Photo: Celeste Sloman
In 2010, former Scientologist Michelle LeClair says her world was turned upside down when she left the church after allegedly facing persecution for coming out as gay.
Celeste Sloman
Courtesy Michelle Leclair
In her book, LeClair also recalls her rise within Scientology after founding one of the nation’s most successful woman-owned life insurance firms, her realization (while married to a man) that she was a lesbian, and how the love of her life, partner Tena Clark, ultimately helped her break free.
Peter Zambouros
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LeClair, who says she donated an estimated $5 million to the church over the years, claims it targeted not only her family but also her livelihood in the wake of her defection.
For more on Michelle LeClair’s escape from Scientology, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday
At what she believes was the church’s instigation, the state of California charged LeClair with running a Ponzi scheme, and she ultimately shut down her insurance business, agreeing to return $1.3 million to more than 40 alleged victims.
“I had heard how vindictive the church could be, [that] they used the courts to bleed people dry with litigation,” she writes. “Still, I hadn’t been prepared for the force of their retaliation. Now the government had accused me of a felony? My thoughts ran wild.”
Asked to comment, theChurch of Scientologyrebutted much of LeClair’s account, stating, in part:
LeClair’s legal nightmare stretched on for six emotionally draining years and left her millions of dollars in debt.
But on March 30, 2017, the criminal charges were dropped in what LeClair says the court called “the interest of justice.”
“Truth prevailed,” LeClair writes in her book. “I was innocent.”
LeClair is now living in rural Georgia with her children from her first marriage (Sage, 17, Savannah, 11, and twins Jadon and London, 9) and her partner, Clark, 64, a successful music producer.
After her years-long battle with Scientology, LeClair says she finally feels free: “Free for my children. Free to love the person I do. Free.”
source: people.com
