The Church has many well-known parishioners such as John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Kirstie Alley, Anne Archer, Jenna Elfman, Lisa Marie Presley, Isaac Hayes, Chick Corea and many, many others. All are well known to be Scientologists. All of them are close friends with the Church leader, Mr. Miscavige. None of them hold any position within the Church itself. They are parishioners—period.

So they're simply parishoners, but also close personal friends of the leader of the church? They're obviously not just parishoners then, unless every parishoner is a close personal friend of the church leader, which would seem unlikely in a church that claims to have 8 million members world wide.
I'm sure much of the Cruise biography is cheap tabloid journalism, but this church is so dishonest in admitting their own problems that it's hard to take anything they claim on faith alone.