Oscar Winner Paul Haggis On Scientology: "I Was In A Cult For 34 Years!"

Perez Hilton Filed under: Icky Icky Poo > Gay Gay Gay > Tom Cruise

Uh oh! We hope he doesn't get hassled by Tom Cruise for speaking up about this!

For the first time ever, Crash/The Next Three Days director Paul Haggis has opened up to The New Yorker about his experiences with Scientology.

Here's what he had to say about it:

"I was in a cult for 34 years. Everyone else could see it. I don't know why I couldn't."

"There was a feeling of camaraderie that was something I'd never experienced; all these atheists looking for something to believe in, and all these loners looking for a club to join."

According to Haggis, he bailed on the church when they "declined to publicly denounce Proposition 8."

Good for U, Paul! We're VERY happy to hear that!

As one could imagine, The Church of Scientology did not appreciate The New Yorker's article, and they wrote a lengthy rebuttal statement, which you can check out, along with MUCH more from Haggis about Scientology, HERE.