Leah Remini’s battle with Scientology over the years: It’s ‘really bad’

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Tell her story. Leah Remini has been an outspoken critic of the Church of Scientology since leaving the controversial religion in 2013.

The actress was brought to church as an 8-year-old after her mother converted. During a 2015 20/20 interview, Remini shared her experience growing up as a Scientologist.

“The mission is to save the planet and because Scientologists see children as spiritual beings, you are not treated like a child. You get a lot of responsibility, and so your ego gets extremely inflated,” the said King of queens alum claimed to ABC News’ Dan Harris at the time.

Remini’s decision to leave Scientology ultimately came down to her then 9-year-old daughter Sofia. “She reached the age where acclimation in the church should begin,” said the Old-fashioned actress told BuzzFeed in 2014, adding that she didn’t want to repeat her own mother’s mistakes.

“I grew up hating my mom because she was never home. My mother thought she was doing a good thing; she thought she was helping the planet. That’s what the church tells you,” Remini explained. “I said ‘family first’, but I didn’t show it. I didn’t like the message my daughter sent.

The New York native has never shied away from speaking publicly about her history with Scientology. In 2015, the organization shot back.

“Given Leah Remini’s insatiable desire for attention, it’s no surprise that she’s been unable to move on for two years and remains obsessed with blatantly exploiting her former religion in a pathetic attempt to gain publicity.” a spokesman for the newspaper said. Church of Scientology told Us weekly at the time.

Despite the backlash, the Good looking actress did not stop talking about her experience. She wrote a 2015 memoir titled Troublemaker: Hollywood and Scientology Survive and produced the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.

When the Emmy award-winning series ended after three seasons in 2019, the Church of Scientology released a statement to Us denouncing the content. “Finally, A&E pulled the plug on Leah Remini’s hate machine,” the statement read, claiming the show was filled with “lies, distortions, and incitements to hatred and bigotry.”

Although Remini told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019 that she wasn’t sure if making the docuseries helped her heal, she does feel responsible to talk about her experiences – and other members of the religion. When Laura Prepon left Scientology in 2021 without much fanfare, Remini was critical of how the That 1970s show alum arranged for her departure.

“For those of us who have been in the public eye and who spoke for Scientology, to get people into Scientology, I feel we have a responsibility to do the job when we find out that none of the things we did was wrong. used to be. only [not] useful, but harmful and very damaging to people’s lives,” said the “Scientology: Fair Game” podcaster during a September 2021 interview with Daily Blast Live.

Scroll through for a timeline of Remini’s battle with the Church of Scientology over the years: