I love her now! I’m about halfway through her book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, and she’s so down-to-earth, funny and honest. She comes right out at the very beginning of the book talking trash about herself to get it out there before the Scientology Dead-Agenting machine has a chance to do it. It’s hilarious!
I never thought much about Leah Remini in the past. I’ve never seen a thing she’s been in and to me she was just another mindless “celebrity” into Scientology. When she left I thought, well good for her, but still didn’t take much notice. I realized she had some balls when she filed a missing person report on Shelly Miscavige but still didn’t pay much attention to her. She was “just” a TV sitcom actress. (I know I know, how snobby is that? Ugh to myself.)
Everything’s changed. I now think she’s such a fantastic, brave, strong person. I had no idea she grew up in the cult and my deepest admiration goes to those who have broken free after having been born/raised in the cult. Plus she seems like a great person to have as a friend who has your back. I deeply admire how she was the only Scientologist who didn’t Disconnect from Paul Haggis after he left.
I’m so happy she’s free now, and her family with her (anyone who doesn’t know much about Scientology can’t realize how unusual that is, but now I realize and understand, they didn’t want Leah out of their lives). I hope all these TV appearances and magazine articles, and the book itself cause a lot on those still in, who can see/read these things (which would unfortunately exclude the Sea Org), to start the road to thinking about what they’re involved in, and cause hundreds if not thousands to quit. Not to mention keeping who knows how many from joining in the first place. She’s a gem.
I heard about her being a scientologist back when she was on King of Queens. It didn’t seem like a likely match. In fact her mother was one and it really wasn’t a choice she made for herself, she just took the default path for her. I’m glad when she finally did make a decision it was the right one.
I think she has talent as a comic actress. On King of Queens she had to play straight woman for a cast full of clowns, she did it pretty well. I liked that stupid show.
She writes that she didn’t want to talk about being a Scientologist to outsiders and so was pretty low-key most of the time. She was very aware that Scn wants its celebrities to recruit people but she didn’t want to do that. She wasn’t ashamed of being a Scientologist (of course, back then she didn’t know about all the bad stuff or else she would have been) but she just wasn’t a proselytizer.
Greta Van Susteren is like that too. Few know she’s heavy into Scientology and even has a home in Clearwater Beach FL. But AFAIK has never said much about it on her show or in other public interviews.
Does Leah say much about her experiences on Dancing W Stars in her book? She had a pretty good run. I may buy this book too.
I saw the interview with her and I was happily surprised that her family supported her and abandoned scientology. Since I rarely watch sitcoms anymore, I wouldn’t have known about her except for that. All of the sudden, I hope she enjoys tremendous success.
She does talk about it in a very fond way. I’ve never seen an episode but while I was reading I had great admiration for everyone involved. She was doing that at the time she left the cult and everyone there had her back. She was confused and heartsick and all kinds of fucked up mentally and emotionally and they couldn’t have been more supportive, especially her partner, who didn’t really understand what she was going through, but was fiercely protective of her.
She’s so grateful for all the support she received from all quarters outside the cult. That support is a stark contrast to how her “friends” from inside the cult treated her. People she’d been close to for years, decades! dropped her like a hot potato when she left, long before she spoke out in public about Scientology. She was declared an SP (Suppressive Person) and Disconnection is the rule* so she lost everybody except her immediate family, who left with her.
Disconnection is the rule except when it comes to Jennifer Lopez. By Scientology rule, you not only are supposed to Disconnect from an SP, you’re supposed to Disconnect from anyone who fraternizes with an SP. For those who’ve seen Going Clear you might remember the last story of Sara Goldman. Her son Nick Lister was friends with a guy who was friends with Mike Rinder, a BIG TIME SP. Nick, who had been born into Scn and was a very dedicated member, was ordered to Disconnect from his friend even though he himself had never interacted with Mike. Nick refused and was Declared an SP. His mom Sara, a Scientologist for over 30 years, a frickin’ “OT VIII” (the highest level you can reach) was ordered to Disconnect from Nick or be Declared an SP. She had a terrible choice to make. If she was Declared, her daughter, Nick’s sister, would Disconnect, and Sara would never see her daughter or granddaughter again. It was a heartbreakingly agonizing decision. She chose Nick because he was going thorough a rough time and she felt he needed her more. She hasn’t seen her daughter or granddaughter since. In Scientology’s vicious attack ads, Sara is labeled a “home wrecker” by a cult that absolutely does not understand irony.
Anyway, Jennifer Lopez’s father has been a dedicated Scientologist for over 20 years. Lopez, having never been a Scientologist (good for her!) wasn’t required to Disconnect from her best friend Leah, but Jennifer’s father should have been required to Disconnect from both Leah AND Jennifer unless Jen stopped seeing Leah. There’s a moving passage in the book where Leah goes to see Jennifer to say goodbye, thinking she’d never be able to see Jennifer again because of Jen’s father, and Jennifer said something like (I can’t find the page now) “Well, that’s just nonsense” and made it clear that nobody would be Disconnecting from anybody. “Church” rules would dictate that Mr. Lopez Disconnect from Jennifer but that hasn’t happened. I guess the hypocritical cult didn’t want to feel the fierce and almost certainly very public WRATH OF J-LO if they made her father Disconnect from her. Which would have been fun to watch.
