SEASON 1
EPISODE 0
Ask Me Anything 1[…]
[00:30:57.200]
[Scene: exterior of Karen De La Carriere’s and Jeffrey Augustine’s house]
LR (Leah Remini) (inside, den): I had somebody call me who is a current member of the Church.
MR (Mike Rinder): (nodding)
LR: And this person was saying that I was attacking the Church. And I said, “Did you read my book? Did you see the show?”
And this person said, “No. But what I’m doing is wrong.
And I said, “Hey, listen. I’m, I’m willing to be friends with you, even though you’re a Scientologist.
MR: Right.
LR: Are you willing to be friends with me because I’m not?”
[00:31:27.133]
MR: The one religion that Scientology will not tolerate is an ex-Scientologist.
LR: Good point.
MR: That is the religion that Scientology will not tolerate.
LR: Good point, Mike.
MR: We’re going to meet Karen De La Carriere and her husband, Jeffrey Augustine.
[Scene: still photos of Karen De La Carriere; wedding photo with Heber Jentzsch]
MR: She’s pretty unique. She was, has been in the Sea Org for a long, long time. I’ve known her since like 1973 she was a highly trained Scientologist trained personally by L. Ron Hubbard. She also used to be married to the president of the Church of Scientology International.
LR: Heber Jentzsch.
[Scene: photo of Heber Jentzsch and John Travolta]
MR: Heber Jentzsch.
[00:32:00.453]
[Scene: KDLC and JA have joined MR and LR in the den]
LR: I want to thank you because you were so loving and supportive when we first started this project.
KDLC (Karen De La Carriere): (nodding)
JA (Jeffrey Augustine): (smiling)
LR: Hearing from you guys really meant a lot. So Jeffrey Augustine is Karen’s husband. Your website I love, called “The Scientology Money Project”–
JA: Thank you.
LR: Thank you for continuing to speak out in the way that you are. It was important for me that you guys got to tell your story.
KDLC: I was in for forty years. Believing in it all. I went to the Apollo.
[Scene: photo of Hubbard with young girls]
KDLC: Hubbard recruited me personally. I joined the Sea Org.
[Scene: KDLC in SO uniform standing by bust of Hubbard]
[Screen: During Karen’s time in the Sea Organization, she reached the highest level of training and married the President of Scientology, Heber Jentzsch.
In 1984, their son Alexander was born.]
[00:32:46.000]
[Scene: photo of Alexander as a toddler]
MR: Karen was at the time married to Heber Jentzsch.
[Scene: Heber and Karen in SO uniforms]
MR: And Heber Jentzsch was the president of the Church of Scientology International and the person who was expected to go out and represent the Church to the world. There was a, a, a very serious effort to persuade Heber that he should not be married to Karen.
KDLC: (smiling)
LR: Did that happen?
KDLC: Yes, it did.
[Screen: In 1988 Karen and Heber divorced.
Two years later Karen left the Sea Organization, but remained a devoted Scientologist.]
KDLC: I stay loyal to the Church for the next twenty years. Because my son is in the Sea Org.
[00:33:35.167]
[Scene: photo of Alexander]
MR: You are effectively estranged from Alexander because you’ve left the Sea Organization and he’s still there, and Heber is still there.
KDLC: (nods)
[00:33:44.933]
[Screen: Children in the Sea Organization live separately from their parents.]
MR: Heber was not in Clearwater. Karen was in California. Alexander, a twelve-year old, was alone in Clearwater, along with my son who was twelve years old, alone in Clearwater.
LR: Sure.
MR: Because they are Sea Org members. They don’t need to have a parent around.
LR: Right.
MR: They’re just part of the Sea Organization.
KDLC: Alexander was only permitted to see Heber eleven times in fifteen years. Mostly two hour slots. Alexander called himself “the boy without a dad.”
Talking about Alexander being twelve year old. He was having sexual intercourse with a forty-year-old at the Flag Land Base.
MR: (nods)
LR: But. Okay, so your son, you find out, is having sex, at twelve years old–
KDLC: I only find out that that was happening after I leave the Church.
LR: Basically Scientology has the rights to your son.
[00:34:45.000]
[Screen: Karen had intermittent contact with Alexander until he was 25 years old, when she decided to leave the Church.]
JA: Karen had publicly left the Church in 2010, and began speaking out on the Internet.
[Screen: As a result of her criticism of the Church, Karen and Alexander were disconnected.
They didn’t speak for two years.]
KDLC: I’m on the computer and I get this Facebook message from Aaron Levin-Smith. I’m sorry to tell you Alexander Jentzsch is dead.
