Victim: Scientologists Helped Stepdad Hide My Sex Abuse

(NEWSER) - Queen Latifah has revealed she was sexually abused as a child by a male charged with her care. "He violated me," the actress singer said in an interview in Essence magazine. "I never told anybody; I just buried it as deeply as I could and kept people at an arm's distance." The Grammy and Golden Globe winner said the secret abuse hurt her relationships with people. More»

Also talks Scientology in 'Playboy' interview

(NEWSER) - Tom Cruise promotes his upcoming musical Rock of Ages in the latest issue of Playboy , but not surprisingly, the movie talk isn’t getting quite as much attention as the quotes about Cruise’s personal life. Some highlights:

• On plastic surgery: "I haven't [gotten any], and I never would."
• On his PR nightmare: Asked what he learned from his controversial interview with Matt Lauer (in which he disparaged psychiatry and prescription drugs for post-partum depression) and his Oprah couch fiasco, Cruise replied, “When I go back and look at it, I find myself thinking, I don’t feel that way. I get how it came across, but I don’t feel that way, and I never have. Telling people how to live their lives? I saw how that came across and how pieces were edited.”

Richard Finkbiner befriended teenage boys online: FBI

(NEWSER) - The FBI has arrested an Indiana man who allegedly blackmailed 14-year-old boys into uploading sexually explicit images and videos of themselves, MSNBC reports. According to chilling court documents, Richard Leon Finkbiner, 39, befriended the boys online and enticed them into uploading the explicit material. He then threatened to show it to friends or family if they wouldn't upload more. Worse, evidence on Finkbiner's computer suggests "several hundred" other victims of roughly the same age. More»

Paul Babeu ran DeSisto School in Massachusetts, later shut down

(NEWSER) - The Arizona sheriff and Congressional candidate recently caught in a scandal over his gay lover once ran a boarding school that was shut down over abuse allegations, KNXV-TV reports. Paul Babeu was headmaster of the DeSisto School in Stockbridge, Mass., from 1999 to 2001—a time when physical and sexual abuse ran rampant, say former students. Punishments included forcing a student to wear nothing but a sheet to class or sitting in a corner for days or even weeks. More»

Family accuses Scouts of cover-up

(NEWSER) - The Boy Scouts of America has been ordered to turn over 20 years of files that allegedly show that the organization covered up sexual abuse and protected pedophiles. A judge overseeing a lawsuit brought by the family of a boy molested by a Scout leader has told the Scouts to surrender files that detail allegations of sexual abuse around the country, CBS reports. Scout officials say the files "exist solely to keep out individuals whose actions are inconsistent with the standards of Scouting," and do not conceal abuse. More»