Follow up: did you know Michael Peña is a Scientologist? A PROUD one. So don’t bother shaming him for it.
In an interview with The Guardian (via Us Weekly), Peña, who I love in movies but now find questionable, talked about his history with the Church of Scientology, which dates back to 2000 when he turned to this ludicrous so-called religion to cope with his heavy drinking at the time. “I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I was doing it too much. And then there was the next thing, and the next thing,” he says. “For me, it isn’t religion like a belief; it’s practical things you do.” Peña says the Church’s detox program, Purification Rundown, really helped him, which is great.
Despite all the negative press around the Church—most notably via the fascinating documentary Going Clear and Leah Remini’s public denouncement of the Church—Peña is also grateful to Scientology for improving his reading skills via their Study Tech program, which, he says, “made me a better actor because I felt like it helped my understanding of scripts.” Via Guardian:
But he must be aware of the endless controversy that surrounds the organisation? “Yeah, but I don’t read that stuff.” He’s aware of it, though? “Yeah but – OK, imagine we’re friends, you and me. Buddies. And there’s a tabloid story about you. There’s no way I’m going to read some fucking tabloid story about you.” He looks straight at me again. “Especially when I know it’s misinformed.”
Maybe he’s one of those sensible Scientologists…
