Quitting Scientology: Actress speaks out

Actress Leah Remini speaks at a panel discussion during the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California on July 27, 2012.

Actress Leah Remini speaks at a panel discussion during the Television Critics Association Summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California on July 27, 2012.

Published Jul 31, 2013

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NEW YORK - US actress Leah Remini has offered clues about why she left the Church of Scientology, telling People magazine no one is going to tell her how to think or who she can talk to.

Up until now the actress known for her role in the CBS comedy ’King of Queens’ gave little explanation for her split after three decades with the church that lists actors John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Kirsty Alley among its members.

In a statement this month after the New York Post newspaper broke the story, Remini, 43, thanked fans and colleagues for their support but did not mention the Church of Scientology.

She told People magazine at an event in California on Saturday how important family is and being able to speak openly.

“I believe that people should value family, and value friendships, and hold those things sacrosanct. That for me, that's what I'm about,” the magazine said on its website.

“It wouldn't matter what it was, simply because no one is going to tell me how I need to think, no one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to.”

In its story earlier this month the New York Post said the actress left the church, founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in 1954, after “being subjected to years of 'interrogations' and 'thought modification' for questioning leader David Miscavige's rule.”

Miscavige succeeded Hubbard as leader of the church in 1987.

Representatives for neither Remini nor the Church of Scientology immediately responded to requests for comment.

Followers of Scientology believe humans are immortal beings whose experience extends beyond one lifetime. Critics of the church describe it as a cult that harasses people who try and quit, a criticism the movement rejects.

Remini told People that she is not alone and that she is still close to her family.

“We stand united, my family and I, and I think that says a lot about who we are, and what we're about,” she added.

The New York Post linked Remini's falling out with the church to the 2006 wedding of Cruise and Katie Holmes, when Remini reportedly asked about Miscavige's wife, who was not present.

“Leah asked about David's wife and came under an unbelievable torrent of attack on her, an attack and inquisition,” Many told Reuters.

Mike Rinder, a former church spokesperson who writes a blog, said Remini got tired of being told what to do.

“As a result, the church has lost one of its most effective supporters - both in the public relations arena and their bank balances,” he wrote in a blog post.

Alley, who is thought to have been a close friend of Remini’s, credits the religion and its founder L. Ron Hubbard's book Dianetics for helping her overcome her severe addiction to cocaine despite initially thinking it was a "scam" and admitted that prior to joining the church she feared she was going to kill herself.

The 61-year-old actress told Entertainment Tonight: "I thought I was going to overdose almost every time. I would snort the coke, then I would sit there, I'd take my pulse, thinking, 'I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying.' Who would keep doing it?"

"Somehow I got through the book, and I thought either Scientology is the world's biggest scam, or I thought this is how I am going to get rid of this hideous compulsion."

But the devotion of a few prominent Scientologists has not stopped a steady stream of defectors.

Departures from the church have become the trend in recent years, said Reitman.

Well-known names to have left the church recently have been Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis, actor Jason Beghe and Holmes, who left the church after her divorce from Cruise last year. - Reuters, Bang Showbiz and IOL

 

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