Brad Pitt's turbulent introduction to Scientology

An insider has spilled details about Brad Pitt's time with the Church of Scientology. Photo / Getty Images

An insider has revealed details of Brad Pitt's troubled - and up until now mostly unknown - dabble in Scientology.

The actor reportedly spent three years involved in the controversial religion, back in the 1990s.

According to the insider, Pitt was "twinned" with a 15-year-old girl for up to five hours a day for "purification" rituals in a hot sauna. The same source also says he was screamed at by church superiors during "bull baiting" sessions.

The same source told The Sun: "I was being trained up to be a course supervisor, so was sent to Celebrity Centre Portland for training. While I was there I met the teenage daughter of the executive director of a Portland-based Scientology company … One of the things she told me was that Brad Pitt, who was dating Scientologist Juliette Lewis at the time, did the purification rundown at Celebrity Centre Portland. He did it there to keep out of the public eye."

According to the source, a former member of the Church of Scientology, the teenager Pitt was paired up with was "the daughter of an established Scientologist".

Scientology records show Pitt completed therapies within the church in July 1991 and a "special course in human evaluation" in May 1993.

As part of his training, Pitt was reportedly verbally abused by his former church supervisor, Michael Mallen, until he stormed out of the classroom.

"Brad was doing the therapeutic (training routines)," Mallen told The Sun.

"The first TR involves you sitting across from another person with eyes closed for some time. Then you look at another person with eyes open for two hours … Once you pass that drill, you go into what's called bullbaiting. The 'coach' tries to get the student to react by pushing the student's 'buttons'. That's what I did with Brad Pitt. I did it mercilessly, insulting the sh*t out of him," he revealed.

"His then girlfriend Juliette Lewis was there. He got so pissed off, he walked out of the trailer and just split. Juliette had to rescue him; he just needed to cool off. I guess no one had bullbaited him before. I was going pretty hard on him, but that's the whole point, to get the person where they're no longer reacting and can comfortably be there."

Although Pitt did not quit the church following that incident, he did eventually leave for good in 1993.

"I heard he did the purification rundown in Portland," Mallen told the British newspaper. "Looks like he decided he'd had enough around that time. They tried to get him back, but he never continued with Scientology."