going-clear-scientology-hollywood-and-the-prison-of-belief-by-lawrence-wright-2

edhead; he was small with ash-blond hair, like Mary Sue, and would always be his
mother’s favorite. Suzette was a year younger; she was a cheerful child, but somewhat
overshadowed by her big sister. The baby, Arthur, was born in 1958. Seen together, the
Hubbard family made a vivid impression, with their ruddy complexions and their
striking hair color.
Although the children had a nanny, they spent much of their time unsupervised.
School was an afterthought; it wasn’t until Diana demanded to learn how to write her
name that the children began their education. Mary Sue was a chilly presence as a
mother; she rarely cuddled or even touched her children, but in the early years she
would read to them—Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, and Kipling’s stories—in her slight
Texas twang. As she took on additional responsibility in Scientology, she became even
more removed; but Ron would hug the kids and toss them in the air. The house echoed
with his booming laugh. He taught the children how to play “Chopsticks” on the piano
and showed them card tricks with his quick hands and perfectly manicured ngernails.
He would play records and dance with the children to Beethoven or Ravel or Edvard
Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite—bold, soaring music. He liked to sing, and he would burst into
“Farewell and Adieu to You Fair Spanish Ladies,” and “Be Kind to Your Web-Footed
Friends,” a children’s song that is sung to the tune of “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” He
was fanatical about taking vitamins, and he made sure the children took theirs, as well.
Afterward, they would all roar to see who was the strongest.
Hubbard was restless in Washington, and in 1959 he moved his family back to
England, to a luxurious estate in Sussex called Saint Hill Manor, which he purchased
from the Maharajah of Jaipur. Hubbard employed an extensive household sta,
including two butlers, a housekeeper, a nanny, a tutor for the children, a chaueur, and
maintenance workers for the estate. “Dr.” Hubbard presented himself to the curious
British press as an experimental horticultural scientist; to prove it, he allowed a
photograph to be published of himself staring intently at a tomato that was attached to
an E-Meter. The headline in Garden News was “Plants Do Worry and Feel Pain.”