Elisabeth Moss Would Like You All To Stop Comparing “The Handmaid’s Tale” To Scientology

April 29, 2022 / Posted by:

If you’ve ever watched The Handmaid’s Tale, and thought that Gilead’s terrifying sexist totalitarian slave-based cult-like dystopia felt a little too close to the general vibes put out by the Church of Scientology, you’re likely not alone. Elisabeth Moss stars as the feminist freedom-fighter June in The Handmaid’s Tale, and she’s also a longtime Scientologist. So there are many people who have a hard time making sense of that. Elisabeth isn’t really Scientology’s unofficial PR person, so she doesn’t usually have a whole lot to say when it comes to her religion of choice. But she recently got into it during an interview with The New Yorker, and she encourages all of us to stop drawing comparisons between the two.

Elisabeth was born to two high-ranking Scientologists, and she reportedly took her first Scientology course when she was eight years old. But, she’s also not as, how you say, public about it, like other celebrity Scientologists are. So part of Elisabeth’s participation in the church remains a bit of a mystery, especially since she’s a big fan of being evasive whenever she’s asked about Scientology. But The New Yorker managed to squeeze a little bit of an opinion out of Elisabeth, although she still did apply the tried and true Scientology response of brushing it off like it’s no big deal. Elisabeth was first asked why she doesn’t sing Dianetics’ praises in interviews, and she says that’s because she thinks nobody wants to know personal life bullshit about celebrities like that. via Variety:

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

Call me crazy, but I’d probably want to know if a celebrity loved hot yoga, in the event hot yoga was accused of numerous human rights violations or alleged sexual assault cover-ups. But that’s just me! Elisabeth thinks it’s all pretty irrelevant to the enjoyment of a project, which is why she also isn’t a fan of the comparisons between the verified scary, controlling leaders of The Handmaid’s Tale and the allegedly scary, controlling leaders of Scientology. Come on folks, nobody’s holding anyone captive or censoring thoughts at the CoS headquarters! Wait, stop Googling “Scientologists held captive” or “Scientologists trapped by their own thoughts.” via Variety:

“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.”

Moss credited Scientology for making her a skilled communicator growing up and encouraged people “to find out for themselves” if they have questions about the group. The actor added, “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.”

So what about times when it looked like Elisabeth was taking things personally on behalf of Scientology, or when it appeared she was bringing a little bit of that Scientology flavor to her personal life? Elisabeth would like to discredit two instances where Scientology showed up to the table. In 2017, Elisabeth reportedly walked out of the room at the Television Critics Association after Leah Remini won an award for Scientology and the Aftermath. That same year, during Elisabeth’s Emmy Award acceptance speech, she said the word “Fuck,” and it had a whole bunch of people speculating that she only did so as a Scientology behavioral tactic to appear relatable. According to Elisabeth, both events were not driven by her association with Scientology. via Variety:

“I went to the bathroom. I wish it was more exciting than that. I have never received any request to talk to [Leah Remini]. I don’t know her that well, so it’s not like we were friends.”

The second incident was when Moss won her Emmy for The Handmaid’s Tale. During her acceptance speech, Moss thanked her mother for teaching her “that you can be kind and a fucking badass.” A former Scientologist told The Hollywood Reporter afterwards that cursing is one way members communicate “down the tone scale” to average people.

“That 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.”

There you have it, Elisabeth wasn’t protesting Leah’s win – she was just going to the bathroom! Simple as that. And I’m sure that when she entered the bathroom, she didn’t make a joke to herself about how it’s ironic that the biggest pile of shit happened out on stage when Leah won an award for that anti-Scientology series.

Pic: INSTARimages

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