Matt Willis has revealed he joined Scientology but left after he felt they were trying to drive a wedge between him and his wife, Emma.
The Busted icon shared how, during the depths of his struggles with alcohol and drug use, he turned to the group for support.
He went so far as to purchase a course from them, sharing all he knew was that Tom Cruise was linked to the religion.
‘At the time I was lost, I was trying to hold on to anything to make my life make sense,’ Matt, 42, shared on his On The Mend podcast.
‘I couldn’t work out how I was supposed to live a normal life without drink and drugs. And I was looking for something. I was actively searching.’
He stumbled across a Scientologist while on Oxford Street, who persuaded him to join the church the following day.
Matt only knew that ‘Tom Cruise has something to do with’ the church but ‘rocked up at this big building’ in hopes of getting his life on track.
‘I got through this other course and everything was pointing to some kind of negative influence in my life that was draining me like some person,’ he shared of the process known as auditing.
‘And I was asking questions, “who is that?” They’re like, “Only you know that.” I was like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, man. The problem is me. Like really, I’m making all these problems happen. There’s no one else, you know?”‘
However, he began to feel they weren’t pointing him to look inward; instead, they were saying it was ‘probably the closest person’ to him.
‘It was a really weird thing,’ he continued. ‘Slowly but surely, I was like, “I think you’re talking about my wife”.’
TV presenter Emma, 49, is best known as the host of Big Brother and the pair have been together for 21 years and have three kids.
Two years ago, Matt marked their 16th wedding anniversary by getting a tattoo of his wife’s face.
This was a turning point for the Year 3000 singer, who began to feel like they were attempting to isolate him from his friends and family.
Matt has previously shared how he left after a huge argument with someone in the church, which prompted his exit.
Scientologists are encouraged to distance themselves from those outside the religion, which was recognised as such in 1993.
A ‘suppressive person’, their name for non-Scientologists, is said to be a barrier to spiritual growth, with believers climbing the ranks in search of enlightenment.
They don’t believe in heaven or hell, instead founder Elrond Hubbard suggested humans are beings of infinite life cycles, some of which are extraterrestrial.
‘They didn’t want me to have any kind of outside connections. They wanted me to just be connected to this,’ Matt stated on the podcast.
‘And so it took me about maybe two weeks to go, “No, mate. This is b******s.” Also, I never got any answers. I paid for these things, did all the courses and got nothing.’
Matt has now been sober for several years, after a few stints in rehab in his early 20s and ultimatums from Emma, whom he credits for helping him recover.
In response to Matt’s comments, the Church of Scientology told The Sun: ‘A fundamental principle of the Scientology religion and its applications is the improvement of communication and relationships with others. Scientology is a practical religion that includes study and application of principles, to benefit yourself and increase your ability to help others.
‘The Church’s social betterment programmes reach into society to tackle some of the main causes of societal problems and ruin, such as illiteracy, drug abuse, moral decay, criminality and natural disasters.’
Several famous faces have been publicly involved with the church, including Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Elisabeth Moss and Lisa Marie Presley.
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