Elisabeth Moss: ‘ I DON’T NEED TO BE SAVED FROM SCIENTOLOGY’
With Spicer and Scaramucci gone, the job of communicating the President’s message to the world has fallen to an unlikely and elusive 28-year-old staffer. Olivia Nuzzi reports
AS HER STAR HAS RISEN, with
The Handmaid’s Tale and Top Of The Lake: China Girl on everyone’s summer mustsee lists, Elisabeth Moss’s personal life has become a source of fascination. And particular attention has been paid to the fact that she was raised, and still is, a practising Scientologist.
Perhaps aware of how the religion has overshadowed fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise’s career, Elisabeth, 35, has remained steadfastly silent about her faith (last year, she told a reporter, ‘I get the fascination, but you have a right to your privacy’). But, while rapturously received by critics, her star turn in The
Handmaid’s Tale has placed Elisabeth under even more scrutiny.
Some fans have struggled to reconcile Elisabeth starring in a feminist show about the subjugation of women while belonging to a religion accused of sexual assault and forced abortions. Many have drawn unfavourable comparisons between Scientology and Gilead, the dystopian regime depicted in the show, with one blog asking, ‘Isn’t it relevant that the star of The Handmaid’s Tale belongs to a secretive, allegedly oppressive religion?’
And last week a comment on Elisabeth’s Instagram finally forced her to publicly defend her beliefs. A fan wrote of The Handmaid’s Tale: ‘Love this adaptation so much. Question though, does it make you think twice about Scientology? Gilead and Scientology both believe that all outside sources (aka news) are wrong and evil… it’s just very interesting.’
In a rare break from protocol, Elisabeth replied, saying, ‘That’s actually not true at all about Scientology. 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 to me probably. And so Gilead hit me on a very personal level. Thanks for the interesting question!’
Friends of the actor were surprised by her outburst. ‘Elisabeth has been advised over the years to keep quiet about her devotion to Scientology because of the seemingly endless negativity and scrutiny the church faces,’ said a source.
‘But as her profile has risen she’s found it difficult holding her tongue when challenged. She truly believes that the religion has been unfairly maligned in the media, and increasingly feels as though it’s her duty not only to the church but also to her parents, who raised her as a Scientologist, to correct misconceptions.
‘At the moment she’s trying to strike a balance between guarding her private life and standing up for what she believes in. It’s a difficult line for her to walk.’
Said to be adding to the tension is the fact that the religion’s most outspoken detractor, actor and former Scientologist Leah Remini, 47, name-checked Elisabeth in an interview earlier this month. Discussing the concept of ‘antisocial personalities’ (a term used in Scientology to describe the religion’s enemies, it is often applied to defectors, who believers are forbidden from communicating with), Leah said, ‘Elisabeth Moss believes that she can’t talk to me. She believes I’m an antisocial personality – because I’ve spoken out against Scientology.’
According to the insider, Leah’s words have encouraged other Hollywood heavyweights to weigh in on Elisabeth’s religion. ‘She is increasingly tired of friends in the entertainment industry who have begun “reaching out” to her because they’re worried about her devotion to Scientology. Leah’s comments have only made the situation worse,’ said the source.
‘She doesn’t feel she needs “saving” from Scientology and the last thing she wants is to be confronted by Leah and called out over her private beliefs.’
Indeed, when the pair recently attended the Television Critics Awards, Elisabeth – who had been nominated for her role in The Handmaid’s Tale – is reported to have walked out of the room when Leah accepted the award for Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming for her show, Scientology And The Aftermath. But what will happen at the Emmy Awards on 17 September – when Leah’s show is nominated in the Informational Series category and Elisabeth is up for Outstanding Lead Actress, again for The Handmaid’s Tale?
‘During awards season it will be impossible to avoid each other’, said the source. ‘Things could get awkward.’
AMERICA’S CAPITAL CITY is one populated by my least-favourite type of personality: the striver. They come here with five-year plans, grand ambitions and carefully written resumés. They are strategic and savvy, masters of the firm handshake and the follow-up email. They’d love to do coffee sometime and, don’t worry, they’ll see you at the next embassy cocktail party! It’s a uniquely Trumpian departure, then, that the most powerful woman in US politics in 2017 never intended to work in the White House, or on a presidential campaign, or even in Washington. She was a child actor and model who, just a few years ago, was still auditioning for movies. Yet at 28, Hope Hicks now finds herself perched outside the Oval Office with the title ‘communications director’. Entirely by accident, she is the barrier between the President and the world.
I first met Hicks in 2016, when I was assigned to write about her for GQ. I spent months visiting her hometown, thumbing through her school yearbooks and getting to know her through her colleagues. But she declined to participate on the record, arranging instead for Trump himself to talk to me about her in his office at Trump Tower – all while she sat largely silently beside me in one of the $9,000 lounge chairs across from his desk. She was nervous around her boss, who she dutifully called ‘sir’ or ‘Mr Trump’ in her syrupy voice. The Donald was effusive in his praise for her. ‘I thought Hope was outstanding,’ he said, describing how he poached her to work for him from New York PR maven Matthew Hiltzik in 2014. It was weird, but then, what isn’t weird when it comes to Trump?
Hicks is the daughter of a PR guru and joined the family business after giving up on movie stardom. She became part of Trump’s inner circle through his daughter Ivanka, whose PR she handled. In winter 2015, Hicks was summoned to Trump’s suite, where a few advisers she’d never met before were crowded around him. He told her they’d all be travelling to Iowa, a state would-be presidential candidates must visit often if they plan on mounting
a serious campaign, since the first caucuses are held there. From that day on, Hicks has remained by Trump’s side, acting as his confidante, babysitter, yes-woman, life coach, whatever-he-needs-her-to-be. The campaign was her first job in politics, and now she’s the longest-serving staffer in the White House. ‘Only in America’ is a phrase people use to refer to rags-toriches stories; the rise of Hicks is different: only in Trump’s America.
Hicks was named director of strategic communications in January – the role was invented specifically for her by Trump. At the time, the press secretary was Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders was his deputy and the communications director was Mike Dubke. Within seven months, all that changed. After Dubke resigned in May, Anthony Scaramucci was installed in his place, which led Spicer to quit. Huckabee Sanders took Spicer’s job, then Scaramucci was fired, which is how Hicks ended up as communications director.
Historically, the communications director has a clear-cut job spec. But as with most things in current US politics, the job is something else under Trump, who is his own spokesman. Day to day, Hicks’s job is largely staying the same as it always was. The difference now is the level of interest from the public in who she is and what she does. This is a danger for her, since an increased profile means a greater chance she’ll find herself a target of infighting. But Hicks, smiley and agreeable and beautiful in a way that’s uncommon for Washington, so far seems as committed as ever to flying under the radar and away from petty conflict. It’s her careful nature that’s got her this far and, although there’s little to be certain of when it comes to Trump, it seems likely that will continue.