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Elisabeth Moss Claimed She "Went To The Bathroom" While Leah Remini Accepted An Award For Her Documentary Series On Leaving Scientology


 

Elisabeth Moss discussed being a Scientologist in a profile for the New Yorker.

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For context, Elisabeth's parents joined the organization before she was born, and she was raised as a Scientologist. Per the New Yorker, she achieved the "state of Clear" when she was 11 and, more recently, did a "Purification Rundown" in 2017.

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Elisabeth has faced criticism for being a Scientologist in the past — especially given her character in the dystopian series The Handmaid's Tale. Elly Dassas /Hulu / Courtesy Everett CollectionWhen asked about Scientology by the New Yorker, Elisabeth replied, “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.”

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“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.”

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When the interviewer pointed out that people already associate Elisabeth with Scientology, she replied, “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."

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"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."

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As for how Elisabeth feels Scientology helped her growing up, she said, "Communication is something that I obviously use so much, not only in my job but in my interpersonal relationships as well. That is probably one of the No. 1 basic things that I grew up learning and grew up using and use every day: the power of just being able to listen to somebody, of making somebody feel heard, of not belittling them for what they think or believe, even if you think it’s wrong."



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One of Scientology's controversies is its alleged "Fair Game" policy, where those who speak out against Scientology may then be subject to harassment and surveillance in retaliation. Scientology denies that such a practice is in use.

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis / Corbis via Getty ImagesWhen asked about how viewers may reconcile Scientology's alleged abuses with her role in The Handmaid's Tale, Elisabeth continued, “I would just encourage people to find out for themselves. I’ve certainly been guilty of reading an article or watching something and taking that as gospel. ... And obviously, something like religious freedom and resistance against a theocracy is very important to me.”

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Elisabeth also addressed when she left the room during the 2017 Television Critics Association Awards as Leah Remini accepted an award for her docuseries about leaving Scientology. Leah said of the incident, "I wish I was surprised, but that is kind of the teachings of Scientology: to not watch or listen to anything or anyone who speaks out against the abuses of it."

"They literally run away. It’s really sad to watch it because it’s like I really don’t mean them any harm, but I know how they feel."

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images"I went to the bathroom,” Elisabeth told the New Yorker about the moment. “I wish it was more exciting than that.”

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

As for Leah's claims that Elisabeth is not allowed to speak to her because of the organization's policy on "acceptable truth," Elisabeth said, "I have never been approached by her. I have never received any request to talk to her. So there hasn’t been an opportunity for her to say that. I don’t know her that well, so it’s not like we were friends.”

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You can read the full New Yorker profile here.




Elisabeth Moss On Discussing Scientology: “I Don’t Want People To Be Distracted”

Elisabeth Moss isopening up about her relationship to Scientology in a new profile for the NewYorker, in which she explains why she doesn’t talk at length about it publicly.

“I don’t want to come off as being cagey,” Moss, who grew up in the church, told profile writer Michael Schulman. “If you and I met, just hanging out as friends, I’m, like, an open book about it.”

But, she added, she wants to keep distance from her personal life with her performances and her work. “I don’t want people to be distracted by something when they’re watching me. I want them to be seeing the character,” she said. “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.”

When Shulman noted that “people are already distracted by it,” the Shining Girls star said audiences can “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 continued. “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.”

Within the wide-ranging profile, Moss responds to a number of other things around her membership in the church, including her involvement with it alongside her portrayal of June Osborne, the lead of Hulu’s Emmy-winning adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which takes place in the fictional totalitarian regime of Gilead. In the piece, Schulman wrote the “abuses perpetrated by Scientology — mind control, making family members cut ties with apostates (a policy known as Disconnection), assigning troublesome members to hard labor — echo the authoritarian tactics of Gilead. (The Church calls these allegations ‘false and mischaracterized.’)” — and noted that he had “asked how a viewer of The Handmaid’s Tale might reconcile these two things.”

Moss responded that“obviously, something like religious freedom and resistance against a theocracyis very important to me.”

“I would just encourage people to find out for themselves,” she added. “I’ve certainly been guilty of reading an article or watching something and taking that as gospel.”

At another point in the piece, the actress addresses a 2017 story from The Hollywood Reporter about her swearing during that year’s Emmys acceptance speech when the Mad Men star won best actress in a drama series. The piece quotes Tiziano Lugli, Moss’ former friend who left the church, about language and, more specifically, profanity’s use within  Scientology. A rep for Moss at the time declined to comment for the story.



Moss says the story “pissed me off.”

“That was a really, really big moment for me, and it was a big moment for my mom and me. My mom, who has supported me through the years and been such an incredible mother to both me and my brother. And to tell a lie like that, about that — I didn’t deserve that, and it was wrong.”

The Shining Girls star also spoke about a moment during the 2017 Television Critics Association Awards when she left the room as Leah Remini, one of the most high-profile and outspoken former members of Scientology, accepted her win in the outstanding achievement in reality programming category for the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. Moss says it wasn’t a direct response to Remini and that she “went to the bathroom. I wish it was more exciting than that.”

In a 2017 THRprofile, Remini said she had not crossed paths with Moss because the actress “believes that she can’t talk to me” and said there is “a thing in Scientology called ‘acceptable truth.’ It means you only say what’s acceptable to the public. But she believes that I’m an antisocial personality — because I’ve spoken out against Scientology. So she isn’t allowed to talk to me. And me knowing that, I wouldn’t put her in the awkward position.”

In response to Shulman noting Remini “claimed the group encourages Moss not to speak with her,” Moss said: “I have never received any request to talk to her. So, there hasn’t been an opportunity for her to say that. I don’t know her that well, so it’s not like we were friends.”

THR has reached out to reps for Moss and Remini.




Elisabeth Moss Explains Why She Doesn't Speak Openly About Being A Scientologist Too Often

Elisabeth MossPhoto: Christopher Polk (Getty Images)

Elisabeth Moss is one of those celebrities who’s always appeared to be pretty normal—but then you remember that she’s a Scientologist. Unlike other celebrities, including poster child for Scientology, Tom Cruise, Moss didn’t get into Scientology after becoming famous—she was actually raised within the pseudo-religion. But she’s rarely open about that aspect of her life.

In a new interview for The New Yorker, Moss gives a rare, candid look into the role that Scientology plays in her life, and she shares why she chooses not to talk about it too much.

“I don’t want to come off as being cagey,” she explains. “If you and I met, just hanging out as friends, I’m, like, an open book about it.” But, she added, “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.”

When told by interviewer Michael Schulman that people are “already distracted by it,” Moss politely responds, “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 adds, “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.”



Schulman also asks how viewers of The Handmaid’s Tale could reconcile with her being part of a religion that has so many reported instances of abuse. “I would just encourage people to find out for themselves,” says Moss. “I’ve certainly been guilty of reading an article or watching something and taking that as gospel.”

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She continues, “And obviously something like religious freedom and resistance against a theocracy is very important to me.”

You can read the rest of the interview at The New Yorker.

 

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