Leah Remini wasn’t the only celebrity to depart from it.
1. Left: Jerry Seinfeld
Source: Theo Wargo / Getty Images
Seinfield did admit to taking a course back in the day on the WTF with Marc Maron show, despite the fact that he was never the organization’s official member. “I did do a course in Scientology in, like, ’75,” said Seinfield. Though he didn’t came further with it, he claimed that he felt extremely interesting, and learned a lot from it, including communication skills.
Source: NBCUniversal via Getty Images
2. In it: Michael Peña
Source: Michael Kovac / Getty Images for NCLR
Peña, who has appeared in several movies including End of Watch and Ant-Man, claims he initially participated in Scientology since he was concerned about his overdrinking, and a process named Purification Rundown helped to pull him out. The actor also claims that one of their other processes helped him to become “a better actor” by improving his “script understanding.” Peña also said that he didn’t care about the disputes surrounding the organization upon being questioned by The Guardian.
Source: Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
3. Left: Laura Prepon
Source: Jason Merritt / Getty Images for Turner
Prepon became a member of Scientology in 1999 and remained within when she took part in the cast of Orange Is The New Black. Nonetheless, in a 2021 interview with People magazine, she admitted that she stopped practicing Scientology for a while, in about 5 years, implying that she left around 2016. Prepon had formerly been loud in her praise of the group, but barely mentioned it since her departure, upsetting fellow former Scientologist Leah Remini, who has been vocal about the organization’s alleged atrocities.
Source: Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
4. In it: Elisabeth Moss
Source: Amy Sussman / Getty Images
Moss has been a Scientologist since she was a youngster, arguably best known for her performance in The Handmaid’s Tale. She doesn’t talk about it much in public, though, yet talked about how she believes Scientology is “misunderstood” or unfairly viewed in an interview with The New Yorker. ” It’s not really a closed-off religion,” Moss explained. ” It’s a place that is very open to, like, welcoming in somebody who wants to learn more about it.”
Source: Hulu / Courtesy Everett Collection
5. Left: Katie Holmes
Source: John Lamparski / Getty Images
Back in 2012, Holmes famously filed for divorce from Scientology’s poster boy, Tom Cruise. She is said to have used burner cellphones and laptops to leave Cruise and their daughter, Suri, without informing Cruise or anyone else in the company. Although it’s unknown how committed Holmes was in Scientology during her marriage to Cruise, she was almost certainly involved.
Source: Wireimage House / WireImage / Getty Image
6. In it: Juliette Lewis
Source: David Livingston / Getty Image
Lewis admitted to being a practicing Scientologist in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2010. Her father, Geoffrey Lewis, was a Scientologist as well, therefore she was raised in the faith. She seems to be still associated with the group now.
Source: Jim Smeal / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
(By the way, there are unverified allegations that Brad Pitt went through Scientology initiation and/or classes while dating Lewis but later opted not to continue, but because none of this is true, Pitt will be excluded from this piece.)
7. Left: Nicole Kidman
Source: Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images
Similar to Katie Holmes, Kidman became a Scientologist due to her marriage to Tom Cruise. According to journalist Tony Ortega, who previously had conversation with Bruce Hines, Kidman was the “auditor” in the church. Hines claimed Kidman took several seminars and rapidly rose through the ranks of the group’s spiritual ladder. But after her divorce with Cruise, Kidman left, though her and Cruise’s kid, Connor and Bella, continued.
Source: Barry King / WireImage / Getty Images
8. In it: Kirstie Alley
Source: Steve Granitz / WireImage / Getty Images
Being one of the loudest celebrity Scientologists, Alley routinely uses Twitter and interviews to protect her fellows and quarrel with Leah Remini over the organization. When former Scientologist Paul Haggis was accused of sexual assault, she tweeted, “Another one bites the dust…karma is a bitch,” but when Scientologist Danny Masterson was accused of sexual assault, she took a different stance, saying she believes in “innocent until proven guilty.”
Source: Peter Brandt / Getty Images
9. Left: Jason Lee
Source: Ari Perilstein / Getty Images
The star of My Name Is Earl had been a Scientologist since the 1990s, and his ex-wife Carmen Llywelyn stated that the religion played a major factor in their divorce. Lee claimed that he was no longer a practicing Scientologist in a 2016 interview with a local paper in Denton, Texas (where he and his family had relocated). “We have no plans to create a Scientology center since we don’t practice Scientology and we aren’t especially interested in opening religious centers in general,” he responded when asked if he planned to open a business in Denton.
Source: 20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection
10. In it: Giovanni Ribisi
Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images
Ribisi has been a Scientologist his entire life, having been raised by Scientologists. “It’s a personal thing; it’s something that works for me, and I think it’s that simple,” he told the Jim and Sam Show when asked about it.
Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
11. Left: Christopher Reeve
Source: Ron Galella, Ltd. / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
In his memoir, the late Superman actor admitted that when he was younger, he performed some “auditing” and completed some Scientology courses. He did say, though, that one lesson “totally depreciated” his faith in the system. Reeve essentially retold a story from Greek mythology and passed it off as his own personal life experience, and, in his words, “got away with a clear fraud.”
