There have been many Hollywood names linked to the widely controversial Church of Scientology. Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s name has also been raised often as a potential member of the organization. Although they have repeatedly denied any connection to Scientology, headlines were raised when it was known that a private school run by the Smiths secretly promoted the Church.
Will Smith and his wife used to run a private school named New Village Leadership Academy which is presently shut down. The school didn’t show any direct connection with Scientology but according to several former teachers, it promoted the practice full-fledgedly. According to reports by The Daily Beast, the school’s curriculum had several secret problematic Scientology practices.
What’s the secret of Will Smith’s New Village Leadership Academy?
The Church of Scientology was founded in late 1953 by science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. While it is considered a cult in some places, some also consider it a business. Many people also consider it a separate religion. Scientology has been the face of various controversies since its starting and has been repeatedly called out for its problematic ways.
The internet was taken by storm when it was revealed that Will Smith‘s New Village Leadership Academy was also a secret hub of Scientology. When a co-founder and former headmaster Jacqueline Olivier spoke to The Daily Beast, she spilled many secrets which stated that the school preached Scientology without directly claiming so.
“They never mentioned Scientology. But I remember they sent me the L. Ron Hubbard books, and I didn’t put it together. It just seemed like a great opportunity.”
The interview grew interesting as Olivier revealed that the teachers at the school were directed to take classes at Hollywood’s Scientology Celebrity Centre, and Applied Scholastics. Even the school’s curriculum had a lot of controversial practices linked with Scientology such as “Tone Scale” and “Debugging”.
Jacqueline Olivier also added that L.Ron Hubbard had a huge influence on the school as his pictures prevailed on the walls as well as the books. The teaching methods also made it evident that it was undoubtedly preaching the last thing parents wanted their kids to know about. And it even led to many parents not removing their children from school.
“There were pictures of L. Ron Hubbard on the walls. And in the study technology book, there was a picture of [Hubbard] and a whole mini-biography of his life, and that was the first thing [kids] had to word clear—before anything. I mean, it was total Scientology. There’s no question.”
Olivier’s statements were also corroborated by a California State University professor who served as a Guest lecturer at Will Smith’s school from 2008 to 2010. He also admitted to hearing many things that either made no sense or were related to Scientology.
“There were teachers there who were constantly talking about building materials into the curriculum that were related to Scientology. There were teachers there that I met and I couldn’t even understand what they were saying.”
But on the other hand, Jada Pinkett Smith also maintained her stand and denied any association of the school with the church- “That is straight evil to think that I would bring families into that educational institution and then try to get them to convert into some religion.” Even Will Smith publicly denied any involvement of his family with Scientology.
Recently, Jada Pinkett Smith also made huge headlines after her son Jaden Smith claimed that it was The Matrix Revolutions actress that introduced their family to psychedelics.
What did Jaden Smith reveal about his mom?
Recently when Jaden Smith spoke at the Psychedelic Science conference, he revealed that it was his mother who introduced their family to psychedelics.
“I think it was my mom, actually, that was really the first one to make that step for the family.”
Will Smith’s After Earth co-star sparked up controversy when he claimed that it was Pinkett Smith who introduced psychedelics in the family and after that, it went up to be used by every member in their way. He also accredited it to improve his relationship with his siblings.
The internet didn’t show any mercy to the wife of Will Smith. The fans were outrageous and astonished at the behavior. When Jada Pinkett Smith was asked about it, she denied commenting anything and stated that everything will be answered in her upcoming memoir Worthy.
Source: The Daily Beast
