John Stamos Was Kicked Out of Scientology as a Teen: ‘I Was F—ing Around So Much They Said Get Out’
John Stamos revealed in a new podcast that he was nearly a Scientologist — but he was kicked out for goofing around too much.
In an interview with celebrity impressionist Matt Friend for his podcast, “Friend in High Places,” the actor recalled how he was kicked out of the organization as a teenager after just one meeting.
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“I was in an acting class, and there was this hot girl,” Stamos said. “She said, ‘You know, we’re all meeting at this address on Hollywood Boulevard. Come after [class]!’ I was working at my dad’s restaurant at the time, and I said, ‘Dad, I gotta, I gotta go.’ So I went. I was 16, 17.”
He went to the address, which he discovered was a Scientology building. Upon entering, he was called up to be tried by the E-meter, an instrument that measures the strength of a small electrical current that passes through the body of the person undergoing auditing. A person undergoing the auditing process via the instrument is required to hold up two metallic cans. So, cans in hand, the “Full House” actor recalled how he just couldn’t resist the temptation to pull a joke on the group.
“You’re holding these two cans, so I started [saying], you know, ‘Hello… Peabody in the Wayback Machine!'” he said in a cartoonishly old-fashioned voice. “You know, Sherman and Peabody,” referencing the time-traveling “Rocky and Bullwinkle” characters.
Of course, the Scientologists were none too pleased with his tomfoolery.
“They didn’t like that,” he continued. “I was just fucking around so much that they said, ‘Get out. Get. Go.’ They just kinda kicked me out.”
Stamos previously discussed the incident in his 2023 memoir “If You Would Have Told Me.” In the memoir, Stamos recalled a woman named Mia handing him a book “the size of a brick” after acting class. “I think it will open your eyes to some amazing things,” he remembered her saying as she invited him to talk about the book the following day.
Watch the full interview below.
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