Title: Young Jamie gets an 'ology
Source: Daily Mail, 11/26/2002
Author(s): NIGEL DEMPSTER
AN: FT13898064083FDM
Database: Newspaper Source
Young Jamie gets an 'ology

THE Church of Scientology has snared a new and powerful figure Down Under - Jamie Packer, son and heir of Australia's richest man, Kerry.

Executive chairman of Publishing and Broadcasting, Jamie is based just a short walk from the Church's Sydney HQ and is believed to have been led to the Scientologist fold by his close friend, Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise.

Jamie, 35, has been attending self-help training sessions at a Scientology campus in Sydney, and Cyrus Brooks for the Church in Australia says: 'If anyone becomes a member, he would be entitled to his privacy.' Jamie, who is estranged from his wife, swimsuit designer and model Jodhi Meares, 32, has been employing a Scientologist as his personal assistant at their former home overlooking Bondi Beach.

Since his marital break-up, young Packer has been stepping out with Aussie models Erica Baxter and Tara Moss. Baxter used to be close to heartthrob Jason Donovan and has also dated Damian Aspinall, a friend and business associate of Jamie's.

The Scientologists offer guidance on such matters as business management and selfesteem, and celebrity members include Cruise, his former wife Nicole Kidman, Lisa Marie Presley and John Travolta.

Scientology was founded in the Fifties by the late Lafayette Ron Hubbard, whose unofficial biographer concluded that he was a liar and a fraud, and prone to bouts of madness and brutality.

Copyright 2002 DAILY MAIL Financial Times Information Limited

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Source: Daily Mail, NOV 26, 2002
Item: FT13898064083FDM

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