Leah Remini has reportedly demanded the Church of Scientology pay her $1.5 million (£1.2 million) after it lobbied a TV network to get her new show shut down.
A lawyer acting for the former Scientologist alleged in a legal letter the church wrote to cable channel The Arts & Entertainment Network ahead of the debut of her series Scientology and the Aftermath to try and get the show, which threatens to reveal details about the church, pulled before it airs.
Leah was blacklisted after walking away from Scientology in 2013 after she criticized officials’ treatment of their followers. Since then the 46-year-old has gone public with her disdain for the religion and is set to reveal details about the church and former members of the religion in the show that debuts on 29 November (16).
According to Underground Bunker blogger Tony Ortega, the church has sent a series of scathing letters to the network, as well as parent ABC, in which the organization verbally attacked The Kings of Queens star calling her a “spoiled, entitled diva” and “has-been actress.”
Leah’s lawyer is demanding the $1.5 million (£1.2 million) as “compensation for the past, present and ongoing reputational, emotional and economic injuries and damages (Leah has) suffered.”
A spokesman for the church responded to Leah’s lawyer calling the demand for compensation, “nothing more than a provocative ploy to generate publicity for what will no doubt be another failed program by a failed ‘celebrity’ seeking to make a buck off of her former religion,” and added that “the Church will freely exercise its constitutional rights.”
The actress, who joined the church with her mother as a child, is also producing the TV series, which comes a year after Leah penned an autobiography entitled Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.
