Tom Cruise's Custom Limo Built by Church of Scientology Laborers

The Church of Scientology gets a lot of attention for all the celebrities it's drawn to Xenu. Earlier this week the religious organization was under investigation for human trafficking and free labor. Now one of Tom Cruise's ex-staffers is claiming the iconic Scientologist requested the church's funds be used to build an extravagant, luxury limousine for himself and Katie Holmes.

According to RadarOnline.com, John Brosseau, a 30-year member of the church who has since resigned, claims he worked on two motorcycles, an airport hangar and the SUV for little Suri's parents. During this time, Brosseau was being paid $50 a week and was "supposed to be working for the betterment of mankind."

The actor's former lackey was denounced by the church after he participated in a New Yorker feature giving insight into the secretive religion. Brosseau is now releasing the details of the work he did for the church and its celebrity icon. The disgruntled ex-Xenu worshipper claims to have spent "2000 man-hours" creating Tom's pimped-out ride that was "like no other ever built."

Brosseau says that it was church leader David Micavige, who happens to also be his brother-in-law, who asked for the church's staff to "(spend) thousands of hours doing personal projects for Tom Cruise while being paid $50.00 per week as their salary." He adds that he fortunately "took a lot of photos of things I worked on over the years."

According to these claims, a huge eucalyptus tree was cut down from the church's international base to create "fancy woodwork" inside of Tom and Katie's custom limo. "The burl was very unique," Brosseau said. "Tom loved it as it had come from a tree at the International Base, where he (Cruise) had achieved the state of Clear in the early 90's." (The "state of Clear" is basically Scientology speak for a level of peace someone reaches when they become "free" of the influences of painful or unwanted emotions.)

Church leaders reportedly thought this was even too "over the top" for the Cruise family, although Brosseau says he devoted six months to building the limo and was considered a "hero" within the church hierarchy because Tom was "completely blown away." As of April 2010, the vehicle was still Tom's primary mode of transportation in Los Angeles.

This is not the first time Cruise has faced criticism over his involvement with the Church of Scientology. The once-untouchable star endured a major backlash -- one that has haunted his career since -- from the medical community when he defended the church's stance on mental illness and psychiatry during a heated exchange with Matt Lauer on 'Today' in 2005.