‘True Blood’ Star Nelsan Ellis’ Death: Scientology ‘Detox Program’ To Blame?

Nelsan Ellis passed away a few weeks ago after difficulties from alcohol withdrawal caused his heart to fail. While True Blood fans mourn Ellis’ tragic passing, a close friend just revealed the actor had a connection with the Church of Scientology and had begun a questionable detox program with the religion just before his death.

According to Radar Online, Ellis was secretly involved with the peculiar religion and enrolled himself in the church’s special detox plan. Steven Mango, a former Scientologist, claims that he attended the same detox meetings with Ellis. Mango believes the church’s outlandish methods of treating alcoholism probably played a part in Ellis’ death.

“I almost died on the program,” Mango shared.

Mango revealed that the questionable program forces each member to eat “vitamin bombs,” run for long periods of time on the treadmill and stay in a sauna for up to five hours a day. Mango left the Church of Scientology five years ago. He says that he ran into Ellis in 2012 outside of the organization’s purification center.

“I was sitting in the sauna and Nelsan was in the corner reading a script. You take five to 10-minute breaks, where you step out of the sauna into a sitting area. My friend came up to me excitedly to tell me that the new guy was Lafayette from the HBO show True Blood,” he explained.

Mango added that Nelsan Ellis was very kind and seemed like an ordinary guy. He also claims that detox leaders paired him and Ellis up. Mango and Ellis looked out for each other during the long days in the sauna and completed various worksheets together. Mango is not sure, however, whether Ellis continued the program after 2012 because he left the church and was labeled an enemy from within.

Shortly after Ellis passed, his dad revealed that his kidneys stopped working, his blood pressure dropped, and his heart eventually gave out under the stress. According to Hollywood Reporter, Ellis’ longtime manager, Emily Gerson Saines, believes the actor’s attempt to detox directly contributed to his death.

The Church of Scientology denied their connection to Ellis’ passing. Ellis was not open about his involvement with the religion, so it is hard to tell if he was enrolled in their detox program at the time of his death.

Ellis portrayed the character Lafayette on True Blood. Although Lafayette met an early death in the book series, fans loved Ellis so much that producers decided to keep the character on board and make him a regular.

“We were extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Nelsan Ellis,” HBO shared over the weekend. “Nelsan was a longtime member of the HBO family whose groundbreaking portrayal of Lafayette will be remembered fondly within the overall legacy of True Blood. Nelsan will be dearly missed by his fans and all of us at HBO.”

Tell us! Do you think that the Church of Scientology could have played a part in the death of Nelsan Ellis? Let us know in the comments below.

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