With the rise of the new Scientology Speedrun trend, special attention has been brought to this religious cult. This 72-year-old cult didn’t just get special attention for its secrecy or location in Hollywood, but for its recruitment of celebrities. The Church of Scientology is best known for recruiting Hollywood actor Tom Cruise. The new attention that Tom Cruise’s involvement, the legal battles, and the new speedrun trends bring to Scientology demonstrates a longer trend of attention going to celebrity cults.
Throughout history, celebrities have been involved with cults, whether it was a secretive criminal sect within the industry or a mega church that was embezzling money. The purpose behind cults recruiting these celebrities is often for influence and money. Many cults that recruit celebrities cater to the rich, who are blasted with constant pressures to donate large sums of money.
Hillsong Church, once the go-to church for A-list celebrities like Justin and Hailey Bieber, Selena Gomez, Chris Pratt, and the Kardashian-Jenner family, faced intense public scrutiny after a 2020 scandal opened the floodgates for investigations into toxic leadership and financial controversies. This scandal raised awareness against cults that manipulate their members, leading to other groups being exposed.
While some A-list celebrities gravitated towards a Christian cult like Hillsong Church, others were drawn to a Jewish cult instead. In the early 2000s, A-list celebrities like Madonna and Britney Spears were drawn to Kabbalah, a Jewish mysticism cult in LA. Associated with The Kabbalah Center, this group has been classified by experts and former members as a high-control, exploitative organization. The Center faced intense scrutiny for financially exploiting members by pressuring them into large donations, purchasing expensive merchandise, and even giving away their life savings for “spiritual progress.” The cult forced dependency by isolating members from their families and enforcing long volunteer hours. Consequently, the Jewish community has long criticized the Center for commodifying ancient texts to sell promises of self-help.
Unlike cults that use celebrities to promote lavish lifestyles, NXIVM exploited them in a completely different way. NXIVM went as far as to weaponize them to support a sex crime ring, masking their criminal operation as a self-help “Executive Success Program”. The revered founder created a subgroup called DOS, coercing female recruits to participate in extreme master-slave hierarchies. Operating significantly in Hollywood, high-ranking celebrity members like Allison Mack used their status to lure women under the guise of a feminist empowerment mentorship program. Once these women became involved, they practically became NXIVM property because they were forced to provide banking information and were trafficked across state lines.
The cult was even accused of conducting unsanctioned human experiments studying psychological responses to horrific stimuli. Overall, the NXIVM cult uniquely exploited celebrities by weaponizing their influence to coerce recruits into joining.
By definition, cults are based on the control they have over the lives of their members. Once an individual joins one of these cults, it is almost impossible for them to leave. Their power relies on authoritative and manipulative tactics to isolate their members, enforce obedience, and exploit their followers.
Deciding if celebrity involvement makes these cults more appealing to the general public is always up for debate. Loyola student Benito Arias 28’ shares his opinion of celebrity influence in this area by saying, “If someone sees that their favorite celebrity is in a cult, and the cult’s message aligns with their beliefs, I believe that makes it more appealing for the public to join at first. However, I believe that this can go both ways and cause public skepticism if the celebrity is already portrayed poorly in the media.”
Whether or not a person believes celebrities determine the appealing nature of a cult, it doesn’t change the fact that LA, specifically Hollywood, is the epicenter for cult movements.
Loyola student, Oliver Jimenez 28’, explains this phenomenon by saying, “I think that celebrities get lured to these cults because they crave the attention that cults give them, because they know that their job as a celebrity relies on relevance, so they might just end up in these cults to stay in the media cycle, not knowing how much they will get entangled in them”.
No matter the reason for cult level popularity of these Hollywood churches, the involvement of celebrities seems to give cult leaders the means to engage in activities driven by greed. While some celebrities are immersed in it, others may not even be aware of it, which makes it all the more dangerous. Many cults exploit the influence of celebrities to gain legitimacy and attract new followers. However, many of these cults thrive on exploitation, reminding us that popularity does not equal credibility.
