Elisabeth Moss made a rare public statement about her involvement with Scientology in the comments section of an Instagram photo.
The 35-year-old actress shared a pic of herself on a rooftop on Tuesday, August 15. “Last Handmaids Tale season 1 event until the Emmys!” she captioned it. “Thank you for coming out everyone last night, your love and support of the show means more to us than I’ll ever be able to express in words. Truly. And now we get to go work on bringing you season 2!!! Which by the way is going to blow your minds.”
An Instagram user commented on the photo and questioned if there was a parallel between Scientology and Gilead, the totalitarian regime that takes over the United States in the Hulu series. “Love this adaptation so much. Question though, does it make you think twice about scientology?” Instagrammer @moeleybanks wrote. “Gilead and Scientology both believe that all outside sources (aka news) are wrong and evil… it’s just very interesting.”
Moss responded to the comment, writing, “@Moeleybanks That’s actually not true at all about Scientology. Religious freedom and tolerance and understanding the truth and equals rights for every race, religion and creed are extremely important to me. The most important things to me probably. And so Gilead and THT hit me on a very personal level. Thanks for the interesting question!”
The Mad Men alum was introduced to Scientology by her family. “It’s not the same thing as going to church on Sunday. It’s self-applied. It involves reading — you have to make a choice,” Moss told The Telegraph in 2012. “I think that for me it’s one thing that has helped me at times, and it’s kind of as simple as that.”
Moss’ involvement with the religion has been a hot topic lately after former Scientologist Leah Remini claimed in a new interview that their friendship became strained after she left the organization in 2013. “Elisabeth Moss believes that she can’t talk to me,” Remini, 47, told The Hollywood Reporter on August 9. “There’s 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 spoke 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.”
The Church of Scientology responded to Remini’s recent claims in a statement. “Leah Remini continues to foment anti-religious bigotry and will do so as long as the media acts as her enablers in monetizing her bias and hatred,” Karin Pouw, the church’s spokeswoman, told Us Weekly.
