Like any native New Yorker, Leah Remini is speaking out…but not about where to find the best bagel or slice. Instead, this Brooklynite is voicing her opinion on her recent departure from Scientology.
“We stand united, my family and I, and I think that says a lot about who we are, and what we’re about,” the star of The Family Tools told People. “I believe that people should be able to question things. I believe that people should value family, and value friendships, and hold those things sacrosanct. That for me, that’s what I’m about. 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.”
According to The New York Post, Remini left the church after an episode following Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes‘ wedding, when she was interrogated for asking about the whereabouts of the Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige’s wife, Shelly, who has not been seen in public since August 2007. The former star of Saved By The Bell was also very unhappy with the religion’s treatment of its members of Sea Org (the church’s highest ministry) and the push for followers to “disconnect” from certain family members. “We stand united, my family and I, and I think that says a lot about who we are, and what we’re about,” the 43-year-old actress says.
Remini, who was a devout supporter of the controversial religion for more than 30 years, adds, “It doesn’t matter, it could be anything. I thought about the family being broken up for some other cause, and I’m not about to shut up.” The former King of Queens star has gained support from Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of David Miscavige, who says, “From what I understand, she was just fed up with the way she was being treated when she was following church policy.” The niece of one of Scientology’s most prominent leaders left the church in 2005 and recently penned a fiery memoir, Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape.
The former cohost of The Talk is not the first celeb to decide scientology isn’t her thing… and, to be frank, she probably won’t be the last.
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