Church of Scientology Told Actress Vetted to Be Tom Cruise's Partner She Would 'Save the World,' Writer Says

Sept. 5, 2012 — -- The actress who was allegedly selected by the Church of Scientology as a candidate to be Tom Cruise's real-life girlfriend "was told she was being chosen for a mission" and was "really going to save the world," according to the author of Vanity Fair's magazine article detailing the couple's relationship.

As particulars of Maureen Orth's story continue to surface -- and Cruise and the Church of Scientology continue to vehemently deny the allegations -- Orth, the magazine's special correspondent, told "Good Morning America" today that as Iranian-born, London-raised actress Nazanin Boniadi was being carefully vetted, she did not know what was in store for her.

"[She] was told that she was being chosen for a mission, that was really going to save the world," Orth said. "That she was going to be meeting dignitaries, that it was very important that she look good, and be worldly. And she had no idea, when it began, that [she] was going to end up meeting Tom Cruise."

The allegations in Orth's article include that the Church of Scientology was interested in finding Cruise "a drop-dead beautiful true believer to share his life..." and "a believer they thought could actually wear the glass slippers."

Orth writes that during the process, at which point Cruise was filming the 2005 film "War of the Worlds," only Scientologist actresses were chosen to audition for what they thought was a training film. Then, they were asked, "What do you think of Tom Cruise?"

Once Boniadi, then 25, was chosen, she underwent a month-long vetting process and was asked to reveal every detail of "her innermost secrets, including every detail of her sex life," according to the article.

Orth says the church told her to darken her hair to "emphasize her ethnicity," lose her braces and encouraged her to break up with her boyfriend, whom she was reportedly hoping to marry.

The actress even reportedly signed a confidentiality agreement and was told that if she "messed up," she would be declared an enemy of Scientology, according to the Vanity Fair article.

"I do believe that [Cruise] was very much aware that it was going on, or at least he had certainly heard about her, because by the time he met her he did know all about her," she said on "GMA."

Orth wrote in her article that that entire audition process was overseen by Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology chief David Miscavige.

The Church of Scientology told ABC News in a statement Tuesday, "The entire story is hogwash. There was no project, secret or otherwise, ever conducted by the Church to find a bride (audition or otherwise) for any member."

A rep for Cruise told ABC News in a statement Monday, "Lies in a different font are still lies -- designed to sell magazines."

ABC News reached out to Boniadi Tuesday, but she had no statement or comments about the Vanity Fair story. Boniadi is no longer affiliated with Scientology.

Speaking on "GMA" today, Orth defended her article, saying that all of her sourcing passes muster.

"It would be very hard for the people that I talked to on the record to have corroborated the intense amount of detail that is in the story, to have made that up out of whole cloth," she said. "We have vetted this story, we have legally checked it. And I feel very comfortable with the sourcing."

Boniadi and Cruise first met in November 2004, and their first date included a tour of the Empire State Building, dining at an upscale sushi restaurant and private ice skating at Rockefeller Center, according to the article.

The couple became inseparable as Cruise groomed her, according to Orth, including allegedly wanting "Boniadi's incisor teeth filed down."

Boniadi, the magazine says, "first sensed that this was possibly going to be an arranged marriage," and although they spent that first night together, "they did not have sex."

Vanity Fair reported that Cruise told Boniadi, "I've never felt this way before," and eventually his affection became "overwhelming" for the actress.

At one point, Cruise complained to Boniadi, "I get more love from an extra than from you," according to Vanity Fair.

Cruise also believed that Boniadi wasn't sufficiently respectful enough of David Miscavige, Orth said.

The relationship ended in January 2005, the magazine reported, three months before Cruise appeared in public with Katie Holmes. The article claims that Cruise wanted "someone with her own power, like Nicole Kidman."

Asked on "GMA" whether there were any photos of Cruise and Boniadi, Orth said that sources told her that photos of the couple "were taken away, and they no longer exist."

Boniadi, the magazine writes, was then reportedly sent to a Scientology center where she broke down and revealed her relationship with Cruise to a friend, which supposedly violated her confidentially agreement. As punishment, Vanity Fair says, her chores included "scrubbing toilets with a toothbrush, cleaning tiles with acid and digging ditches in the middle of the night."

The Church of Scientology, however, denied this to the magazine, saying, "The Church does not punish people, especially in that way."

Oscar-winning director and former Scientologist Paul Haggis supports Vanity Fair's story that Boniadi was auditioned by the church to be Cruise's real-life girlfriend.

In an email to ShowBiz411.com, the "Crash" director says he has known Boniadi for three years.

"Naz was embarrassed by her unwitting involvement in this incident and never wanted it to come out, so I kept silent," Haggis wrote in the email published on the website Sunday. "I was deeply disturbed by how the highest ranking members of a church could so easily justify using one of their members; how they so callously punished her and then so effectively silenced her when it was done."

Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology International, said Haggis is an "apostate." She told ABC News Tuesday that Haggis is "attempting to grab headlines and falsely slander his former religion."

Orth's story is in the October issue of the magazine, which features Holmes on the cover and will hit newsstands in New York and Los Angeles Thursday. A rep for Holmes told ABC News that the Vanity Fair story was done without her participation.