[Screen: Capture of a social media thread; zooms in:
“Aaron, Thank you. Need confirmation. Please help me. Facebook message Andrea or call her, get more data. Heber Jentzsch is 78 years old. Is it possible that he died? Alexander is only in his 20s. Please help me by getting more information. ML, Karen”
“I have confirmed it with Andrea. Alex had a very high fever on Monday night. He went to sleep on Monday night and died in his sleep. They do not know yet what the exact cause was.
[Redacted] perhaps on business. His wife Andrea was in TX. She found out on Tuesday that Alex died. She flew to LA today.I would be grateful if you could keep my name out of any communication on the subject through. I am under the radar. The matter is …”]
KDLC: I thought, “It’s an error. Alexander Heber Jentzsch. It must be his father. His father is 76 years old.
I immediately called Mike (indicating Mike Rinder). Mike says, “Karen I’m sorry. I, I, I do have verification.”
[00:35:30.733]
[Scene: wedding photo: Alexander is the groom; bride’s face is redacted]
[Note: What follows comes from video capture of this episode taken 12/21/2016. This section of the capture is different from a version captured on
00:35:31.033]JA: Alexander had pneumonia. He was at his in-laws in Sunland, CA. They are Scientologist OTs. Instead of you know with him at 104 fever, instead of rushing him to the Emergency Room, they let him lay in bed with a 104 fever and die over the weekend.
00:35:48.967]
[Screen: THE HUFFINGTON POST
LA
Alexander Jentzsch Dead: Officials Investigating Mysterious Death Of Scientology President’s Son (VIDEO) 07/19/2012][Screen: RadarOnline first reported that investigators were looking into Jentzsch’s death. Ed Winter, spokesperson at the LA County Coroner’s Office, had this to say to RadarOnline:
The LAPD is involved in the investigation into Alexander Jentzsch. Let’s just say we have questions about his death. We also have been told that Alexander’s father-in-law found his body, and ran an errand, and then came home and called 911.]
[Screen: abc 7 news
CORONER INVESTIGATING DEATH OF ALEXANDER JENTZSCH, CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT’S SONJuly 18, 2012
By Leanne SutterLOS ANGELES–The Los Angeles County coroner’s office is investigating the mysterious death of a 27-year-old Southland man. Alexander Jentzsch was found dead inside his in-law’s Sylmar home on July 3, but it was hours before anyone called 911.
The coroner’s office said Jentzsch’s -in-laws saw him asleep in his bed around 9 a.m. on Monday, July 2. Twelve hours later, around 9 p.m., he had not moved, but no one checked on him.
The next morning, his father-in-law did check and found Jentzsch unresponsive. The father-in-law took a child to school, and when he returned home, he finally called 911.]
[00:35:36.423]
JA: Now, I want Karen to be able to see her son’s body. So I find out when it’s released.
LR: Uh-hm…
JA: By this time, the Church attorney has gotten a hold of the owner of the mortuary and has terrified him. They said, “If you let her (Karen) see her son, we’re going to sue you.”
KDLC: The dead body was behind a wall. And I was begging the funeral director. Can I just see him one last time? To kiss his forehead?
LR: The Church went through, to great lengths to make sure you didn’t see your son.
KDLC: Yes.
[Screen: The Church challenges the credibility of the contributors appearing in this program, and their statements.
As of the airing of this episode, the Church has not agreed to participate.
Information the Church provided about matters discussed in this series can be viewed at: aetv.com/aftermathletters]
00:36:36.500]
[End of original excerpt.
[Scene: wedding photo; bride’s face redacted; Alexander is the groom.]
JA: I want Karen to be able to see her son’s body. So I find out when it’s released. By this time the Church attorney has gotten a hold of the owner of the mortuary and has terrified him.
KDLC: His dead body was behind a wall. And I was begging the funeral director. Can I just see him one last time? To kiss his forehead.
JA: They will not let a mother kiss her dead son goodbye one last time.
LR: Why?
[00:36:02.526]
KDLC: I was speaking out! It’s management by punishment! It’s this, it’s a dominant/submissive culture.
JA: It has to stop, Leah.
LR: (nods)
JA: It has to stop. And it makes a big difference when people like you or Karen leave and tell the truth about what the Church is really doing, and we can document it.
I don’t think the public realizes how the Church of Scientology is in its present form.
[00:36:24.867]
MR: This is, this is the sort of inhumanity that is built into the structure of Scientology.
KDLC (nodding): Yes.
[Screen: The Church challenges the credibility of the contributors appearing in this program, and their statements.
