Denzel Washington Gets Baptized and Becomes a Minister During Live Streamed Ceremony: 'It Took a While but I'm Here'

Mar. 15, 2025

Denzel Washingtonjust got baptized and became a minister — and no, it wasn’t in preparation for a movie role.

On Saturday, Dec. 21, theGladiator IIstar, 69, was baptized at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ, located in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. He also was presented with a minister license, which will allow him to be ordained in the future.

“In one week I turn 70,” he said, according to Archbishop Christopher Bryant, perPage Six. “It took a while but I’m here.”

“If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing He can’t do for you. The sky literally is the limit,” he added.

Denzel’s wife,Pauletta Washington, was also in attendance for the special moment and tearfully talked about her husband’s spiritual journey and how proud she was to witness him taking this next step with his faith.

“Forty-six years later, here I’m still standing next to him as only God will have it,” Pauletta said. “So I’m very proud of you. You are the head of our house and you have set a great example for our children, who are now adult children who know the difference because we have shown them the difference.”

The news of Denzel’s baptism comes just over a month after the Oscar winner opened up about religion in Hollywood, calling it “unfashionable” in a first-person essay forEsquire,published on Nov. 19.

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In the essay, the actor recalled a life-changing first visit he took to thePentecostal West Angeleschurch in Los Angeles at the suggestion of actor and director Robert Townsend. He referred to the experience as “the biggest moment of my life” when “I was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The actor also noted that being outspoken about your religion is somewhat frowned upon among his peers in the entertainment industry.

Denzel Washington.Samir Hussein/WireImage

Samir Hussein/WireImage

“Things I said about God when I was a little boy, just reciting them in church along with everybody else, I know now. God is real. God is love. God is the only way. God is the true way. God blesses. It’s my job to lift God up, to give Him praise, to make sure that anyone and everyone I speak to the rest of my life understands that He is responsible for me,” he wrote in his essay.

While Denzel is not an ordained minister just yet, he wouldn’t be the first celebrity to become one. According to theUniversal Life Church’s database, there are a plethora of Hollywood stars who areministers, including Adele, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cardi B, Kathy Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Dwayne Johnson and Tom Hanks.

source: people.com