Elisabeth Moss’ triumph & travails
Elisabeth Moss is gathering accolades for her role as a rebellious sex slave – but her religion is tempering the praise
IT WAS a glittering night for the golden girl of television. Dressed in black along with scores of other stars in solidarity with victims of sexual harassment as part of the Time’s Up movement, she said all the right things when she collected her Golden Globe for best actress in a drama series for her harrowing performance in The Handmaid’s Tale. Elisabeth Moss spoke out against intolerance and injustice and urged women to continue to fight for acceptance and equality – and the audience applauded her warmly.
Four days later she was back on stage to accept her gong for best actress in a drama series at the Critics’ Choice Awards and this time she praised the show’s creator, Bruce Miller, for his “empowering decision” to elevate her to producer of the show.
But the 35-year-old actress’ words haven’t gone down well with the public. The practising Scientologist was met with a barrage of criticism and branded a hypocrite for belonging to the controversial church while preaching justice and equality from her glossy pulpit.
“Elisabeth Moss funds and defends an organisation that profits off human trafficking and child abuse,” one Twitter user said.
“What [she] said was amazing,” another said. “I hope she starts within herself and examines the injustices of Scientology.”
“Elisabeth Moss is a Scientologist, a religion that actively silences women (see: Danny Masterson) while covering up their own faults, and they aggressively go after those who dare speak up against them. But she’s wearing black in support of #TimesUp,” yet another tweeted.
The church came under fire last year when it was accused of protecting one of its own, That ’70s Show’s Danny Masterson, after he was accused of rape by five women and having a hand in the “inexplicable” disappearance of the damning docket against him.
Rape is a central theme in The Handmaid’s Tale, the first season of which recently wrapped on M-Net.
The dystopian drama, based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, is set in a futuristic America where women have no rights. The country has been renamed the Republic of Gilead and is ruled by tyrannical men whose prime focus is to ensure the preservation of the human species.
A drastic decline in female fertility means few babies are being born and the women who can bear children – the Handmaids – are forced into sexual slavery. They’re assigned to the homes of privileged couples where they’re raped by the husbands while their wives hold them down between their legs.
Elisabeth’s character, Offred, refuses to accept this as her fate and starts to fight the forces of cruelty and evil.
The actress doesn’t often talk about her Scientology links although she has credited the religion for “giving me a sanity and stability I’m not sure I’d necessarily have had”.
But recently she addressed the issue when a follower posed a question about The Handmaid’s Tale and her faith on Instagram.
“Does it make you think about Scientology?” the fan asked. “Gilead and Scientology both believe all outside sources (aka news) are wrong.”
“That’s actually not true at all about Scientology,” Elisabeth replied.
“Religious freedom and tolerance and understanding the truth and equal rights for every race, religion and creed are extremely important to me, the most important things probably.
“And so Gilead and The Handmaid’s Tale hit me on a very personal level.”
ELISABETH and her brother, Derek, were raised in the faith by parents Ron, a jazz artist and manager, and Linda, a harmonica player. It’s rumoured she was one of the potential wives put forward by the church for Tom Cruise – probably Scientology’s most famous follower – after his divorce from Katie Holmes in 2012.
Elisabeth was home-schooled and describes herself as a “serious, focused child” who always knew she wanted to do something in the performing-arts world.
Growing up in a creative family it seemed like “the natural thing to do”, and she made her TV debut at the age of six in the mini-series Lucky Chances.
Dance was another passion and she even relocated to New York as a teenager to study ballet after completing the high school curriculum at 16.
But acting took over when the roles started coming in – a disturbed young burn victim in Girl, Interrupted, the president’s daughter in The West Wing and then the role that would cement her career, Peggy Olson in Mad Men.
But few characters have been more interesting to her than Offred, although she concedes at first she had reservations.
“I had to do some soul-searching. When you sign on for a new series you hope it goes the distance.”
Her biggest concern was she didn’t want the show to be a watered-down, politically correct version of the book.
“It needed to be ballsy. I didn’t want to hold back. If you’re going to take something that’s such a beloved work, that people have attached themselves to emotionally, then you’d better do it justice.
“I have very high standards for television. My thing is that, if you’re not going to go all in, then you’d better not do it at all.”
The show isn’t easy to watch – mutilation, misery and murder abound in a world of fear and oppression – but it was one of the most talked-about TV series of 2017.
Elisabeth soon grew to love Offred. “I love it when she says the F-word under her breath or makes those inappropriate jokes that could get her killed or she could lose an eye.”
And she has this to say about the show’s sex scenes: “I’m very particular about that kind of thing and I don’t let anyone decide who’s going to do which angles except for me. With her ex-husband, US comedian Fred Armisen. They married in 2009 but split eight months later.
“Everything that involves nudity I have 100% approval over, otherwise I don’t do it.”
SHE plays her personal cards close to her chest and likes to live what she calls a low-key life.
“I have three friends but I love them. I’m a bit of a loner. I like to make food or order in, watch TV and go to bed. I try to get eight hours of sleep.”
Her Scientology faith is rumoured to be at the heart of her short-lived marriage to actor and comedian Fred Armisen (51).
She was introduced to him by Mad Men star Jon Hamm and the pair were engaged after three months, and married within a year.
But they separated eight months later after Fred, who isn’t a Scientologist, apparently couldn’t handle her devotion to the church.
There were also rumours he cheated on her and she threw him out before divorcing him – a process she described as “awful and horrible”.
Elisabeth will be back in April in season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale – which, according to one critic, is “bloody terrifying” – as Offred battles the hell of the Colonies, where she’s been banished in punishment for her rebellious behaviour.
The actress can also be seen on the big screen in The Seagull – a drama costarring Saoirse Ronan – and the crime caper Old Man and the Gun, co-starring Robert Redford as an elderly bank robber.
Big things ahead then – but Elisabeth is at pains to point out that Hollywood success isn’t all glitz and glamour. “You are often somewhere peeing in a Porta Potty or trying to fix your dress. Fame isn’t exactly what it seems.”
‘It needed to be ballsy. I didn’t want to hold back’