Jenny McCarthy says Tom Cruise once attempted to recruit her into joining the Church of Scientology.
In an Oct. 15 episode of the "Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg Show" podcast, the "Two and a Half Men" actress, 53, recalled how the "Top Gun" star invited her and her then-boyfriend, Jim Carrey, to Cruise's November 2006 wedding to his now-ex-wife, Katie Holmes.
The former Playboy Playmate said she and Carrey sat directly across from the bride, groom and their "immediate circle" and recalled the reaction she received after asking to hold Cruise and Holmes' 7-month-old baby, Suri Cruise (now Suri Noelle). "I got the Scientology stare," McCarthy said, comparing the moment to a scene from "Rosemary's Baby."
"I just went, 'Hi, baby,'" she said, as Suri sat
on her lap and McCarthy received unwanted attention throughout the room. "No one was speaking anymore. No one was talking."
McCarthy said it wasn't until she returned the baby to Holmes that everyone resumed their conversations as normal: "I thought to myself, 'Okay, I am in the belly of the beast right now.'"
The actress said the experience made her ponder, "What were they thinking when I was holding 'the baby," referring to Suri.
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Cruise and Carrey for comment.
Jenny McCarthy shared awkward exchange with David Miscavige, Tom Cruise
Cruise then introduced her to Scientology's longtime leader David Miscavige, who was the "Mission Impossible" actor's best man.
"I go, 'Haha, you got picked, congratulations,' which made it sound demeaning," McCarthy told podcast guest and former Sea Org member Anne Gollert Hill, who spent 20 years in Scientology before leaving and writing the book "Escape To Joy" about her experience.
The "Masked Singer" judge said Miscavige clearly didn't appreciate her remark, so Cruise tried to ease the awkwardness with laughter.
"I will say, from all the times I’ve met Tom, very nice human being," McCarthy said. "Very, um, programmed, you can tell."
She continued: "I felt it, and I knew it already, and I still felt it in person. Isn’t that crazy? And I was supposedly meeting [Miscavige] at his best when he was trying to recruit me and Jim, you know, like he was really trying to put on a show."
McCarthy said Cruise later called her and Carrey to invite them to their house in Aspen, "And Jim was like, 'We can’t go. They’re just going to want to try to, you know, lure us in.' They’d already tried with him before, and he turned them down."
What is the Church of Scientology?
According to L. Ron Hubbard's 1950 book "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health," Scientology is a religion that focuses on bettering one's spirit "not the mind or body – and believes that Man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes," according to its official website. The religion argues that a Scientologist can gain greater spiritual awareness outside their body through processes called "auditing" and "training."
Along with Cruise, the religion has garnered many celebrity figures over the years, including Danny Masterson, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.
Many celebrities have opened up about their experiences leaving the religion, like Masterson's former "That '70s Show" costar Laura Prepon and Leah Remini, who created three seasons of A&E's docuseries "Scientology and the Aftermath," where former members detailed accounts of alleged abuse and harassment by the Church.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jenny McCarthy says A-lister tried recruiting her, recalls 'Scientology stare'
