will smith actor father husband and rug
slapper extraordinaire but what is his
connection with the church of
scientology how does jada feel about it
and in what way will tom cruise
inevitably be involved keep watching to
find out
in hollywood tom cruise is a celebrity
name most commonly associated with
scientology he is said to have
introduced his church's values to many
celebrities including reportedly will
smith by all accounts the two appear to
be pals speaking to gq in 2021 smith
explained tom and i became friends in
the middle of his public difficulties
that may have been sometime around 2006
when cruz caught hit for his eccentric
behavior and opinions on scientology a
year later rumors swelled that smith had
also joined the church however he seemed
quick to dispel the idea in an interview
with access hollywood after stating that
cruz had indeed introduced him to
scientology smith appeared to sidestep
any direct association with the church
and instead insisted he was simply
interested in world religion however
smith also spoke out in defense of cruz
and suggested that people were
criticizing the movie icon without fully
understanding his beliefs how you gonna
not know nothing about scientology and
attack somebody that's dangerous and
it's ignorant that same month smith
clarified his personal stance on
scientology to collider stating that he
preferred to maintain his own sense of
spiritualism beyond the scope of
organized religion
reports of the smith family hanging out
with tom cruise first began after jada
pinkett smith starred alongside the
actor in the 2004 thriller collateral
while she has never publicly followed
scientology many sources have claimed
that not only did jada once practice it
but that she was also heavily involved
in the religions organization former
scientologist sam domingo has alleged
the daily mail that jada was not only a
member but also a recruiter who was paid
to lure people into the church she told
the outlet jada was always around
celebrity center doing her own thing
with kelly preston and the president's
office they were like the stepford wives
of scientology the claim appeared to be
bagged up by tony ortega a journalist
who has extensively covered celebrity
involvement in scientology on his blog
the underground bunker he claims that
jada was a member of the church and that
she was more involved than will smith
ortega wrote we have known for years
that the dedicated scientologist in the
family was will's wife jada pinkett
smith jada's alleged connections the
scientology did not end there however
defending tom cruise for his dedication
to scientology is one thing but will
smith and jada pinker smith also
reportedly donated money to causes
associated with the church taking their
rumored involvement to the next level in
2004 around the time jada was working
with tom cruise she and will jointly
donated twenty thousand dollars to a
church-run literacy campaign called help
the hollywood education and literacy
program has been described as a
foundational part of scientology's
homeschooling structure by 2008 the
couple had allegedly far surpassed their
original 20 000 donation with the will
smith foundation reported to have given
a total of 122
500 to organizations connected to
scientology
while this is a considerable amount of
money however it is only a fragment of
the rest of the 1.3 million dollars in
donations reportedly made from the
foundation that year on top of
philanthropic support for art and civic
groups money was also said to have gone
to a variety of religious organizations
including a los angeles mosque and an
evangelical christian ministry center in
philadelphia
perhaps the strongest suggestion that
will smith may have once been associated
with scientology is through the
alternative school that he and jada
pinkett smith launched together the
couple first started a homeschool in
2007 with their children jayden smith
and willow smith counted among its first
students robotics expert maria van
jawaharlal phd was a guest lecturer at
the school which he has since described
as being located in a big house occupied
by 20 or 30 students the couple
reportedly hired a long-time educator in
the los angeles school district
jacqueline oliver to make their dreams
of launching a proper school a reality
speaking to the underground bunker he
described how the academy was originally
pitched to her saying they presented it
as an opportunity to found a school they
were going to spend a lot of money it
was going to be secular and it would use
best educational practices in 2008 will
made moves to launch a physical school
outside his family home spending 890 000
to lease indian hills high school named
the new village leadership academy the
school proved to be controversial from
the start
speaking to the daily beast the school's
principal jacqueline oliver alleged that
while scientology was never explicitly
mentioned study technology was pushed to
be the main methodology for learning
according to the official scientology
website study technology is a term given
to the methods l ron hubbard developed
to enable individuals to study
effectively it is considered by the
church to be an introductory step in the
joining process the methodology has
attracted criticism over the years with
the underground bunker one suggesting
that study tech turned schoolwork into
conditioning will smith and jada pinker
smith have always maintained that the
teachings were secular however oliver
argued that not only was the school's
curriculum based on scientology but
teachers also had to become
knowledgeable in scientology before they
could start working there she said you
couldn't interact with the kids until
you've taken a bunch of scientology
courses and they were still supervised
by scientology teachers to make sure
they didn't make any mistakes using
scientology's study technology despite
her own connections to scientology jada
consistently denied that the school was
affiliated with the organization the
actor told ebony in 2009 all i can say
is it is not a scientology school that
is straight evil to think that i would
bring families into that educational
institution and then try to get them to
convert into some religion
upon its opening the new village
learning academy raised concerns from
many regarding its controversial
teaching methods and association with
scientology david s taretsky a research
professor at carnegie mellon university
openly criticized the school's apparent
usage of the church's training
techniques to the los angeles times he
claimed
there is no reputable educator anywhere
who endorses study technology what
happens is that children are inculcated
with scientology jargon and are led to
regard l.r hubbard as an authority
figure when parents caught wind of the
new village learning academy's alleged
link to scientology the school may have
started to crumble in 2013 a source with
direct ties to the facility told star
magazine will and jada put millions into
the school but there's a lot more to a
school than money if people don't agree
with the teaching material and all the
money in the world won't save it to top
off those concerns the school was
reportedly also dealing with financial
troubles at the time according to the
underground bunker will smith and jada
pinkett smith funded the new village
learning academy for the first three
years however they allegedly struggled
to receive the necessary contributions
for the school to remain
self-sustainable during the final two
and it closed in june 2013.
leah remini a former scientology member
and vocal critic of the organization has
not held back about her experience in
the church and those she encountered
along the way including jada pinkett
smith the actor told the daily beast in
2017
i know jade is in she's been in
scientology a long time i never saw will
smith there but i saw jada at the
celebrity center all the time jada did
not formally respond to remini's claims
however the actor did post a thread on
twitter to clear the air about any
misconceptions of her religious
affiliations she cops having studied
dianetics a methodology by which
scientologists attempt to overcome
mental health issues she also claimed
that she found study tech to be
beneficial however she stated outright 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
remedies accusations of course strained
between the former friends but the actor
later joined jada on red table talk in
2018 to address their history in the
episode setting the record straight jada
confronted remini regarding the claim
she wrote in her 2015 memoir
troublemaker reflecting on the impact of
her statements the author responded i
was just caught up in that pain yeah
right yeah and also the pain of others
yeah and the effects
that it had around the time that will
smith's private school closed he starred
in the 2013 sci-fi action film after
earth alongside his son jaden smith the
film directed by m night shyamalan was a
critical failure and underperformed at
the box office earning only 26.5 million
dollars on its opening weekend in
addition to the various criticisms of
the movie after earth was accused of
having scientologists themes in a piece
titled after earth is will smith's love
letter to scientology vulture even
suggested that the film's subtext wasn't
subtle at all and that it featured
countless comparisons to the teachings
of scientology writing for the hollywood
reporter mark headley a former church
member was particularly struck by the
dialogue in the film which he argued was
heavily influenced by the doctrines of l
ron hubbard for example he paralleled
this line with some of the church's
lessons
smell
what do you feel
hedly wrote while undergoing certain
types of scientology counselling you are
asked to recall what you see hear touch
and smell this is part of putting
yourself in the moment and observing the
moment with full perceptions
in 2015 will reflected that the film was
a significant professional load for him
not least of all because it brought his
son on board the project he told esquire
that was the most painful failure in my
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