Anne Gollert Hill spent 20 years inside Scientology, including years in the organization’s Sea Org. But when she finally decided to leave, it was her family who helped her disappear and begin rebuilding her life.
Hill opened up about her dramatic escape during a new appearance on The Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show, telling Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg about the grueling conditions she says she endured, the gradual realization that she needed to leave and the family connection that ultimately helped her see another life was possible.
Hill said she had become increasingly isolated from her family during her years in Scientology. At one point, she said, her mother didn’t know where she was for approximately a decade.
But a visit with her family eventually became a turning point.
Hill recalled sitting around with them, laughing and enjoying being together, when she was struck by how unfamiliar the experience had become.
“I forgot what this feels like,” she remembered thinking.
For Hill, that simple experience challenged what she had come to believe about life outside Scientology. She had spent years being taught to distrust people outside the organization, but being back with her family reminded her that she still had somewhere she belonged.
The realization didn’t result in an immediate departure, but Hill said it helped “crack” something open inside her.
Eventually, she made her move.
Hill walked out of Scientology’s Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Fla., in 2007 with little more than the clothes she was wearing and her purse. After two decades inside, she suddenly had to figure out where to go and how to keep the organization from finding her.
That’s when her family stepped in.
Hill’s brother Al, a truck driver, helped her get across the country while people from Scientology were trying to track her down. Hill recalled that her brother fielded calls asking about her whereabouts while insisting he didn’t know where she was.
Related: Jenny McCarthy Reveals Bizarre Moment at Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes’ Wedding: ‘Like Rosemary’s Baby’
For Hill, being on the road with her brother also gave her something she desperately needed after leaving: time.
After years of barely sleeping and constantly being expected to work, Hill suddenly had a chance to rest, process what had happened and begin adjusting to life outside the organization.
She ultimately made it back to her parents, who had prepared a room for her.
Even then, Hill said it was difficult to let go of the mindset she had lived with for so long. Within days of arriving, she was already on a computer looking for a job because she felt she couldn’t simply sit around and be “unproductive.”
Her mother stopped her.
The moment illustrated just how much Hill had to relearn after leaving an environment where, she said, productivity had been demanded constantly.
Hill has since spoken publicly about her experiences in Scientology and the Sea Org, but she credits the steady support of her family with giving her a safe place to land when she finally walked away.
That support began before the escape itself. Rather than arguing with Hill about her beliefs, her family remained a connection to the outside world.
And after 20 years inside, that connection became her way out.
Related: Donnie Wahlberg, Jenny McCarthy Mourn Devastating Loss, Vow to ‘Look In On’ Her Daughter