Joy Villa wore a “Scientology Kills” bodysuit at the Grammys, after reflecting on 15 years of spiritual trauma in the church and $2M in donations
20:10 ET, 01 Feb 2026Updated 20:13 ET, 01 Feb 2026
Joy Villa has sent a political message to the Church of Scientology on Sunday
Joy Villa used the Grammys red carpet to draw attention to her break from the Church of Scientology.
The singer arrived at the award show wearing a bright blue bodysuit reading “Scientology Kills,” layered under a pink fur coat lined with handwritten names, a stark contrast from Chappell Roan’s R-rated Grammys look and Kehlani’s two-word message to ICE. The back of Villa’s coat read “Jesus Heals.”
Villa, who donned the political outfit just one year after Bianca Censori’s nude look that could have resulted in jail time, has said that leaving Scientology followed years of physical and emotional strain. In an essay for Evie magazine, she wrote that her public career masked a deeper struggle. “From the outside, my life inside Scientology looked like a success story. Inside, it was slowly destroying me,” Villa told Evie. She argued that some of her professional milestones overlapped with her time in the organization, including Grammy appearances and Billboard chart recognition.
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“I was visible, successful, and influential. And Scientology took credit for all of it. Every achievement was attributed not to God, not to talent, not to perseverance, but to auditing, donations, and loyalty to the organization. My success became propaganda. My life became marketing,” she wrote.
In a separate statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Villa explained why she chose to speak publicly now.
Villa wore a body suit that read “Scientology Kills.”
“Silence protects systems of abuse. I’m speaking now because no one should be interrogated for praying or punished for seeking a church. I am now fully surrendered to Jesus Christ, rebaptized, and committed to helping others recover from cult abuse and coercive control through my nonprofit, The Fearless Joy Foundation. We support survivors in rebuilding their lives, reclaiming their faith, and finding peace after years of manipulation,” she said.
Villa also detailed the financial toll of her involvement, claiming she donated about $2 million to the church. She said fans rarely saw the internal impact.
The back of Villa’s coat read “Jesus Heals”
“I was working twelve-hour days, mentally depleted, spiritually numb, emotionally unraveling. I was deeply depressed. So depressed that I began to scare myself. I did not want to die, but I no longer wanted to live,” she wrote.
Villa said her Christian faith ultimately led her to leave Scientology, which counts actor Tom Cruise among its most prominent members.
Villa reportedly donated about $2 million to the church
“Scientology is not a self-help system. It’s a control system,” she wrote.
She described auditing, a central Scientology practice, as coercive.
“At the center of it is auditing, which is presented as spiritual counseling but functions far closer to an interrogation technique. You sit across from an auditor with an E-meter, answering deeply personal questions while your emotional responses are measured, recorded, and stored,” Villa wrote.
Villa said she was trained to audit others and warned that information gathered is never erased.
“I know how it works because I was taught how to extract information, how to keep people talking, how to bypass resistance, how to reframe discomfort as spiritual weakness. Nothing shared in auditing is ever truly confidential. Files follow you forever,” she wrote.
She also criticized church leader David Miscavige.
“Let me be clear. Questioning David Miscavige is not allowed,” Villa wrote. “I trusted that the suffering was part of growth. Instead, I was breaking.”
Villa ended her essay by encouraging others to question their own experiences.
“If you are quietly wondering whether something feels wrong, listen to that voice. You are not weak. You are not broken. You are waking up,” she wrote.
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