Entertainment

5 unexpected celebs with Mormon roots

By
Starting the day with liters of soda instead of a cup of coffee: welcome to the world of Mormon customs. Something we learned from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. And that world extends further than you think, all the way to deep in Hollywood. These celebs have Mormon roots and this is what they have shared about it.

Ryan Gosling

Barbies Ryan Gosling grew up within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has said that this has taught him many social skills. “You have to pray in public, shake a lot of hands, speak in public, sing in church, that kind of thing,” he said. All handy qualities in an actor, of course. During his youth, Mormon theology influenced what was eaten and how things were thought in the Gosling household; for example, Mormons believe that fasting affects the weather. In 2007, Gosling stated that he no longer identified with the faith. His mother believed that this faith was an option, but not the only option, and that her son had to find his own truth. And he found it somewhere else.

Katherine Heigl

Katherine Heigl's family also converted to the Mormon faith for answers after her brother Jason died in 1986 from the consequences of a car accident. “Both my parents had a great desire for answers, and they found them in the Mormon church – or at least answers they could live with, because there aren’t really any,’ she said in 2008. The respect she has for the faith and her parents because of this is immense. In 2014, the queen of romcoms also shared that the discipline and structure of the church were good for her in her youth.

Benson Boone

“When I was growing up, many people in the church talked about their experiences, personal revelations, feelings, and voices. I never experienced it as physically as they did, and that’s why I was always confused and frustrated,’ said Benson Boone, known for the hit ’Beautiful Things‘, in 2025. ’I was always afraid to discuss it with others because I just didn’t want to accept that I didn’t feel what everyone else felt. “Eventually he shared his feelings with a friend, and to his surprise, he recognized himself in it. Boone's parents have their own views on the faith and want their son to figure it out for himself. This does explain all those backflips: within the church you are not allowed to drink, so that is as rebellious as possible. Additionally, he briefly studied at the Mormon university Brigham Young University in Idaho before dropping out of his studies. Also rebellious.

Amy Adams

“I grew up as a Mormon and that has had more influence on my values than my beliefs. I’m afraid I will always carry the burden of a lie,” Adams said in 2013. She mentions that she is very hard on herself anyway and that religious guilt doesn’t help. Amy Adams, who broke through with her role in Enchanted, added that the strict rules of Mormonism (including a ban on coffee and alcohol) still form a source of guilt. “Even when I go out with friends and we go overboard in bars or clubs, I wake up the next morning with a bit of a mixed feeling because I had too much fun,’ she said.

Brendon Urie

Brendon Urie, the frontman of Panic! At The Disco, revealed in 2016 that he was raised Mormon but left the church when he became an adult. He said: “I still use a lot of good values from my youth in the church, and there was a strong sense of community. But you were also heavily judged by people who looked down on you because you weren’t as great as they were.”

SOURCE: US Magazine & SheKnows