Jada Pinkett Smith: 'I am not a Scientologist'
Jada Pinkett Smith has studied Scientology, but says she’s not a Scientologist.
The actress has long been linked to the controversial organization, and chatter about it cropped up again during the weekend following a piece in the Daily Beast with — you guessed it — Leah Remini. The onetime star of King of Queens left Scientology in 2013 and didn’t do so quietly, writing a book (Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology) and helming a show (Leah Remini: Scientology), for which she recently picked up an Emmy.
“I know Jada’s in. I know Jada’s in. She’s been in Scientology a long time,” Remini told the website in a story that ran on Saturday. “I never saw Will [Smith] there, but I saw Jada at the Celebrity Centre. They opened up a Scientology school [called New Village Leadership Academy], and have since closed it. But Jada, I had seen her at the Scientology Celebrity Centre all the time.”
Pinkett Smith did not return multiple requests for comment on the story, which noted her husband, Will, is not part of the organization, but she did comment on social media on Tuesday morning. She shared this on Facebook and Twitter.
“I recently lit Shabbat candles with Rabbi Bentley at Temple Sinai… but I am not Jewish,” Pinkett Smith wrote. “I have prayed in mosques all over the world… but I am not a Muslim; I have read the Bhagavad Gita… but I am not a Hindu; I have chanted and meditated in some of the most magnificent temples on earth… but I am not a Buddhist; and I have studied Dianetics, and appreciate the merits of Study Tech… but I am not a Scientologist. I practice human kindness, and I believe that we each have the right to determine what we are and what we are not.”
She ended by writing, “NO ONE ELSE can hold that power.”
Remini has long claimed that Pinkett Smith is a Scientologist. In her 2015 book, she detailed a strange story about a night, while she was still in the organization, when she was at Tom Cruise‘s estate along with the Smiths. During the evening, the Mission: Impossible star, a high-level member of the organization, insisted they play a game of “hide-and-seek with a bunch of grown-ups.” She talked about how bizarre the whole thing was, and when she objected to playing, Cruise said, “Well, good. So you’re ‘It,’ then,” and tagged her before running off into his 7,000-square-foot mansion.
Remini pointed to that hide-and-seek story during her interview with the Daily Beast, saying, “I had hoped that [Jada] had left [Scientology], but this was the tell-tale sign that she was still in. She was on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live a few weeks ago promoting her film [Girls Trip], and Andy [Cohen] said to her, ‘Have you read Leah Remini’s book?’ and he was like, ‘What was that whole thing about playing tag?’ and she said, ‘Oh, she lied.’ He goes, ‘Isn’t that weird, to play tag?’ and she goes, ‘No, the kids were there.’ That was untrue. Bullsh***. There were no kids there. I was like, OK, alright, you’re gonna do that? More power to ya.”
For what it’s worth, the Daily Beast article claims Will is not a Scientologist. It’s just Jada.
Needless to say, the Church of Scientology has issues with everything Remini has said since she left in 2013. It has called her book “revisionist history” and has released multiple statements straight-up bashing her.
As for the Smiths, who have been together 23 years, they’ve long been the target of many rumors — Scientology is just one of them. During the same WWHL interview, Pinkett Smith denied another report that they are swingers. “Yo, I wish,” she quipped. “I wish.”
The Daily Beast’s full interview with Leah Remini will run later this week.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
