was that he didn’t get to achieve two things: the end of Scientology and seeing his son Jack into adulthood.

I am more dedicated now than ever to continuing the important work that Mike did, and there is a way you can help Mike’s 12-year-old son Jack.

One of Mike’s two final wishes was for people to keep fighting Scientology and for his supporters to consider donating to a college fund set up for Jack. Our friend Claire Headley has set up a GoFundMe for Jack’s college fund, and if Mike and his advocacy meant anything to you, you can click here to donate: https://bit.ly/40945pE

Mike was lucky to have found his wife, Christie, who was also a former Scientologist and who spent years speaking out against the abuses. Christie is one hell of a woman, and while I normally hate the word “partner” to describe someone’s spouse, Christie was a partner in every sense of the word to Mike.

I am thinking of her, their son Jack, and Mike’s stepson, Christie’s son Shane.

If Mike and his work meant something to you, I hope you’ll leave a comment below, and I will share all of your comments with Christie and her boys in the future.

I will love you forever, Mike. We’ll keep things going over here, in your name.

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