Mike Rinder, Scientology Spokesman Turned Critic, Dies at 69

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Mike Rinder, Scientology Spokesman Turned Critic, Dies at 69

In a memoir and as a host of the documentary series “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” he accused the church of fostering a culture of abuse.


Mike Rinder in 2018. He was raised in the Church of Scientology and rose to become an international spokesman and the head of its Office of Special Affairs before breaking with the church in 2007. Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

By Michael Levenson
Jan. 6, 2025

Mike Rinder, a former spokesman for the Church of Scientology who became one of its fiercest critics and who gained prominence as a host of the Emmy Award-winning television series “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” died on Sunday in Palm Harbor, Fla. He was 69. … His death, at a hospice center, was confirmed by his wife, Christie Collbran Rinder, who said the cause was esophageal cancer that had metastasized.

Mr. Rinder was raised in the Church of Scientology and rose to become an international spokesman, the head of its Office of Special Affairs and a member of the board of directors of Church of Scientology International from 1983 until 2007, according to his 2022 memoir, “A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology.”

Shortly after Mr. Rinder graduated from high school in 1973, he joined the Sea Organization, or Sea Org, an elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, and met the church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, for the first time.

He remained at the Sea Org until 2007, he wrote in his blog, when he “finally decided there was no way I could change the culture of violence and abuse that had become endemic under the ‘leadership’ of David Miscavige,” Mr. Hubbard’s successor.

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Church of Scientology

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Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York. More about Michael Levenson