CELEBRITY NEWS

Celebrities Who Grew

Up Mormon and
Revealed Their
Experiences: Katherine
Heigl, Ryan Gosling,
Amy Adams, More
By Sara Donnellan | February 7, 2023

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A foundation that shaped them. Katherine

Heigl, Amy Adams and Ryan Gosling are
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among the A-listers that grew up in the
Mormon church. 
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Heigl’s family converted to the religion
after her brother Jason died in 1986 of
injuries suffered in a car accident.

 “Both my parents felt a great desire for

answers, and they found an answer in the
Mormon church — or answers they could
live with, anyway, because there really are
none,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum told
Vanity Fair in January 2008. “I give my
parents unbelievable credit for pulling it
together, and I give the Mormon church a
lot of credit for helping them to do that.”

Although the 27 Dresses actress is no

longer practicing, her upbringing as a
Latter-day Saint in!uenced her relationship
with Josh Kelley, whom she wed in
December 2007.

“I … didn’t want to live together before we

were married. I still have enough Mormon
in me — not a lot, but enough — that I
wanted to keep that a little bit sacred,” she
told the outlet.

Adams, for her part, has also been candid

about how the religion in!uenced her
worldview.

“I grew up as a Mormon and that had more

of an impact on my values than my beliefs.
I’m afraid I will always feel the weight of a
lie,” she told The Sun in June 2013. “I’m
very hard on myself anyway. Religious guilt
carries over, too. You can’t really
misbehave without feeling badly about it —
at least, I can’t.”

The Enchanted star added that

Mormonism’s strict rules — which include
a ban on drinking coffee and alcohol —
remain a source of guilt.

“Even when I go out with friends and we

go overboard at bars or clubs, I wake up
the next morning feeling a bit con!icted
about having had too much fun,” she
shared at the time.

Gosling, on the other hand, has said that

he never identi"ed with the theology,
despite growing up in the church.

“I wasn’t really Mormon, my parents were,”

the Notebook actor told Beliefnet in
October 2007. “My mom was really cool.
She said, ‘This is an option, but this isn’t the
only option. This is an idea, but this isn’t
the only idea. You have to "nd your own
truth.’ I never really could identify with it.”

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The Canada native added that there were

“good things” about his religious
upbringing.

“[It] socialized me at a young age,” he

explained. “You have to pray in public,
shake a lot of hands, talk in public, sing in
church, stuff like that. It has de"nitely
stayed with me.”

Keep scrolling to see which celebrities

grew up in the Mormon church — and
what they’ve said about the religion:

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Credit: Stewart Cook/Shutterstock

Chelsea Handler
The Chelsea Lately alum talked about
growing up with a Jewish father and a
Mormon mother during a February 2020
conversation with Judy Blume at the
MAKERS Conference.

“I grew up as a Jew and Mormon … so we

had to choose and I chose Jewish,
obviously, because Mormonism is so
ridiculous,” the comedian said.

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Eliza Dushku
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum told
Intelligencer in April 2012 that she no
longer considered herself to be “very
Mormon” despite being raised in the faith.

“My problems with the church have to do

with its stance on homosexuality, and
other things,” she told the outlet.

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Katherine Heigl
"That structure and discipline was really
good for me,” the Knocked Up actress told
Good Housekeeping of her Mormon
childhood in August 2014.

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Paul Walker
The late Fast and the Furious star left the
church as an adult. During a December
2013 interview with GQ, Walker shared
that his decision to keep working instead
of staying at home with his daughter,
Meadow, went against the parenting
philosophy he was raised with.

“I went to a born-again Christian high

school, was brought up in a traditional
Mormon family where these ideas about
parenting are of structure and sacri"ce. To
think outside of that idea of family and
parenting that I've grown up with is tough,
but also very freeing,” he said, noting that
his daughter wanted him “to keep acting
so she can travel around the world with
me.”

Credit: Marcus Owen/startraksphoto.com

Julianne and Derek Hough

“I’m not practicing, but I’m so glad I was
raised Mormon,” Julianne told the New
York Post in October 2013. The Footloose
actress added that she grew up in a
household where the rules were: “No sex
before marriage, no drinking, no caffeine,
no smoking, no swear words, no R-rated
movies.”

Derek, for his part, no longer considers

himself a member of the church either. He
described his childhood as “very Mormon”
in his August 2014 memoir, Taking the
Lead: Lessons From a Life in Motion.

Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock

Ryan Gosling
The Crazy, Stupid Love actor — who grew
up in the church — shared in an October
2007 interview with Beliefnet that his
“really cool” mom let him pick his own
spiritual path despite being a Mormon
herself.

“She said, ‘This is an option, but this isn't

the only option. This is an idea, but this
isn’t the only idea. You have to "nd your
own truth,’” he recalled.

Credit: Earl Gibson III/Shutterstock

David Archuleta
The American Idol alum decided to take a
step back from the church after coming
out as a member of the LGBTQ+
community in June 2021.

During a November 2022 conversation

with ABC News’ Steve Osunsami,
Archuleta talked about the “faith crisis” he
had after a leader in his church tried to
invalidate his sexuality.

"I think three times in that conversation he

said, 'Well, maybe we just need to "nd you
a good girl. Maybe you can "nd a good
girl,'" he recalled. "And I'm like, 'That's not
the solution.'"

Despite his adverse experiences with the

religion, the Florida native defended its
practitioners.

"I would say, it's the church structure more

than the people. Because the people have
been amazing,” he said.