Scarlett Johansson Never Auditioned To Be Tom Cruise's Girlfriend For Scientology

A former member of the Church of Scientology recently dished some gossip regarding the church’s biggest star, but the other person involved in the rumor claims it is nonsense.

Former security guard Brendan Tighe has claimed that actress Scarlett Johansson was one of many women who “auditioned” to be Tom Cruise’s girlfriend more than a decade ago, but Johansson has issued a thorough denial.

Tighe appeared on “Megyn Kelly Today” and shared stories he witnessed or heard while a member of the Church of Scientology more than a decade ago. Among many claims he made about the global religious organization, Tighe said Johansson was on a list of women who would “replace” Nicole Kidman as Cruise’s partner after their 2001 breakup.

Tighe claimed he accidentally saw reports related to the audition process when they were sent to a printer near him by mistake. The meeting apparently did not go well, and that was that; the two did not date and Johansson was never a member of the church, at least, not publicly.

“Every time he [Tom Cruise] would show up we had to get our teeth whitened and overlooked. If you were part of anything to do with his service or entourage you had to be seen by the dentist.” says a fmr member of the #ChurchOfScientology #MegynTODAY pic.twitter.com/ItnZSvtB0a
— Megyn Kelly TODAY (@MegynTODAY) June 27, 2018

The one new detail of this story, per Yahoo, is that church member and Johansson’s “The Perfect Score” co-star Erika Christensen had to “disconnect” from Johansson after the audition went poorly. Rumors about Cruise trying to bring Johansson into the Scientology fold go back as far as 2005.

Johansson has firmly denied the allegations in a statement provided to Yahoo.

“The very idea of any person auditioning to be in a relationship is so demeaning,” Johansson’s statement said. “I refuse for anyone to spread the idea that I lack the integrity to choose my own relationships. Only a man, AKA Brendan Tighe, would come up with a crazy story like that.”

The church, as it typically does, issued a strongly worded denial of its own, claiming Tighe was “fraudulently distorting his own experiences.” In 2012, a Vanity Fair report detailed how the church allegedly selects girlfriends for Cruise, who along with John Travolta, is the biggest celebrity in its ranks.