As of the airing of this episode, the Church has not agreed to participate.
Information the Church provided about matters discussed in this series can be viewed at:
aetv.com/aftermathletters]
[00:36:45.867]
[Scene: night view of the exterior of house]
LR: We do have some money questions from Reddit.
JA: Sure.
LR (reading): “How much money did you pay into the Church throughout your time there?”
They like to say that there’s free courses.
MR: (laughs)
KDLC: (smiles)
LR: — and it doesn’t cost a lot to be a Scientologist.
JA: Well that’s the PR answer. You’re supposed to give as much money as they can get from you.
MR (smiling): That’s exactly right.
JA: There’s no end to the amount of money they will take. If you’re a public member, paying to get auditing to go from the beginning all the way up to OT 8, the generally accepted number is about $360,000.
LR: So how do people do it, who are not rich?
JA: They take out second and third mortgages on their homes. Or they live in apartments. They drive really crappy cars.
LR: Right.
JA: If you ever go to a Scientology event, you’ll see the few wealthy cars.
LR: Yeah.
JA: Everything else are all old cars.
LR: Right.
JA: You sacrifice. You work extra jobs. And you go without.
LR: Good point. You go without. And that, and that’s what’s so painful. People are giving up living to finance their actual religion.
JA: L. Ron Hubbard said there’s nothing more valuable than Scientology. You’re asked to give up your retirement funds.
LR: Uh-huh. College funds…
JA: — college funds for your children.
LR: Even if you believed in that.
JA: This is insane.
LR: I know.
[00:37:55.853]
MR: Here’s, here’s one. (reading): I heard a theory that it’s actually a giant money-laundering scheme for the members. After all, once it goes through the Church, it becomes tax exempt.
JA: The Church of Scientology is not a money-laundering scheme for the members.
No, the money flows one way. It goes up. You sign a legal form that says “this is irrevocable money, gone forever.”
[Scene: Scientology waiver.
Highlighted: all my dealings of any nature with the Church,… is unconditional and irrevocable]
[00:38:23.163]
LR: But you’re asked to sign document after document.
JA: How do you become a Scientologist? You sign four contracts. You agree that Scientology is a religion.
[Scene: Church of Scientology Agreement Regarding Confidential Religious Files
LR: Okay…
JA: You abandon your right to sue them,
LR: Okay…
JA: You give up your rights to ever see your confessional folders.
[Scene: Church of Scientology Agreement and General Release Regarding Spiritual Assistance]
The last one is, if you go what’s called “Type 3”, if you have a psychotic break in the Church of Scientology, you agree to let Scientologists come and take you out of the Emergency Room or psychiatric confinement, lock you up in a hotel room, as long–
LR: Wait, wait. All Scientologists sign that? I signed that?
JA: You signed it without knowing it.
LR: Wow.
Well I really thank you for all that you’ve already done, and what you continue to do.
KDLC: Yeah.
[00:39:08.567]
[Scene: night view of exterior of house]
[…]
[End credits:
[00:42:39.364]
Leah ReminiCo-Executive Producers
Caroline Abaecheta
Erin GambleLine Producer
Jeremy DietrichConsultant
Mike RinderField Producer
Lisa RosenProduction Manager
Bobby AguilarCamera Operators
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Vincent OresmanPost Production Supervisor: Gabriel Rivera
Clearance Supervisor:Adele Sparks
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Lead Assistant Editor: Paul Ero Jr
Story Assistant: Ryanne Dunning
Assistant Editors
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Hairstylist: Addie Markowitz
Makeup Artists
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Archival Material
Getty Images
Karen De La Carriere
Pond5
ZUMA PressLegal Counsel
Lincoln Bandlow, Fox Rothschild LLP
Kimberly Lord, McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLPSpecial Thanks
Leah Remini
Jeffrey Augustine
Karen De La Carriere
Paulette Cooper
Mike Rinder
Chris SheltonFor the Intellectual Property Corporation
Executive Vice President of Production: Rachel Dax
Head of Post Production: Eric Towler
Vice President of Finance: Andy Olymbiou
Executive Assistant: Patrick MurphyFor A+E (R)
Executive Producer: Devon Graham Hammonds
Supervising Producer: Jeana DillProduced for A+E by The Intellectual Property Corporation in association with No Seriously Productions
(C) 2016 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
- Scientology and the Aftermath: Ask Me Anything (Season 1, Episode 0). (2016-12-19), Scientology and the Aftermath: A&E Television Networks.
See also: timed subliminal sequences for this episode ↩