Orange Is the New Black star Laura Prepon has quit the Church of Scientology.
The 41-year-old actress made the revelation in a new interview with People where she shared how motherhood has changed her as a person – saying it made her ‘look at a lot of things in my life that I wasn’t looking at before.’
Prepon – who shares two children with husband Ben Foster, 40, – said she made the decision to leave the religion several years ago, but has only just spoken out about it now.
‘I’m no longer practicing Scientology,’ Prepon told the outlet on Tuesday. ‘I’ve always been very open-minded, even since I was a child. I was raised Catholic and Jewish. I’ve prayed in churches, meditated in temples.’
Revelation: Orange is the New Black star Laura Prepon reveals she’s QUIT Scientology (Pictured, 2019)
She added: ‘I’ve studied Chinese meridian theory. I haven’t practiced Scientology in close to five years and it’s no longer part of my life.’
Her husband, Foster – who was twice engaged to actress Robin Wright – has never practiced Scientology.
Prepon reveals that she and Foster are both now dedicated to meditation. ‘We meditate daily and I’m really liking it,’ she says, adding: ‘because it’s something that helps me to hear my own voice and it’s something we can do together.’
Motherhood: The That ’70s Show star has a daughter Ella, four, and a son, 16 months, with her husband, and has yet to reveal their son’s name
The That ’70s Show star has a daughter Ella, four, and a son, 16 months, with her husband, and has yet to reveal their son’s name.
Welcoming the baby boy in February 2020, Prepon said was ‘overcome with gratitude’ in an Instagram post.
Meanwhile, A-List stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta are still members of the religion, that was founded by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1953.
Other stars who have left the religion include Leah Remini, who has since devoted her career to speaking out against the religion.
When promoting her A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath’ in 2017, Remini said that Cruise was not a ‘good person’ and that behind-the-scenes the actor is a ‘completely different person.’
Family: Her husband, Ben Foster – who was twice engaged to actress Robin Wright – has never practiced Scientology (Pictured, 2018)
Expanding her brood: In February 2020, Prepon welcomed a baby boy, her second child with husband Ben Foster
In 2015, Laura Prepon praised the religion when appearing on the cover of Scientology magazine Celebrity.
‘It was amazing, and I felt that finally something was speaking my language. It totally connected with me,’ she said of the Church.
Adding: ‘Pretty soon after that I got onto the Purification Rundown, and I started moving up the Bridge.’
According to the Church’s website, the the Purification Rundown is a ‘detoxification program which enables an individual to rid himself of the harmful effects of drugs, toxins and other chemicals that lodge in the body and create a biochemical barrier to spiritual well-being.’
Tom Cruise previously suggested that the Church is against psychiatric drugs, having got into a public spat with Brooke Shields in 2005 over her use of antidepressants to battle postpartum depression.
Prisoner no more: The seventh and final season of Prepon’s show OITNB was released on July 26, 2019
But Shields hit back at Cruise after he called her actions ‘irresponsible.’
‘Tom should stick to saving the world from aliens and let women who are experiencing postpartum depression decide what treatment options are best for them,’ Shields said at the time.
The actress revealed that a year later, Cruise came over to her house to apologize.
‘I was so impressed with how heartfelt it was,’ she told Jay Leno in 2006. ‘And I didn’t feel at any time that I had to defend myself, nor did I feel that he was trying to convince me of anything other than the fact that he was deeply sorry. And I accepted it.’