The Church of Scientology has long been the subject of public curiosity. The organization, whose status as a religion is heavily contested, was founded in 1953 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
Scientologists believe that a spiritual being, known as a thetan, lives within each person's body. According to the church, every thetan is immortal and has lived many past lives, some of which are believed to have taken place on other planets.
Described by critics as both a cult and a business, the church has been accused of physical, psychological, and s*xual ab*se, as well as human trafficking and forced labor.
It is perhaps best known for having a number of A-list celebrities among its most devoted supporters, including Tom Cruise, who converted in 1986, and John Travolta, who became a member in 1975.
In recent years, several former Scientologist celebrities have spoken out about the church’s controversial practices and inner workings, including its methods of recruiting new members, extracting money from them, and attempting to isolate them from their loved ones.
Here are some of the celebrities who have uncovered what goes on behind the walls of the Church of Scientology.
#1 Leah Remini revealed why the church is so obsessed with A-list celebrities
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#2 John Stamos’ experience with the E-Meter was one he never forgot
Stamos’ first encounter with Scientology came when he was around 16 years old. He was taking acting classes, and there was a “hot girl” he wanted to impress.
"She said, 'You know, we're all meeting at this address on Hollywood Boulevard, come after (class)!' I was working at my dad's restaurant at the time, and I said, 'Dad I gotta, I gotta go,’” the California-born star called on the Friend in High Places podcast.
“So I went, and it was the Scientology building.”
He was also inspired to join the religion by his idol, John Travolta, who had become a member in 1975.
"I wanted to be John Travolta, I still do,” Stamos joked.
The Full House star explained that he entered the Scientology building and was instructed to use a machine called the "E-Meter," which was formed from two cans.
But the device, which Scientologists believe measures a person’s level of spirituality, did not seem very serious to Stamos, who began having a fake phone conversation pretending to be Rocky and Bullwinkle characters Peabody and Sherman.
“They didn’t like that,” Stamos said, explaining that he was “kicked out” for “messing around so much."
In his memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, the 62-year-old also mentioned his brief experience with the faith.
Recalling his departure from the church as a teenager, he wrote “I am whisked out of the room and sent on my merryway. Apparently, I’m not Scientology material. Darn it."
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#3 Dylan Sprayberry explained how the church claims to “purify” its members
@goof_.ball like bro could’ve done anything else but scientology 😥😥 #fypp #dylansprayberry #teenwolf #actor #xyzcba ♬ original sound - 🫰🫰
The 28-year-old star said he was inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, particularly his message that “happiness is not something that I have to get — it’s something that I create within myself.”
The star believes that joining Scientology has helped him become a better person and feel happier with his life.
He said, “I can never lose that because I create it. For me, it’s that simple.”
© Photo: Getty/Jason LaVeris
#4 Jason Beghe reached Scientology’s highest ranks before calling out the “very dangerous” group
The Chicago P.D. actor described the organization, of which he was a high-ranking member, as “very dangerous for your spiritual, psychological, mental, emotional health and evolution.”
Beghe claimed that Scientology leaders tried to silence him but were “incompetent at handling these things.”
He said, “They always use a hammer. They don’t have any fine tools. They’re very rough. Every time they try to handle something, they shoot themselves in the foot.”
Beghe began studying Scientology in 1994 while taking acting classes taught by famous acting coach and Scientologist Milton Katselas.
By the mid-2000s, Beghe had risen to the level of OT, or “Operating Thetan,” considered the “highest state” in the religion.
The Thelma & Louise actor donated an estimated $1 million to the church, spoke at Scientology events, and appeared in advertisements for the organization.
He ultimately left Scientology in 2007. Months later, he opened up about how blind he had been in trusting the group.
“I went through some sh*t,” he admitted. “One never knows how much of it is still influencing you, because you don’t know what you don’t know.”
Still, he doesn’t regret donating $1 million to the church. “That’s part of my story. It’s who I was at that moment, and I’m sure it has something to do with who I am now.”
Beghe has since appeared at several protests against Scientology, as well as in the HBO documentary Going Clear.
He explained that his main problem with Scientology was the organization’s “superstructure,” embodied by its leader, David Miscavige.
“I’m not going to sit by and watch someone beat the sh*t out of some old lady; I’m going to do something about it. That’s who I am,” the 66-year-old star said.
Reflecting on whether Scientology is a cult, the actor shared, “Everybody’s in a cult. This country is a cult. I have children and I see them pledge allegiance to the flag, and they don’t know what they're doing. You should be able to make that choice yourself.
