Karen#1
Well-known member
It became pretty obvious a few months ago that Joy Villa had left Scientology and had doubled-down on her involvement as a Christian.
We had heard that she was preparing to make a statement about leaving the church, and today she is doing so in a live video.
The first thing we took note of as she began was that she pronounces her last name “Vee-lah,” not “Vee-yah” or “Vill-lah.”
She asks her viewers to pre-order her forthcoming book, “From Scientology to Christ: An escape they never wanted me to make.”
She says that she started in Scientology in 2011, and today she calls it a “dangerous, abusive cult.”
She describes how much of a mess her life was at that point. She was 23, had abused drink and drugs, and was at a low point. But at that point she got a gig in a modeling show at the Hollywood Celebrity Centre.
As an aside, she says, “Do not attack Scientologists...David Miscavige is evil, L. Ron Hubbard was evil. But the people working in Scientology were as lost as I was.”
Joy claims that she’s the first celebrity to leave Scientology in ten years, since Leah Remini, and she shows a copy of Leah’s book.
Well, one can argue whether Joy Villa, who has some notoriety as a conservative commentator, qualifies as a “celebrity,” but we will also point out that Laura Prepon and Beck and Jason Lee have all publicly left Scientology in the last ten years.
After the modeling show, Joy says she did the personality test. It told her what she wanted to hear, that she was lost and could take a course for it.
“It is not a religion, it is a cult built on satanic principles,” she says.
She signed up for $50 for the course, Overcoming Ups and Downs. “They lovebombed me. The course taught me I was attached to certain people who were doing me harm. I thought it was harmless. I hadn't seen South Park. I was very naive, and they knew that.”
She says she became a staff member, then signed a billion-year contract with the Sea Org. She became an auditor, and went Clear.
She urges her viewers to watch Leah Remini’s show. “It’s so good.”
A year into it, she met her ex-husband, a wealthy and rich Scientologist.
(She’s referring to Thorsten von Overgaard, a photographer.)
She’s now going into L. Ron Hubbard’s involvement in the occult in the years before he published Dianetics.
“In Scientology I was never allowed to Google ‘Scientology’ or I would pay thousands of dollars.”
She says she’s not proud of it, but she put $1.5 million into Scientology (with her ex-husband), recruited hundreds of people into it, and made money from those recruits on commissions.
She says Scientologists in the MAGA community, like Grant Cardone, tell people they are Christian but they aren’t.
She met Cruise and Travolta. But she was still not good enough for them, because she was still a Christian. Who are you praying to? You’re mixing practices, she was told.
She did OT Preps. Operating Thetan, a supposedly godlike state that costs at least $300,000.
She says she was in massive debt, in the UK, doing Scientology 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. All the glamour fell away.
[We believe this is a photo from the period she is describing.]
She agrees that the Scientology buildings around the world are empty.
While she was doing pro-life work politically, Scientology was forcing young women to have abortions.
“I was indoctrinated. They programmed me for years.” She was depressed.
Moved to Florida (after a short time in Los Angeles) and met her current husband Jeremy.
Rededicated herself to Christianity and rebuked Scientology.
“The Lord told me to leave Scientology while I was in Florida.”
This was in 2022 or 2023. More than two years ago. But she didn’t say anything at the time. (Later she says the “journey began” last summer — 2024 — and in February of this year realized she could never go back.)
She promotes her forthcoming book again.
It’s really good to see that she’s out of Scientology, and we are thankful that she’s talking about it publicly.
Click on Source:
Joy Villa details her defection from Scientology for the first time
It became pretty obvious a few months ago that Joy Villa had left Scientology and had doubled-down on her involvement as a Christian.
tonyortega.substack.com
