Shelly Miscavige

Michele Diane "Shelly" Miscavige (née Barnett; born January 18, 1961) is a member of the Church of Scientology's Sea Org who married Scientology leader David Miscavige.

Miscavige was born Michele Diane Barnett on January 18, 1961, in Dallas, Texas.

Her mother, Mary Florence "Flo" Fike Barnett, was a long-time Scientologist who later resigned, taking with her copies of "confidential upper-level materials".

She joined David Mayo's Advanced Ability Center, an independent Scientology organization considered heterodox by the Church of Scientology.

According to testimony by former high-ranking church executive Vicki Aznaran: "The fact that David Miscavige was linked to [Barnett] by familial ties was extremely repugnant to him and to his wife..."

From the age of 12, she was a member of the Commodore's Messenger Organization (CMO), the internal Sea Org group responsible for personally servicing Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard aboard his flagship, MV Apollo, in the 1970s.

She was described as "quiet, petite and younger than most of the other Messengers at the time ... and a bit overshadowed by the older girls".

Jim Dincalci, one of her shipmates, says that she was "a sweet, innocent thing thrown into chaos".

At the age of 21, in December 1982, she married a fellow CMO member, 22-year-old David Miscavige.

She came to view Miscavige as the reincarnation of Simón Bolívar and herself as his mistress Manuela Sáenz.

She subsequently joined her husband's group as the official assistant to her husband, the chairman of the board (COB) of Scientology's Religious Technology Center.

According to author Lawrence Wright, she was closely involved in Scientology's liaison with its highest profile member, Tom Cruise.

When Cruise began a three-year relationship with Penélope Cruz, Miscavige supervised Cruz's auditing and helped her through Scientology's Purification Rundown program.

After the end of the Cruise–Cruz relationship, Miscavige was reported to have led a Scientology program to find a new girlfriend for Cruise.

Around a hundred young Scientologist actresses were interviewed, though they were not told why.

On September 8, 1985, Mary Barnett was found dead at age 52 from a shot to the head from a Ruger 10/22 rifle.

The body also had three rifle shot wounds to the chest (one surface wound, one through a breast implant, and one that passed through the left lung and fractured a rib), and there were superficial slash marks on her wrists that were identified in the autopsy report as possibly having been several days old.

Her death was ruled as consistent with suicide.

David Miscavige denied any part in his mother-in-law's death in an affidavit on the case, calling it a "personal tragedy in my family’s life."

However, in the presence of other witnesses he exclaimed: "That bitch got what she deserved."

An actress named Nazanin Boniadi was introduced to Cruise and dated him for a few months before he broke off the relationship in January 2005.

The search resumed, with more actresses invited to audition for what they thought was a role in a forthcoming Mission: Impossible film, and eventually concluded with Katie Holmes meeting and marrying Cruise.

His attorney denies that any Scientology executive set him up with girlfriends.

Miscavige subsequently oversaw a project to use Scientology members and contractors to renovate Cruise's nine-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills.

In 2006, Shelly returned before her husband from a trip aboard the Freewinds.

After David arrived back, Shelly was said to have "visibly changed" her mood and to have "looked cowed".

Mike Rinder, then Scientology's chief spokesman, says that she asked him if her husband was still wearing his wedding ring.

Shortly afterwards, in June 2006, she disappeared and no longer made any appearances in public.

Remini, who used to be a member of the Church of Scientology, had questioned Shelly's absence at the 2006 wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

She was last seen in public in August of 2007.

Since her disappearance, she has been the subject of speculation and inquiries regarding her whereabouts and wellbeing.

Miscavige's 77-year-old father, Maurice Elliott Barnett, died on June 25, 2007, and Shelly was escorted to the funeral on August 1, 2007.

She has not been seen publicly since.

Miscavige was a member of the Sea Org, the organization responsible for the international management of the Church of Scientology and its affiliated entities.

Miscavige has not appeared in public since August 2007 when she was spotted being escorted to her father's funeral.

In 2012, attorneys who said they represented her responded by saying she was merely living a private life devoted to the Church of Scientology.

In August 2013, actress Leah Remini, a former Scientologist and critic of the organization, filed a missing person report regarding Miscavige with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) which was closed within hours by the LAPD as "unfounded".

At least two missing person reports have been filed with the Los Angeles Police Department concerning Miscavige: one was reported by Lawrence Wright, though he did not say who submitted it; and another in August 2013 by actress Leah Remini, but which was closed within hours by the LAPD as "unfounded".

Remini further questioned Miscavige's whereabouts in her show produced for the A&E network, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath in December 2018.

The Church of Scientology has not commented on Miscavige's location and regularly hides replies on their X account of people asking about her whereabouts.