David Duchovny says Scientologists tried to recruit him: 'I never went back'
David Duchovny is sharing details about the time he lost one of his friends to Scientology, and how the church tried to recruit him, too.
He was at his pal and fellow actor Jason Beghe's wedding in Los Angeles when Scientologists approached him, the "Californication" star said in a new interview with The Daily Beast.
"They made a play for me," Duchovny said, adding that he even submitted to an electro-psychometer test, which is similar to a polygraph and is reportedly used in Scientology auditing. "I did squeeze the cans and I did a session on the E-meter, and I realized immediately, because they're asking very personal questions, that they were gathering information that I didn't want to give out to a stranger.
Related: The "Orange Is The New Black" star shared that motherhood forced her to do some self-reflection.
"So, the session didn't go well. I didn't play by the rule, and I never went back," he continued. "And Jason, to his credit, never tried to recruit me. He only 'recruited' me in the sense of saying, 'This is great, and I think you should try it,' not anything harder than that."
Beghe, known for his role on "Chicago P.D.," was a Scientologist for years before defecting in 2007, which he's spoken publicly about, and condemning the church as "dangerous."
Related video:
Duchovny, a longtime friend of Beghe's, explained what it was like to watch him slip away, even wondering if he should have stepped in.
"Jason and I drifted apart during that time, because Scientology hangs with their own when they’re doing it," Duchovny told The Daily Beast. "We’d see each other from time to time, and I noticed that his vocabulary was different. The way he described the world and his experiences, particularly his psychological experiences, was cult-ish and had changed completely. Either I didn’t have the balls to slap him and snap him out of it, or he said it was working for him, or … maybe I failed him as a friend during those years?"
In the interview, Duchovny also spoke about his most recent project, a new album called "Gestureland," as well as some old ones, including his memorable role as Fox Mulder in "The X-Files."
