The Biggest Celebrities Who&039ve Left Scientology — Best Life
The controversial Church of Scientology has a reputation for attracting and recruiting celebrity members. tom cruise, elisabeth moss and john travolta are among the most successful vocal devotees in hollywood. but there are also many celebrities who have been linked to the religion and either dropped out or denied ever being a full member in the first place. some have spoken out about their negative experiences in the organization, while others have quietly slipped away. Read on to learn about celebrities who have left Scientology and why.
Related: 10 Celebrities Who Were Raised Scientologists.
Perhaps the most vocal former celebrity Scientologist, Leah Remini devoted herself to exposing the alleged abuses of the organization after she left it in 2013. In 2015, her memoir Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology was published, and the following year, her docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath premiered on A&E. Along with former high-ranking church member Mike Rinder, Remini spent three seasons interviewing former Scientologists and their families. The show won two Emmys during its run.
In August 2021, That ’70s Show and Orange Is the New Black star Laura Prepon told People not only that she had left Scientology, but also that she hadn’t been involved in it for years. Being a mother showed her, she said, “that something can work out for a period of time and then you move on and evolve from that.”
“I don’t practice Scientology anymore,” Prepon explained. “I have always had a very open mind, even since I was a child. I was raised Catholic and Jewish. I have prayed in churches, meditated in temples. I have studied Chinese meridian theory. I have not practiced Scientology in close to five years and it is no longer a part of my life.”ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
Paul Haggis, the director and screenwriter of the 2005 Best Picture Oscar winner Crash, was an active member of the church for 35 years. He officially broke with Scientology in 2008 over a member of the San Diego branch signing a petition in support of California’s Proposition 8, which sought to limit marriage equality. (For years, the church has been denying accusations of homophobia.) In 2018, Haggis was anonymously accused of sexual misconduct by three women, accusations which he has categorically denied. Rinder and Remini posted an open letter in support of Haggis, per Variety, positing that a Scientology smear campaign was behind the claims.
Actor Jason Lee, who you know from several Kevin Smith comedies and the sitcom My Name Is Earl, reportedly was a member of Scientology beginning in the ’90s. He casually dropped the news that he was no longer a Scientologist in a 2016 interview with a local publication after he and his wife, Ceren Alkac, moved to Denton, Texas.
“If Ceren and I had an idea for a business, it certainly wouldn’t happen at someone else’s expense,” he told the Dentonite, responding to rumors that they would be setting up a church outpost. “And since we don’t practice Scientology and we’re not particularly interested in opening religious centers in general, we have no plans to open a Scientology center.”
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This one’s a little confusing. Artist Beck Hansen, who goes by Beck onstage, had spoken positively about Scientology over the course of several years and also proclaimed to be a part of the religion. In 2019, however, he told The Sydney Morning Herald (as reported by The Hollywood Reporter) that he is not a Scientologist…and never has been.
“I think there’s a misconception that I’m a Scientologist,” Hansen said. “I’m not a Scientologist. I have no connection or affiliation with that.” huh.
Though Katie Holmes never officially proclaimed herself to be a Scientologist, she was married to its most visible member and ambassador, Tom Cruise, for six years. Their 2006 Italian wedding was an extravagant event with a Scientology ceremony attended by many prominent church members. Since her split with Cruise, Holmes hasn’t been visibly connected to the church.
Cruise’s first wife, Mimi Rogers, is thought to have been the person who first introduced the actor to the church, but he lasted longer in the organization than she did. Rogers hasn’t spoken out against the religion, but it’s been reported that she wasn’t a fan of controversial church leader David Miscavige (nor was Cruise’s second wife, Nicole Kidman), who would be the Best Man at Cruise’s wedding to Holmes.
The exact nature of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith‘s past or present connection to Scientology is still something of a mystery. In the late ’00s, the couple opened a school whose curriculum was supposedly rooted in the church’s educational doctrine, though they denied the connection. In 2017, a rift formed between Pinkett Smith and Remini when Remini told The Daily Beast that Pinkett Smith was a member and that she’d frequently run into her at the Scientology Celebrity Centre. In response, Pinkett Smith tweeted, “I have studied Dianetics, and appreciate the merits of Study Tech…but I am not a Scientologist.” The two actors mended fences and talked things through when they met—where else?—on Red Table Talk, Pinkett Smith’s successful online talk show with her daughter, Willow Smith, and her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris.
Lisa Marie Presley was open about her Scientology practice at one time, as was her mother Priscilla Presley. But in 2012, she confirmed to USA Today that she left the religion, in part because of the influence she felt it had over her life.
“I received bad advice. I was isolated and without control over reality,” she said. “They were taking my soul, my money, my everything.”
Fantasy author Neil Gaiman grew up in a Scientology household and even gave a radio interview about the religion when he was seven years old, but he has repeatedly disavowed claims that he was ever a member as an adult.
Related: 26 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Scientologists.
