LOSING MY RELIGION I spent 35 years in Scientology ‘cult’ – my mum married my GRANDPA & I was banished for kissing boy, says former member

A chance encounter between a dancer and a paraplegic man in a strip club saw a family ensnared in Scientology for 35 years.

It was a confusing time for five-year-old Natalie who watched her mother marry the Scientologist who came into her strip club - and divorce him seven years later to marry his dad, Natalie's grandpa.

Now aged 53, ex-Scientologist Natalie Webster is fiercely devoted to exposing the "abuses" which she claims exist within the organisation.

Among other atrocities, she said the controversial church - which she branded a "cult" - engages in human trafficking and exposes children to sexual and age-inappropriate material.

The Church of Scientology is controversial for reasons including its stance on psychiatry and the aggressive ways it has dealt with critics.

It has faced opposition from the medical community for its claims about mental health - its website states the effects of drugs such as antidepressants are "disastrous" - as well as from religious groups, the scientific community, and former members like Natalie.

Critics of the church have frequently accused it of "brainwashing".

But members of the organisation say it is about self-improvement and helping them reach their full potential.

The allegations against Scientology were strongly denied by church spokeswoman Karin Pouw, who dismissed the claims as "ridiculous and false".

Natalie was introduced to Scientology by her first stepdad Brian, who she calls "Stepdad", and became even more entrenched in it when her mum left Brian and married Brian's dad, who Natalie calls "Grandpad-dad".

Natalie told The Sun: "He (Grandpa) was married. I mean, my grandmother lived in the house.

"We lived with my stepdad and all of a sudden my mum moved us into Grandpa’s house.

"We knew they were getting a divorce, but the next thing I know my mum’s telling us that she’s marrying our grandpa."

Natalie’s grandpa was "like the cult leader" of her family so Natalie’s mum, Donna-Gail, was naturally drawn to him.

He was aged in his sixties and Donna-Gail was in her early 30s when the pair married in Las Vegas - after Natalie’s grandpa divorced his wife, Natalie's grandmother.

Natalie said: "I didn’t ask a lot of questions, and when I did - I was 13 - I was sent from Hawaii to Washington state.

"I was banished from my family because I kissed a boy and he found out.

"I’m like, ‘You were literally screwing my mother and cheated on your wife'."

Natalie said she was sent away for three months after her "grandpa-dad" discovered she'd kissed a boy.

One perk to her mother remarrying her stepdad's dad was that she was able to hold onto the family she'd been a part of for seven years.

Natalie continued seeing Brian after Donna-Gail moved her and her sister Lana into their grandpa's house.

She said: "He didn’t have anything against us. We still had a relationship with him for years up until he died. We just never talked about it."

Natalie never learned how her stepdad felt about his wife leaving him for his own dad.

She explained: "It was handled Scientology-style.

"You’re not allowed to spread bad news around in Scientology. You can’t tell people you’re leaving Scientology, or you’ll get declared a ‘suppressive person’.

"That’s when they excommunicate you."

Donna-Gail was 17 years old when she fell pregnant with Natalie and married Natalie's dad.

Natalie said: "It was really rocky. There was substance abuse, and my mum left to create a better life for us.

"And while she was gone... for her, she felt that [working at a strip club] was her best option at making a bunch of money.

"That's where she met my stepdad, who was a Scientologist, and they connected."

She said that while some might think it is "a little weird" that a Scientologist would be in a strip club, the 1970s were a different time.

Brian was left paralysed following a car accident with a drunk driver and was working as an artist in Hawaii when he met Donna-Gail.

Natalie said the first few years of their marriage were a reality "closer to normal" than she had ever experienced.

It wasn't long before she and Lana were thrust into Scientology and taught that they were, as children, "a big being in a smaller body".

They completed an intensive "children's communication course" which Natalie said trained them not to react to factors or comments, some of which were sexual in nature.

The course involved Natalie and Lana sitting across from each other for two hours; they were not allowed to move, flinch, or excessively blink.

Natalie explained: "If you move, you itch, your muscle spasm, whatever, you are told 'flunk, start'. You start again, and the clock is at zero."

