Current lifetime: Born April 25, 1986 in Orange, California
Most famous for: Wearing a ‘MAGA’ dress to the 2017 Grammy Awards
Joined Scientology: Around the year 2010, and became an eccentric fixture in Scientology publications by 2014
Fun Scientology completion: L11, 2017
Joy Villa has been one of the most visible and active members of the Church of Scientology in recent years. We’ve been keeping tabs on her since at least 2014, when she continually showed up in church publications and was working with Scientology front groups. In October 2016, Joy and her then-fiance Overgaard became “Patron Meritorious” donors for having given at least $250,000 to the church, and they were married at Scientology’s holiest site, the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, on Christmas Day 2016. Joy has reached the state of “Clear” in Scientology, which can take years of work up the “Bridge to Total Freedom” and requires many hours of “auditing” — Scientology’s form of counseling — which involves having a subject “remember” their experiences in past lives going back millions of years and on other planets.
At the 2015 Grammy Awards, she showed up wearing a dress made of snowfence that was comical for how little of her it covered. It had been dreamed up by a friend, Andre Soriano, who followed that up the next year with something even more revealing that might have come from the movie Barbarella. Meanwhile, Joy kept trying various gimmicks to get noticed — at one point, in 2015 for example, “training” her waist to be scarily small, and then in 2016 winning an award for vegan bodybuilding.
Then, at the 2017 Grammy Awards celebration, for the third time she showed up wearing an Andre Soriano creation, but this time it was the infamous “Make America Great Again” pro-Trump dress which instantly launched Joy into stardom. Joy’s otherwise unknown music suddenly became a hot seller — in a recent interview, she seemed miffed when the host failed to point out that she had even outsold the Red Hot Chili Peppers with her EP, “I Make the Static.”
Joy rapidly ascended ‘MAGA’ politics and even pushed her way into the White House itself, with a few bumps along the way, like having to stop saying she was 26 years old and admit that she was, in fact 31.
In October 2017, the president himself tweeted his support for her political ambitions. But her talk about a Congressional run didn’t go anywhere as increasingly even ‘MAGA’ folk were put off by her heavy Scientology involvement.
“She has a special gift. But Scientology, they want to control every aspect of her life,” said her former manager, Robbie Olson, after he split with her.
LINKS:
January 8, 2018: Joy Villa’s ex talks about her domestic violence arrest and the child she put up for adoption
January 15, 2018: Joy Villa’s former manager: ‘Scientology destroyed everything’
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Our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. Our collaboration with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’, is also available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle versions.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
