Karen#1
Well-known member
[David Miscavige celebrates another year as Scientology leader]
As 2026 began last night at midnight on the East Coast, Scientology once again posted photos from its New Year’s Eve celebration, which was actually taped a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles.
And once again, Scientology says it had “more than 6,500 attendees” at the Shrine Auditorium that night.
Here’s a shot of the overall crowd, for our head-counters who want to check on that number.
If you click on that image, it will enlarge and you can get some sense of who was there.
We noted that in the center of the front row, which is usually reserved for Scientology celebrities, we saw a couple of interesting figures.
The tall woman in the maroon suit is definitely Jenna Elfman — we’ll show you another angle on her that makes it no doubt. But how about the shorter man next to her with the full head of hair? He’s turned away from us in this shot, but we were immediately seized with the thought that this was Tom Cruise.
Alex Barnes-Ross had told us that Tom’s plane was in Los Angeles during these dates in December, and the local media there had reported on him being seen there. We had a feeling that he was in town to attend the Scientology event.
Let’s take a look at this figure from a couple of different angles to show you why we are pretty certain that it is, in fact, Top Gun.
In this shot, Cruise has Jenna Elfman on his left, and it appears that he has Australian singer Kate Ceberano on his right. And we know that Ceberano was scheduled to perform at the event that night.
Here’s that better angle showing that the woman in the maroon suit is Jenna Elfman.
Also in the front row was Nancy Cartwright, who was wearing the Freedom Medal she was awarded at the IAS Gala in England on October 31.
It’s not unprecedented for Cruise to attend two major events back to back like this. He also did so in 2019, that we remember. (In that case, he was at the Birthday Event and the IAS event.) But we can’t remember the last time we saw him attend a New Year’s party. Just a few years ago, the tabloids were telling us that Tom’s absence in Los Angeles meant that he was leaving Scientology. It wasn’t true then and it’s not true now.
As for the event itself, it was the usual hours-long rah-rah from church leader David Miscavige about new missions opening in places where they aren’t needed, and WISE businesses — companies run on Scientology principles.
One announcement did interest us, however. And that was confirmation that the Puerto Rico “Ideal Org” will open in 2026. (The folks there had announced it’s happening in February.)
And one other situation we couldn’t help noticing.
The “Fabos Factor” — dessert entrepreneur Steve Fabos — was celebrated just a month ago as a “Patron Excalibur” for donating $20 million to the IAS, and it earned him and wife Peggy the right to be photographed with Miscavige.
But at the New Year’s Event, he was very conspicuously stuck several rows back, and didn’t look very happy about it.
Read more:
Scientology rings in 2026 with Tom Cruise in Los Angeles: The photos!
As 2026 began last night at midnight on the East Coast, Scientology once again posted photos from its New Year’s Eve celebration, which was actually taped a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles.
tonyortega.substack.com
