Mike Rinder’s Memoir Encourages ‘It’s Never Too Late to Change’ After Spending 52 Years in Scientology [Exclusive]
For years, Fair Game podcast host Mike Rinder served as Scientology‘s head spokesperson and executive director of the Office of Special Affairs. At the age of 52, he left. As he promotes his new memoir A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in The Highest Ranks of Scientology, Rinder believes it’s “not too late to change” and move forward into a new life, something he shared with Showbiz Cheat Sheet in an exclusive interview.
Scientology encompassed more than half of Mike Rinder’s life
Mike Rinder was introduced to the practice of Scientology by his parents at the age of six. He remained devoted to the faith as his parents participated in advanced Scientology courses and training. However, his commitment to religion took a more profound turn in his late teens.
Shortly after Rinder graduated high school in April 1973, he joined the Sea Organization (Sea Org). These are a dedicated group of practicing Scientology members who sign a billion-year commitment to further the organization’s cause.
Rinder worked alongside other Scientologists in 1973 when he was stationed on founder L. Ron Hubbard’s ship Apollo and met the organization’s founder for the first time. He remained in the Sea Org until 2007. Rinder rose to the rank of head of OSA (Office of Special Affairs) before leaving the faith, his wife, and two children behind, he wrote in his blog.
Since leaving Scientology, Rinder has shared stories about his experience in the organization. He and actor Leah Remini hosted A&E’s Scientology and the Aftermath for three seasons. The duo won an Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special in 2020. The duo continue speaking out against the religious organization as hosts of the Scientology: Fair Game podcast.
The author says, ‘it’s never too late to change’ your life path
Rinder spoke to Showbiz Cheat Sheet to promote his book A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in The Highest Ranks of Scientology. He explained he wanted to open up his memoir with a passage about change sometimes attributed to F. Scott Fitzgerald.
It begins with: “For what it’s worth; it’s never too late, or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit; stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same; there are no rules to this thing.”
“I hope people that read [the book] take some solace from the fact that even someone like me, at 52 years old, could depart from one life and start an entirely new life,” Rinder said. “And I think that is broadly acceptable. Suddenly it goes beyond people who were involved in Scientology. It applies to bad relationships or terrible jobs,” he said, using the passage to preface his story.
“I hope that people read this and go, ‘OK, if that guy could do it, I could do it too.'”
‘It’s amazing what you can get someone to do when you convince them there’s a higher goal at stake,’ he said
A short excerpt from #ABillionYears posted on @smerconish_com following interview with @smerconish https://t.co/MmwEyxt306
— Mike Rinder (@MikeRinder) October 13, 2022
As to why the author would sign a billion-year contract and devote himself to an organization at such a young age, Rinder admitted he and other Scientologists believed universally, there was a lot at stake.
He said, “It’s amazing what you can get someone or anyone to do if you can convince them there is this higher objective and more important goal. These ideas are very grand.
“These are teachings that Hubbard espoused for Scientology and Scientologists. His teachings are the only solutions for the problems of mankind,” Rinder said. “It will save every man, woman, and child on earth. If you buy into that, you’re willing to put up with a lot. You believe in the group’s greater good.”
He concluded, “Why would anyone complain about anything with Scientology? Those two things, when you put one in one hand and one in the other; the massive objective of saving mankind always wins for Scientologists.”
After years of speaking about his life in Scientology, Rinder shared why now was the best time to write his memoir
Episode 19 of our podcast Scientology: Fair Game is out. We talk to Christie Collbran Rinder about being raised in scientology, disconnection, Fair Game & what life is like today. Listen on @iheartradiopodcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts #scientologyfairgame pic.twitter.com/k8jeS9yGEj
— Leah Remini (@LeahRemini) December 9, 2020
Rinder has been very open about his life in the organization. He has spoken of his heartbreak over the end of his first marriage, leaving two adult children behind as members of his former faith and the new life he created with his current wife, Christine, and their son.
Rinder shared why now was the best time to write a memoir, even after discussing his life at length on both the A&E series and his and Remini’s podcast.
“People have been asking me for a long time to write a book,” he shared. “I always had some trepidation about it. There was so much to cover, it seemed like a daunting task.”
“However, I was always somewhat concerned that because I don’t have records [of every event listed within the book], Scientology would question the validity of events. Because Scientology, historically, keeps records of everything.” Rinder claims the group keeps meticulous records regarding all its members, “including every hotel I’ve ever stayed at, every location I have ever been in.”
Mike Rinder claims his adult children are his biggest motivation to keep speaking out
Rinder’s oldest children, with his first wife Cathy, Taryn, and Benjamin, remain members of the Church of Scientology. He remains estranged from them but shares that they are his biggest motivation to keep speaking out against the organization.
“There are two children I brought into that world that also signed a billion-year contract [As Sea Org members], and that is my biggest life regret,” he stated.
“They are the thing that motivates me to keep going to expose what I believe are the bad things about Scientology and the hope that eventually, they will perhaps even leave and escape Scientology as I did.”
Mike Rinder’s A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in The Highest Ranks of Scientology is available for purchase wherever books are sold.