“And then I’m buying this type of toothpaste because, well, it’s advertising. It helped me develop a mantra that I try to keep, which is: The only thing I know is that I don’t know.”
© Photo: Getty/Charley Gallay/NBC
#5 Matt Willis feared Scientologists wanted him to divorce his famous wife
Willis was recruited by the church after leaving rehab. He said he became so “invested” that he cut ties with several of his friends and family.
The British singer and bassist, who is a member of the band Busted, spent time at Scientology’s London headquarters and frequently participated in its practices.
He told The Sun that a stranger approached him while walking down London's Tottenham Court Road shortly after he had gotten sober following struggles with substance dependence.
The stranger asked him a few simple questions and invited him to attend the church, which he did the following week.
"Every single day I went there. I bought different books and did different courses. I was in,” he recalled.
He even took part in a practice called “auditing,” which is aimed at locating “areas of spiritual distress” using an E-meter that supposedly detects “harmful energy” in the body.
"I was an idiot who got hoodwinked by some guy with a fairground trick," Willis, who began dressing more formally to blend in with Scientologists, said of the experience.
Now that he has left the organization, the 43-year-old pop star believes its leaders were trying to isolate him from his loved ones.
He recalled being “buddied up” with a younger man whose parents were “part of the big leagues.” This man reportedly asked him questions about his life like, “What’s holding me back and holding my potential back?”
Willis said, "What I was taking from it was that your environment, your friends and the people you’re closest to are your problem. I was like, ‘What are you f***ing getting at here?’”
During these conversations, he was warned about a “negative force” in his life that was “draining” him. He believed the leaders were referring to his famous wife, TV presenter Emma Willis.
Though he did distance himself from his friends and family for a time, a fight with one of the group’s members was enough to make him question his involvement with the church and cut ties with it completely.
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#6 Lisa Marie Presley claimed she was “groomed” by the church after inheriting Elvis’ fortune
The daughter of Elvis Presley became a Scientologist as a child, shortly after her father passed away in 1977.
When she was 9 years old, her mother, Priscilla, began dropping her off at Scientology facilities.
Priscilla was reportedly recruited by John Travolta’s assistant, Sylvia “Spanky” Taylor. Elvis, who had divorced Priscilla before his passing, had resisted the movement for years.
Lisa Marie claimed her mother “dumped” her off at Scientology headquarters because she “was always trying to figure out what to do with me” after Elvis passed away.
“I had watches on me. I thought at one point that I wanted to join the Sea Org just to get out of my mom’s house,” she recalled.
One day, she was taken to the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida, which is considered Scientology’s “mecca.”
Lisa Marie began questioning her ties to the church when she turned 25, the age at which she became eligible to receive her inheritance from her father’s estate.
She claimed she was “groomed” after receiving the inheritance. Church leaders allegedly wanted to use her fortune and influence to recruit other celebrities, particularly her then-husband Michael Jackson.
However, when Jackson faced child m*lestation allegations, Scientology leader David Miscavige pressured Lisa Marie to file for divorce, she claimed.
The late singer-songwriter, who left Scientology in 2014, summarized her experience with the controversial group by saying, “It was bullsh*t. It was just about control. It was just a way of getting more money.”
© Photo: Getty/Kevin Winter
#7 David Duchovny became uneasy after Scientologists asked deeply personal questions
Duchovny has claimed that Scientology leaders tried to recruit him at the wedding of his friend and fellow actor Jason Beghe.
The Californication star was initially curious about the group, of which Beghe was a member.
"They made a play for me,” he said, adding that he underwent an electro-psychometer test during a Scientology auditing.
Duchovny began feeling uneasy when a Scientology member started asking deeply personal questions.
“I realized immediately that they were gathering information that I didn't want to give out to a stranger. So, the session didn't go well. I didn't play by the rules, and I never went back.”
Duchovny clarified that his famous friend never tried to recruit him. Beghe only told him that the religion was “great” and invited him to join, but he never became pushy.
But the deeper Beghe got into Scientology, the more distant he and Duchovny became.
According to the 65-year-old X-Files star, this was the result of the church brainwashing its members into avoiding outsiders, even those they had known for years.
“Scientologists hang with their own," the actor told The Daily Beast.
He recalled that Beghe, who eventually left the church in 2007, began using different vocabulary and describing his psychological experiences in a “cult-ish” way.
“Either I didn’t have the balls to slap him and snap him out of it, or he said it was working for him, or … maybe I failed him as a friend during those years.”
