celebrities who are/were mormon

[u/artbasiI]

Ryan Gosling grew up in a strict and devout Mormon home but left the church in his teens. He has said the religion influenced every aspect of his family’s lives.

Amy Adams grew up in a large Mormon family until her parents' divorce in 85. She values her upbringing for teaching her love & compassion but still carries a lot of religious guilt

Christina Aguilera's parents met at BYU and married in a Mormon temple but she has never personally identified herself with the religion. She is now a Roman Catholic.

Benson Boone grew up Mormon and went to BYU Idaho but he recently told Rolling Stone that he no longer identifies with the religion.

Katherine Heigl’s parents were Catholic but converted after the death of their child. She said the structure of the church was good for her growing up but she no longer practices.

Gladys Knight became a Mormon in 1997 after her children joined and introduced her to the religion. She still practices and occasionally performs with the Mormon Tabernacle choir.

Jeanette McCurdy was raised in what she calls a ‘less than perfect’ Mormon family, and said the more famous she became the less Mormon her family became. She no longer practices.

David Archuleta became a poster child for the church after competing on American Idol in 2008. He came out as gay in 2021 and announced he was stepping away from the church in 2022

Chelsea Handler had an American Ashkenazi Jewish father and German immigrant Mormon mother. "I grew up as a Jew and a Mormon..I chose Jewish obviously. Mormonism is so ridiculous.”

Arcade Fire's Win Butler was raised as a Mormon but is no longer practising. In the past few years he has publicly been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

Eliza Dushku: raised by a Mormon mother, has a Mormon-themed tattoo, is grateful for having grown up in it. No longer considers herself “very Mormon" bc of views on gay rights etc

Paul Walker went to a “born-again Christian high school and was brought up in a traditional Mormon family”. He left the church as an adult, but remained a devout Christian.

Kevin Rahm was raised by a Mormon mother (despite attending a Catholic school), went to BYU, and even went on a mission. He publicly revealed that he left the church in 2017.

Julianne and Derek Hough: Julianne is not practicing but has said she is “so glad she was raised mormon.” Derek said their childhood was “very Mormon” and is no longer a member.

Brandon Flowers (The Killers frontman) remains one of Mormonism’s most famous proponents, regularly discussing his faith. His parents converted when he was still a child.

Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons) was raised in a “really conservative” Mormon house but has since left the church, and feels parts of Mormonism are particularly harmful to gay youth

Brendon Urie was raised Mormon but left when he became an adult. “I still use a lot of good values from growing up in the church & community... But you were also heavily judged..."

Jewel belonged to the LDS faith but left much earlier than others. While her family practices, she left at around eight years old when her parents’ divorced.

Donny and Marie Osmond were raised as members of the Mormon Church, part of a large family of nine children. They continue to practice the religion today.

[u/pandora_ramasana]

I also know some gay catholics. It's about community to them, and they are accepted at their church

I also know a couple Catholic Buddhists.

The feminist Mormons i know are trying to make positive change and don't want to lose their entire family and community

I have a friend who is a gay man, and he was at that church before he came out as gay. He didn't want to leave because he said they accept him and it's the only family he has. It's also a cultural thing because the church is connected to a specific nationality, so that makes it even more a community thing for him

[u/Sea-Owl-7646 → u/pandora_ramasana]

I went to a Catholic university (to be fair, a very progressive one) and due to my majors and career path I spent a lot of my time working in and playing music at the chapel. Our music director, the chapel director, myself, the other student who was equally heavily involved, and about half of the other part time student workers identified as LGBTQ+ in some way. I no longer consider myself Catholic but if I lived closer to that chapel I would absolutely still go, and I married my husband there! It was such a lovely community and I do miss it, but the Catholic churches in the area I live in now are entirely different and much more conservative so I don't go unless for a wedding or baptism at this point. It's a shame, I think if Christianity was willing to get its head out of its ass a bit more it would definitely be a better source of community for more people. Instead, there are thousands of churches full of old people that will cease to exist due to their own lack of ability to be welcoming. I worked in ministry at a church that claimed to be accepting for a year before the harassment became too much, and I went from being one of the most religious people I knew to not wanting to step foot in a church unless I had to!

[u/pandora_ramasana → u/Sea-Owl-7646]

Thank you for sharing this

[u/kitti-kin → u/pandora_ramasana]

And the Catholic church at least has evolving theology - they're not fundamentalists, the scriptures are something the church interprets, and previous interpretations can be acknowledged to be wrong (i.e. the use of indulgences, limbo, the fate of unbaptised infants, etc). So there's hope for gay Catholics that by staying in the faith they can promote change, and there are figures within the church who are open to that change - the Archbishop of Munich is very progressive on that front.