UPDATE: The Church of Scientology has issued a response to Leah Remini’s claims: “It comes as no surprise that someone as self-absorbed as Leah Remini with an insatiable craving for attention would exploit her former faith as a publicity stunt by rewriting her history with it, including omitting that she was participating in a program to remain a Scientologist by her own choice, as she was on the verge of being expelled for her ethical lapses,”; said Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw in a statement. “Ms. Remini was not attending church services for years. In fact, she was upset because no one in the church was calling her or her family, going so far as to drag her daughter into the church to insist upon being given special treatment. Sadly, this is the accurate flip side of the events she now is spinning, which are absurd, insulting and motivated entirely by a desire to grab attention… We are saddened that Ms. Remini now feels compelled to attack her former faith as if there is something wrong with a good work ethic, encouragement to live a drug free life, a happy childhood and strong family — all values she and countless others experience from the strong religious community in the church.”;
The Leah Remini vs. Scientology battle has ramped up, and Leah has taken off the gloves in an explosive new interview in which she slams the controversial religion as “a lie.”;
“I don’t want to be known as this bitter, ex-Scientologist,” Leah told BuzzFeed. “I’m not trying to bash anybody and I’m not trying to be controversial. I just want people to know the truth.”
The truth, according to Leah, is that seeing her young daughter grow up made her realize “she was getting to the age where the acclimation into the Church would have to start.”; This brought back some not-so-fond memories of being brought up as a Scientologist, where she claims children were brought to the Scientology compound in Clearwater, Florida, and put to work. “We were working from morning until night with barely any schooling,”; said Leah. “There was no saying no. There was no being tired.”;
Leah admitted that Scientology also took up a lot of her parents’ time, which didn’t make for such a happy home life. “I grew up resenting my mother because she was never home,”; Leah said. “But my mom thought she was doing something good; she thought she was helping the planet. That’s what the Church tells you.”
Wanting to prevent this from happening with her daughter, Leah revealed that she tried to make some changes within the church that would allow her to find a better balance between Scientology and her family life. However, she found that other Scientologists turned their backs on her.
“That showed me they didn’t actually care, which went against everything I thought we stood for,”; said Leah. “They only cared that their lives would be disrupted if they stood with me. They didn’t care about doing the right thing. That showed me everything the Church taught me was a lie.”
“In the Church, you’re taught that everybody is lost,” she added. “They say they’re loving, caring, non-judgmental people, but secretly, they were judging the world for not believing what they believed. To me, that is not a spiritual person. That’s a judgmental person and that is the person that I was.”
Leah’s anti-Scientology stance has already raised the ire of longtime Scientologist Kirstie Alley, who called Leah “a bigot”; in an interview with Howard Stern, calling Leah’s comments “the most repulsive thing a person can do, attack another person’s faith.”;