I don’t need to read her book to make my judgements about her.
Anyone (male or female) who can escape the clutches of the Scientologists must be wonderfully strong and resolute.
Equipoise, you seem very knowledgeable about issues concerning Scientology.
I would like to do something to help people struggling to deal with them and/or people struggling to have them shut down and run out of the free world. IMO, this Jeffrey Miscarriage deserves to be in a prison cell for a very, very long time. (And yes. I know that is not the way he spells his name and I don’t care).
Tell me. What can I do to help? I am willing to contribute money if that will help. But what, in your opinion, is the best way ordinary people can help in the struggle against Scientology? Is it to contribute money? Or to contribute support online? To write of our personal experiences with Scientology? I have a very limited experience. But I’m willing to talk about it.
What is the best thing people can do about Scientology?
I never caught more than a few episodes of King of Queens but she was a favorite guest on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.
This was back when I still watched the late night talk shows. Kilborn wasn’t my favorite, but I did like him. Generally I’d watch him when Conan was airing a rerun and also sometimes if there was a guest I was more interested in (I definitely preferred Conan but I did like Kilborn enough that a likeable guest could get me to switch over).
Kilborn loved having Leah Remini on the show. He always referred to her as a “spitfire”. Her energy was always wonderful and their banter was fun and effortless. I think she was one of those stand-by guests, she’d come on the show last minute if a spot had to be filled- King of Queens and The Late Late Show were both CBS shows produced in Los Angeles (although Remini’s show was shot on the Sony lot in Culver City whereas Kilborn’s was shot at Beverly and Fairfax).
That’s how I came to know her. I loved her guest appearances on that show.
I just spent 2 hours on a post, tortuously using my phone because my desktop is fritzed. It just got eaten, which is my own stupid fault for not copying and pasting into notes. There’s no way I can start over again so here’s a short version. I’m glad you want to help! I know some of your story and know that you were bilked by the cult. If you have money to give, there are plenty of people out there who could use your help and be very grateful. You’re going to have to do some Googling for links and info.
Mark Bunker started XenuTV in 1999 and has a wealth of videos from many sources, but mainly videos he’s shot himself, interviews he’s done with a Who’s-Who of Ex-Scientologists and critics. For the past 5 years he’s been using his spare time to assemble his own documentary called Knowledge Report. Wiki Bunker then read this (I had it on my clipboard when I came back to find my post gone). It includes a link to Bunker’s crowd sourcing page.
Buy books! There are so many fantastic books by Ex-Scientologists/Critics. To start, buy Leah’s book mainly because I want it to get on the Best Seller list to annoy Miscavige. Then you have any number to choose from. I’d recommend The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, Blown For Good, The Church of Fear. So many others. I can provide more titles if you’d like.
Support those who have blogs and YouTube channels putting out the truth about the cult, including
Tony Ortega
Mike Rinder
Jeffrey Augustine
Chris Shelton (YouTube channel)
Jefferson Hawkins
Marty Rathbun
As seen in Going Clear, Marty’s wife Monique is involved in a lawsuit against Scientology for harassment, also as seen in Going Clear (the “Squirrel Busters”). She could probably use some help as would anyone who takes on the cult in a court of law.
Look up Laura DeCrescenzo, who’s been fighting the cult in court for 6 years. Reading what they did to her, as a minor no less, should make anyone gasp in horror. Forced abortion, slave labor, abuse. She deserves to win big but as per cult tactics, they keep delaying (they figure, usually quite rightly, that people will run out of money, time and patience so they win by attrition). Laura’s won some major points recently (as has Monique) and may be in the the home stretch. I don’t know how to contact her though. If you search her name and Tony Ortega, he’s been keeping up with her case and has written many fine articles. I’m sure there are “Help Laura” links in there somewhere.
There are a ton of Disconnection stories on the net. I don’t know what’s a central site to list them but if there is one, I’m sure it could use help. Search Scientology Disconnection and you’ll find many websites. You might find more while reading some of these stories.
Lori Hodgson
Sara Goldberg
Brian Sheen
There’s so much more but that’ll get you started on deciding where you’d like any money to go.
I think you should tell your story, to add to the repository. I don’t go there, but the web site exscn.net seems a good place to start. There’s a message board where people can tell their stories anonymously.
I’ve only read excerpts from the book. What does she admit to?
She always struck me as a woman you don’t want to mess with because she can kick anyone’s ass in a heartbeat. It’s good to know she has a brain too.
Watching the *Going Clear *documentary, I got the feeling John Travolta is kinda over Scientology but stays because they have serious dirt on his personal life. Tom Cruise, on the other hand, is a True Believer.
Forgive the formatting, I’m copying and pasting from my iPhone Kindle. Leah then does the same for her mother and husband, putting out some embarrassing details they must have known the cult would dig up and use. Then Leah says
Leah is a smart cookie. I was shocked to learn that she’s an 8th grade dropout. Scientology doesn’t believe in education for Sea Org (or for anyone really. Most of their high-paid lawyers are NOT Scientologists).