Wife of Dianetics Founder Asks Divorce on Cruelty Grounds

Claims Systematic Torture

Also Alleges He Had Another Wife at Time of Wedding

April 23, 1951

L. Ron Hubbard, 40 founder of the Dianetics Research Foundation, was sued for divorce today by his pretty wife, Sarah Northrup Hubbard, 25, on sensational charges that he had another wife when he married her, and subjected her to "systematic torture" which threatened her life.

In the suit filed by Attorney Caryl Warner, Mrs. Hubbard contended that Hubbard was already married to Margaret Grubb Hubbard on Aug. 10, 1946 when he married her, representing himself as single. More than a year later he obtained a divorce from the first wife, she asserted.

The complaint also outlined a long series of alleged abuses, charging that Hubbard "dominated her. physically and mentally, and subjected her to a systematic torture, including beatings, loss of sleep, strangulation and scientific torture experiments.

She also charged that Hubbard abducted their 13-month-old child, Alexis, and hid the infant in a West Los Angeles home under an assumed name.

The wife demanded return of the baby, and asked the court for $500,000 from Hubbard for her services to him in the event their marriage was not ruled legal.