Nazanin Boniadi ('How I Met Your Mother's' Nora) Was Selected to Be Tom Cruise's Wife Before Katie Holmes

In the months and weeks since Katie Holmes left Tom Cruise and Scientology, reports have been getting out that Scientology auditioned and vetted women to be Cruise's wife before Holmes was selected and that women are once again being auditioned to replace Holmes. Vanity Fair breaks the news that Nazanin Boniadi, best known to the people who read The Bill Kuchman Chronicle as How I Met Your Mother's Nora, was originally the woman picked to be the next Mrs. Cruise. Some key details from the Vanity Fair article:

• Boniadi was already a Scientologist, so when told that she had been selected for a special mission, the actress jumped on board. The prep work for this mission included being audited every day, sharing the history of her sex life with Scientology, changing her hair color, dumping her boyfriend and signing a confidentiality agreement that would deem her an "enemy of Scientology" if she "messed up."

• The actress and Cruise went on their first date in 2004, a New York City date which included dinner at Nobu and ice skating at Rockefeller Center.

• The relationship began to go sour when Cruise and Scientology's higher-ups would find fault with minor things Boniadi would do or say. Unlike Holmes, Boniadi was uncomfortable with Cruise's preference for public displays of affection.

• When the relationship reached the point where Cruise was ready to move on, Scientology asked Boniadi to move out of the home she was sharing with Cruise instead of Cruise himself breaking up with her. This led the actress to confide in a Scientology friend the secret of her relationship with Cruise. This went against the confidentiality agreement Boniadi had agreed to, and her friend (being an AWESOME friend) reported Boniadi to Scientology. 

• Allegedly, Boniadi suffered Scientology's wrath, and her punishment was "to scrub toilets with a toothbrush, clean bathroom tiles with acid, and dig ditches in the middle of the night. After that she was sent out to sell Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics on street corners."

Wow. Just wow. Obviously, this is all just according to the Vanity Fair report, but I don't really doubt the truth behind any of it. After hearing what Holmes has gone through since leaving Cruise, it easy to see that Scientology is capable of this kind of thing. Why anyone would willfully choose to be part of an organization like this baffles me.

I'm also disappointed to discover that Boniadi allowed herself to go through all of this. I always like her on HIMYM and thought she brought a lot to the show as Nora, the girl that Barney realized he could leave his womanizing ways for. Never once did I get the vibe from the actress that she could get sucked into something like this Cruise fiasco.