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#8 Mimi Faust was pressured to sign a “billion-year contract” at just 13 years old
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#9 Nazanin Boniadi was paired with Tom Cruise to become the actor’s ideal Scientologist partner
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#10 Tiffany Haddish was recruited while she was “homeless as hell” in Los Angeles
Before her comedy career took off, Haddish was briefly involved with Scientology at a time when she was “homeless as hell” in Los Angeles, as she described it.
She was at a casting agency trying to get work as an extra when someone approached her about joining the church.
Her father, Tsihaye Reda Haddish, was an Eritrean Jew, while her mother, Leola, was a Jehovah’s Witness.
“I needed a roof over my head,” Haddish explained.
“I took a few courses and they found out I was homeless. They were like, ‘If you stay here, we’ll pay you $50 a month and you can have a roof over your head.’”
Haddish claimed the church told her to recruit people from the Englewood and South Central areas as part of the agreement.
“I said, ‘OK’. I signed the contract. The contract was like a billion years or something like that, which I thought was crazy, but I was like, ‘Whatever. I need a place to stay.’”
However, her sleeping arrangements were not as comfortable as she had expected. When she complained about the conditions, she was shown the door.
“They took me to where we sleep, which is called the barracks. And it was bunk beds, and I don’t do bunk beds,” the 46-year-old stand-up comedian said.
“I threw a fit, and they tore my contract up and threw me out.”
© Photo: Getty/Jason LaVeris
#11 Christopher Reeve thought he was taking a “personality test” but got something very different
The Superman actor pulled back the curtain on his experience with Scientology in his 2002 memoir, Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life.
Reeve first encountered Scientology while living in New York City in 1975. At the time, the actor had graduated from Cornell University and studied at Juilliard. He had also appeared in the soap opera Love of Life.
The late star was “enjoying [his] life as a young bachelor in the Big Apple” when he saw a man holding a sign that read, “Free personality test, no obligation.”
Reeve ultimately followed the stranger into the New York headquarters of the Church of Scientology, where he filled out a form with personal information, including his address and social security number.
The following day, the Emmy-winning actor returned to the church because he was curious to learn his “personality test” score.
Instead of receiving a score, however, Reeve received a diagnosis.
“There was no score, no grade, no quantitative measurement, just their assessment,” he recounted.
“I was obviously deeply depressed, suffering from low self-esteem, and carrying heavy ‘baggage’ around with me, not only from emotional damage in this incarnation but from previous lives as well.”
The actor, who was not raised in a religious household, said he found the principles of Scientology “logical and highly motivating” and was told he should begin “training” at the center.
This included participating in an “audit,” which, according to the church, helps people rid themselves “of any spiritual disabilities” and increase their “individual abilities.”
“Then my growing skepticism about Scientology and my training as an actor took over,” the actor penned.
Reeve told his auditor that he had been a Greek warship commander in a past life, a story that deeply moved the Scientology member.
“I was simply relying on her ability, assisted by the E-Meter, to discern the truth,” said the star, who later became a Unitarian after being paralyzed in an equestrian accident in 1995.
“The fact that I got away with a blatant fabrication completely devalued my belief in the process.”
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#12 Michelle Visage was horrified by the church’s “tone scale” that ranks people
The RuPaul's Drag Race judge became involved with Scientology through her friend and former Scientologist, Leah Remini.
Speaking on the Las Culturistas podcast, Visage claimed that the church’s modus operandi is to offer increasingly expensive, self-help-style courses that promise to improve a person’s life.
“I go in to take these courses, and then I did the $50 ones and then the $100 ones. Mind you, I was working on the radio, so I didn't have a lot of salary.
“It came to, like, the $1,800 one. I said I didn't have the money to do it, and they said, 'Well, you can borrow a friend's credit card,' and I was like, 'What kind of friends you think I got?'"
Church members allegedly told Visage that celebrity Scientologist Jenna Elfman had borrowed a friend's credit card to pay for her courses. Remini’s mother then stepped in and offered to cover the cost.
“It was time to make a commitment or get out,” Visage said. “I was like, ‘Something doesn’t feel right.’”
To Visage, the biggest red flag wasn’t the church’s financial demands but a "tone scale," which she said "tells you where people are rated in life.”
The 57-year-old television personality was shocked to see that homosexuals were ranked alongside criminals on the scale.
“M*rderers and p*dophiles are down at 100 and a deity, a god, is at zero. I started going through the scale, and literally at 90-something was p*dophiles, m*rderers and homosexuals. So I took the book, and I shut it.
“I said, ‘I quit,’ and I walked out. Girl, bye.”
© Photo: Getty/Ben Montgomery