Source: Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection
12. In it: Jenna Elfman
Source: Axelle / FilmMagic / Getty Images
Elfman termed the Scientology dispute “boring” in an interview with Us Weekly, citing Leah Remini’s book and the HBO documentary Going Clear as examples. “I know what I know and how much it benefits me,” Elfman told the magazine. “I think that anything that works tends to being attacked.”
Source: Handout / Church of Scientology / Getty Images
13. Left: Mimi Rogers
Source: Gregg Deguire / WireImage / Getty Images
Rogers embraced Scientology at a young age because her father was a friend of L. Ron Hubbard. After marrying Rogers, Tom Cruise joined the group, implying that she was the reason he became a Scientologist in the first place. Rogers, on the other hand, abandoned Scientology after her divorce from Cruise.
Source: Paul Harris / Getty Images
14. In it: Ethan Suplee
Source: John Sciulli / WireImage / Getty Images
Suplee is married to Juliette Lewis’s sister, Brandy Lewis, and was one of numerous Scientologists involved in the production of My Name Is Earl. Suplee is very discreet about his religion, so it’s difficult to determine how devout he is (or if he is still a Scientologist now), although he was said to be a member of the organization during Earl’s time.
Source: 20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection
I used those earlier photographs, by the way, so you’d know him. Here’s how Suplee seems today:
Source: Ethan Suplee / Instagram
15. Left: Beck
Source: Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic for iHeartRadio / Getty Images
If you go by what Beck has said in the past, his connection with Scientology is a bit inconsistent. Beck’s father was a Scientologist, and in the early 2000s, he married Giovanni Ribisi’s twin sister, Marissa Ribisi, a devout Scientologist. Beck said at the time that he was also a Scientologist. Beck, on the other hand, noted that after his divorce from Ribisi four years ago, “I believe some people believe I am a Scientologist. I’m not a follower of Scientology. I have no association or connection with it.” Beck was either never a Scientologist but kept up appearances because his wife was, or he was a Scientologist while married but abandoned the faith somewhere around his divorce.
Source: Jim Bennett / WireImage / Getty Images
16. In it: John Travolta
Source: Emma Mcintyre / Getty Images
Despite claims in 2009 that Travolta was leaving Scientology, he remains one of the most well-known members of the organization today. At that moment it worked for me, and it still works for me,” Travolta told Kevin Hart on Hart’s podcast in 1975, after being exposed to Scientology by one of his co-stars on The Devil’s Rain.
Source: Ray Kachatorian / Getty Images
17. Left: Neil Gaiman
Source: Sopa Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
While it seems like Gaiman himself never actively practiced Scientology, he did grow up in a very Scientologist household. The Good Omens author’s father was the British spokesperson for the organization, and it’s been reported — but not confirmed — that his ex-wife and sisters are members. However, Gaiman has outright denied that he is a Scientologist, so it may be that he never practiced, but just grew up surrounded by it. In any case, it’s probably fair to say that Gaiman “escaped” Scientology, as many who grow up with parents in the church tend to be involved themselves.
Source: Albert L. Ortega / WireImage / Getty Images
18. In it: Nancy Cartwright
Source: Colin Davey / Getty Images
For decades, Cartwright, the longtime voice of Bart Simpson, has been a devout Scientologist. After the publication of the Going Clear book, she spoke to the Associated Press about the organization, saying, “I’m not sure what to say to you… It’s known as prejudice.”
Source: Vince Bucci / Getty Images
19. Left: William S. Burroughs
Source: Ruby Ray / Getty Images
I’m not sure if we’d call Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch and a part of the Beat Generation, a “celebrity” in the same way that some of the others on this list are, but his relationship with Scientology is fascinating. He joined the church in the 1960s, just a decade after L. Ron Hubbard wrote Dianetics, but eventually became disillusioned and even released his own book, Ali’s Smile: Naked Scientology, in 1971. Burroughs accused Scientology of adopting authoritarian tactics to control its members in the book, and even compared it to the CIA in terms of secrecy.
Source: Ulf Andersen / Getty Images
20. In it: Danny Masterson
Source: Brandon Williams / WireImage / Getty Images
Masterson has been a Scientologist for a long time and is still active now. The group has been linked to the continuing sexual assault case against Masterson, who is facing both civil and criminal charges from women who were also Scientology members. A court ordered earlier this year that the lawsuit will go to a jury trial rather than being addressed through the church’s mediation procedure.
Source: 20th Century Fox / Everett Collection
21. Left: Leah Remini
Source: Jason Laveris / FilmMagic / Getty Images
Remini may be the most outspoken ex-Scientologist, having written a book and produced an Emmy-winning docuseries on her break from the church, which she brands a “cult” in no uncertain terms. Remini has been campaigning for the organization’s tax-exempt status to be revoked, as well as the imprisonment of several high-ranking members. “There are litigation pending, and I believe they will lose in court. They’ll have to pay the price for their transgressions “she revealed to THR “I believe it with all of my heart.”
Source: Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images
22. In it: Tom Cruise
Source: Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images
You’re probably aware of the situation. Tom Cruise is one of the organization’s highest-ranking members, and he may be the lynchpin of Scientology’s Hollywood appeal. In previous interviews, he has defended the church numerous times, even branding psychiatry a “pseudoscience” in one of them. In his memoir, Yearbook, Seth Rogen relates how he and Judd Apatow visited with Cruise for a project, and Cruise tried to get them to join the religion. Cruise’s name is nearly associated with Scientology at this time.
