Elisabeth Moss is one of a handful of celebrities with known ties to the controversial Church of Scientology.
Although the actress, producer, and director rarely speaks about her involvement in the church, she recently spoke in detail with the New Yorker about being a Scientologist and why she doesn’t often speak about it.
“I don’t want people to be distracted by something when they’re watching me.”
Unlike most celebrities who join the church, Moss, who was born on July 24, 1982 in Los Angeles, was raised in the Church of Scientology. And, despite her rapid acceleration to Scientology’s second highest level by the time she was 11, for the most part she has avoided talking about her involvement.
The Handmaid’s Tale actor told Michael Schulman of The New Yorker, “I don’t want to come off as being cagey. If you and I met, just hanging out as friends, I’m, like, an open book about it.”
But when it comes to everyone else, she likes to be more private.
I don’t want people to be distracted by something when they’re watching me. I want them to be seeing the character. I feel like, when actors reveal too much of their lives, I’m sometimes watching something and I’m going, Oh, I know that she just broke up with that person, or, I know that she loves to do hot yoga, or whatever it is.
Schulman explained that people are already distracted by her involvement with the controversial church.
“People can obviously hold in their mind whatever they want to, and I can’t control that. If it’s not that, it’s going to be something else,” she said. “It’s not really a closed-off religion. It’s a place that is very open to, like, welcoming in somebody who wants to learn more about it. I think that’s the thing that is probably the most misunderstood.”
While it is true that Scientology will welcome you into one of their centers to take a free “personality test,” there are many stories that refute Moss’ statement that Scientology is “not really a closed-off religion.”
Former Scientologist and fellow actress, Leah Remini has led the fight against the church since she left in 2013. She has continually spoken out against Scientology’s abuses and practices.
Leaders attempting to control the minds of the church’s followers, people encouraged to completely cut ties with anyone who left the church, and employees of the church working for very little money were just a few of the issues within the church.
One thing Remini and many others could never understand was why Shelly Miscavige, the wife of the church’s current leader David Miscavige, hasn’t been seen in public since August 2007.
Moss’ response to the allegations?
“I would just encourage people to find out for themselves,” she said. “I’ve certainly been guilty of reading an article or watching something and taking that as gospel.”
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