Celebrities

John Travolta

Tom Cruise

Leah Remini

Elisabeth Moss

A few of the most famous celebrities associated with the Church of Scientology are:

• Tom Cruise
• John Travolta
• Kirstie Alley
• Elisabeth Moss
• Laura Prepon

A few of the most famous celebrities who have left the church are:

• Katie Holmes
• Nicole Kidman
• Jerry Seinfeld
• Demi Moore
• Leah Remini

Whenever anyone thinks of Scientology, they likely think of Tom Cruise. Cruise is possibly the most famous celebrity Scientologist. He joined the church in 1990 and is reportedly very close with Scientology’s current leader, David Miscavige. Miscavige even created the Scientology Freedom Medal of Valor to award Cruise for his efforts involving promoting Scientology based therapy after 9/11. Cruise is also believed to be second only to leader Miscavige in the hierarchy of the church.

While Cruise might be the most famous advocate for Scientology, Leah Remini might be the most famous critic of Scientology. Remini left the church in 2013 after thirty years, brought into the church by her mother at age nine. She co-hosts and helps produce the show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which shows on A&E and has had two seasons so far. The show is about the controversies within the religion as well as the stories of Remini and former members. The Church of Scientology responded to some allegations made on the show by saying:

“Nothing about A&E’s Leah Remini “docuseries” is honest. The singular goal of the program is to make money and boost ratings by spreading salacious lies to promote A&E’s ugly brand of religious intolerance, bigotry and hatred.”

The church also made a website linked below to discredit Leah Remini’s documentary series.

A recent issue that has come up involving a celebrity of the church has centered around a popular Hulu series called the Handmaid’s Tale. Elisabeth Moss stars as the progressive lead actress of a very menacing show depicting the possible horrors of a severe religious government takeover. Some people believe that this part contradicts her beliefs, being a part of the Church of Scientology.

Videos/Further Reading:

Leah Remini’s response to leaving the church and a recap of her involvement over the years can be found in this article from 2015 by ABC News.

Here is the website created by the Church of Scientology to discredit Leah Remini’s series.

If you would like to watch a famous 2008 Tom Cruise interview on Scientology, click here. This video apparently shows Cruise promoting Scientology. The video, according to the church, was originally shown at a 2004 Scientology meeting where Cruise accepted a “Freedom Medal”. It is important to keep in mind while watching this video that the questions are edited out and some responses are cut off, so the validity of the context is up to the audience to decide. The church also claims that this video is “pirated and edited” and have attempted to remove all copies of it. Some more information of this video can be found at this Wikipedia page.

Elisabeth Moss’s response to the Handmaid’s Tale and Scientology can be found in this article from 2017 by People.