She added: "It sets you up for abuse, it sets you up for taking it, for not saying anything, for thinking that you just need to be able to be there and endure.

"Not just sexual abuse, but any type of emotional abuse in Scientology. You're trained to be there and take it. Don't react."

Natalie dropped out of school when she was 15 years old and moved to Los Angeles to work for Scientology, following in the footsteps of her mother and younger sister who went before her.

She married another Scientologist when she was 17 years old and fell pregnant with her first child, Shelby, in early 1990 - when she was 19.

There was never a time when Natalie felt like Scientology was the right path for her, but her family was so entrenched in the self-described "religion" that leaving did not feel like an option.

It wasn't until 2008, as she hid in the back of a store while an active shooter roamed the halls of a shopping centre in Seattle, that she came to realise: "I am so trapped."

She decided then that she would leave Scientology, even if it meant losing her entire family - all of whom were involved in Scientology.

Hiding in the basement of her home, as she was afraid her husband might discover her doubts and reveal them to senior Scientologists, she searched the internet for others' stories of escape.

Leaving Scientology

It took Natalie two years to hatch a plan that would see her and her husband, who she later divorced, her mum, and her kids set free.

She said if she had left sooner, doing so would have cost her her relationship with most of her family, but she waited four years to voice her doubts and timed it for when her mum was "fed up".

Fourteen years since their escape, Natalie lives in Minnesota with her three grown children and her two grandchildren, aged three and six.

Her stepdad, "grandpa-dad", and mum have all passed away.

Natalie's grandchildren will be the first in four generations, on her "grandpa-dad's" side, who will never know Scientology.

The day after speaking with The Sun, Natalie and her partner of 10 years flew to Clearwater, Florida to protest Scientology.

The pair protested the movement in Chicago in March.

Natalie said: "Tony has been battling cancer, and raising awareness about Scientology being a human trafficking cult is something that is important to him as well, despite never being in Scientology.

"We have decided to travel to as many Scientology organisations as we can, to protest for as long as he can."

Natalie now works in real estate and shares videos to her YouTube channel every day which expose the "abuses" within Scientology.

She said her goal is to dismantle the movement and also to show others still trapped "how beautiful life is outside of a cult".

Scientology's response

The Sun reached out to the Church of Scientology for comment, which provided a response denying the critiques and claims of Natalie Webster.

Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for Scientology, said the claims were "not only absurd and nonsensical but also unprofessional and highly inflammatory and damaging".

She said Natalie's "statements are ludicrous" and that the allegations made against Scientology are "ridiculous and false".

Scientology controversies explained

Scientology is a self-described religion that was founded in the 1950s by American author L. Ron Hubbard.

It has faced many controversies for reasons including its stance on psychiatry, its legitimacy as a religion, and its aggressive attitude toward critics - who frequently accuse it of "brainwashing".The "religion" is strongly opposed to both psychiatry and psychology.

Members of the medical community have criticised Scientology for its claims about mental health, which include that antidepressants are "disastrous", while scientists have questioned its use of "e-meters" which it claims to use to "locate areas of spiritual distress or travail". 

David Bromley, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, told CNN: "It’s part therapy, part religion, part UFO group."It’s a mix of things that’s unlike any other religious group out there."The church has also been accused by critics of directing its members to sever all contact with their loved ones who criticise the faith.

There is also a long list of legal incidents associated with Scientology, including the criminal convictions of some of its core members, such as L. Ron Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard.The organisation has previously claimed its critics are hiding private criminal pasts, and that they are involved in a global conspiracy whose sole purpose is to "destroy the Scientology religion".

Actor Tom Cruise, an outspoken advocate for the organisation, once told Playboy magazine: "What I believe in my own life is that it’s a search for how I can do things better, whether it’s being a better man or a better father or finding ways for myself to improve."Individuals have to decide what is true and real for them."

Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for Scientology, told The Sun of the claims: "Such ridiculous and false allegations have been inevitably sourced to the same discredited apostates kicked out of the Church years ago due to criminal behaviour including theft, domestic violence and abuse of their co-workers."