Scientology Really Wanted Brad Pitt to Join the Club

Among the litany of celebrities — some famous, some not quite famous enough to bother with — connected to the Church of Scientology, perhaps the most interesting names are those of celebrities the church was actively recruiting, really swell-looking people like Brad Pitt, Demi Moore, and Elvis Presley. In honor of Katie Holmes’ split with Scientology super-cadet Tom Cruise, Business Insider compiled a thorough list of famous people who were either actively or passively involved with, or sought out by Scientology’s shadowy apparatus of celebrity snatchers.

Brad Pitt might have been on the verge of joining the organization back in the early 90s when he was smoking pot like all the time with then-girlfriend Juliette Lewis. According to former church official Amy Scobbee in her book Scientology — Abuse at the Top, Pitt completed two Scientology courses in July of 1991 and May of 1993. Then, just when it seemed that Scientology held him firmly in its grasp, Pitt broke up with Lewis and left the church, though he remained on its list of celebrities that could possibly be “recovered.” Demi Moore was also targeted by the church’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre, built especially for all those famous showbiz types with money to just light on fire.

It was Elvis, though who really ferreted out the scheme behind Scientology when Peggy Lipton, a woman he was dating at the time, convinced him to go to a meeting. Elvis left pretty quickly, and, according to his associate Lamar Fike, summed up his experience with the Scientologists thusly: “Fuck those people! There’s no way I’ll ever get involved with that son-of-a-bitchin’ group! All they want is my money.” Indeed — the King hath left the building.