Emmy-winning actress Elisabeth Moss, star of The Handmaid’s Tale and supporter of Scientology, said the controversial religion helped her become a “skilled communicator.”
Moss, 39, spoke about growing up as a Scientologist with her brother David and defended the religion during her first in-depth interview on the subject with The New Yorker.
“It’s not really a closed religion. It’s a place that’s very open to welcoming anyone who wants to learn more about it,” she told the magazine in the article published online April 29.
“I think that’s probably the most misunderstood.”
The actress revealed that her godfather was longtime Scientologist Chick Corea and, like her father Ron, played in a jazz band with Scientologist leader David Miscavige’s father, Ronald.
The ‘Mad Men’ star credits Scientology with teaching her the communication skills she uses in her acting career.
Moss said that communication “was probably one of the #1 basic things I learned as a kid and grew up with and use every day.”
American jazz pianist Chick Corea performs during his concert at the Las Noches del Botanico festival in Madrid, Spain July 26, 201
Ron Moss, her English-born father, met Corea, the renowned jazz musician and former keyboardist for Miles Davis, at Scientology’s UK headquarters in the 1970s. Ron Moss was a trombonist who performed regularly with Ronald Miscavige.
In 1974, Ron Moss moved to the United States, where he became Corea’s tour manager and eventually managed another famous Scientologist, Isaac Hayes.
Ron Moss said in a 2012 interview with The Birmingham Mail that he received his green card through training as a Scientology minister.
He said in the interview: “I found the writings of L. Ron Hubbard extraordinary and became a Scientologist at 21.
In 1988, Elisabeth Moss appeared in the music video for Corea’s song “Eternal Child”. That same year, Moss, then five, was featured in a Los Angeles Times feature and called a ballet prodigy.
Moss declared “Clear” at age 11, meaning she was free from traumatic thoughts and unwanted emotions
Moss’ mother Linda is referred to in this track as a country songwriter. Scientology is not mentioned in the article. Ron and Linda Moss have split after 35 years together. Linda Moss was the second wife of Ron Moss.
The New Yorker reports that Moss graduated from the L. Ron Hubbard Key to Life Course at the age of eight and was declared clear at the age of eleven.
“Clear” is the Scientology language for those who have reached a state where they are no longer plagued by trauma or unwanted emotions.
For years, Moss has been represented by Gay Ribisi, former mother-in-law of singer-songwriter Beck (pictured).
Since her days as a dance prodigy, Moss has had the same manager, fellow Scientologist Gay Ribisi.
Ribisi is the mother of actor Giovanni Ribisi and former mother-in-law of musical icon Beck. Beck divorced Ribisi’s daughter Marissa in 2021. The New Yorker notes that Beck has denied “persecuting” Scientology.
According to The New Yorker, Moss completed a Purification Rundown in September 2017.
The practice involves exposure to extreme heat for five hours a day for up to four weeks as a means of detoxification.
Moss said of former Scientologist and religion critic Leah Remini, “I don’t know her that well, so it’s not like we’re friends.”
That same year, Moss attended the Television Critics Association Awards when former Scientologist Leah Remini won for her documentary Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
As Remini went to collect her prize, Moss left the room. She told the New Yorker that all she had to do was go to the bathroom and that she wished it was more exciting than that.
Of her relationship with Remini, Moss said: “I’ve never been approached by her. I never received an invitation to speak to her. So there was no opportunity for her to say that. I don’t know her that well, so it’s not like we’re friends.’
Moss told The New Yorker that she didn’t want her religion to distract from her career.
Moss has hit back at those who say Scientology is comparable to the totalitarian dictatorship in The Handmaid’s Take.
Moss sparked controversy after winning her Emmy for “The Handmaid’s Tale” in 2017, she cursed.
Moss said she was “p****d” over subsequent media reports of how swearing is a method Scientologists use to communicate with non-Scientologists. It is known within religion as “The Tone Scale”.
An Instagram user asked Moss in 2019 if her appearance in The Handmaid’s Tale made her think twice about Scientology. The user said, “Both Gilead and Scientology both believe that all outside sources (aka news) are false or evil.”
Moss replied, “That’s actually not true at all with Scientology. Religious freedom and tolerance and understanding of the truth and equal rights for all races, religions and creeds are very important to me. Probably the most important things for me. And so Gilead and THT hit me on a very personal level. Thanks for the interesting question!’
Gilead is totalitarian rule in The Handmaid’s Tale.
In a 2019 interview with The Daily Beast, Moss was asked her opinion on the Church of Scientology’s stance on the LGBTQ community.
Moss dodged the question, saying there was too much “unpacking” in the interview. Moss went on to describe herself as a “huge feminist and huge supporter of the LGBTQ community.”
In 2019, tabloid rumors surfaced suggesting Moss was set to become Tom Cruise’s wife
During an appearance on Andy Cohen’s “Watch What Happens Live” in March 2020, Moss was quizzed about tabloid rumors that she was primed to have an arranged marriage to Scientology mainstay Tom Cruise.
Moss joked: “I was actually confused and also mostly getting texts from people saying, ‘I didn’t know why didn’t you tell me? And just confusion from my friends, but mostly to make fun of it because they obviously knew it wasn’t true.”
Speaking of real marriages, US Weekly reported in 2011 that Moss had split from her husband of two years, ‘SNL’ star Fred Armisen, because of her religious beliefs.
A source told the magazine at the time, “They were struggling… Her religion was as important to her as her marriage, if not more important. He couldn’t handle it.’
Moss said rumors that her marriage to comedian Fred Armisen ended because of her religious beliefs were “made up.”
However, in a 2014 interview with New York Magazine, Moss said that her marriage to Armisen was “extremely traumatic and terrible and horrible.”
She added that the idea that the end of her marriage had anything to do with Scientology was “100 percent fabricated.”
During the same interview, Moss refused to talk about Scientology. For his part, Armisen once told Howard Stern in an interview, “I think I’ve been a terrible husband, I think I’m a terrible boyfriend.”
Moss told The New Yorker in 2022 that she met Armisen in 2008 when she guest-starred in a “Mad Men” skit on SNL.
When asked about the comments Armisen made during an interview with Marc Maron in which Armisen discussed his intimacy issues, Moss said, “I would say it’s good for him that he’s open about it. At the time he said more to Marc Maron than to me.’