Former King Of Queens star and ex-Scientologist Leah Remini is currently promoting her memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood And Scientology, and is proving to be a massive PR headache for the organisation, dropping juicy stories left and right.
Over the weekend, she gave an interview to U.S. current affairs show 20/20 and made some surprising admissions about the religion, its celebrity recruitment tactics, and not least of all, Tom Cruise‘s weird-as-fuck-sounding wedding.
The actress, who was born into Scientology and left for good in 2013, revealed that the group used Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes‘ big day to try and recruit Jennifer Lopez, a close friend of hers.
Remini told 20/20 that she was pressured into inviting J-Lo and then-husband Marc Anthony to the 2006 wedding, but was made to travel there in a different vehicle, and sit at a different table.
“They were always trying to extract me,” she said. “I could only assume because they wanted to make Jennifer a Scientologist and maybe I was barring that road for them.”
Apparently, noted couch-jumper Tom Cruise serenaded Katie Holmes with ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ at the event. “That’s an interesting song to sing to your bride,” she told the program, not inaccurately.
Throughout the event, Remini had raised questions about the absence of Shelly Miscavige, wife of Scientology chairman David Miscavige, whose whereabouts remain unknown, and has not been seen in public since 2007.
“Shelly was always where David Miscavige was,” she said to 20/20, of the woman she once considered a good friend. “It was a wedding of the century … it was like, ‘where’s Shelly?’”
Remini said that the wedding weekend led her to question the organisation’s higher-ups. “I thought, ‘I now see where the cracks are in our church, and it’s David Miscavige, it’s Tom Cruise.’ They were bringing down Scientology.”
After the wedding, Holmes filed a ‘Knowledge Report’ – essentially a write-up, ratting somebody out for breaking the rules – to Scientology officials, saying that she was “dismayed” by Remini’s behaviour on the day, and found it “very upsetting.”
After this, Remini says she was sent to Florida to undergo intense ‘auditing’ sessions at the group’s Sea Org facility; she reportedly paid $US 300,000 for the sessions, and was later made to write an apology letter to David Miscavige.
Knowledge Reports like the one Holmes filed are apparently fairly common practice in Scientology, to the point where Remini admitted that she even wrote them about her own husband from time to time.
(For her part, Holmes recently wrote an apology letter to Remini, part of which was read out on the show, and said “I regret having upset Leah in the past and wish her only the best”).
Remini was also sanctioned by the organisation for violating its policies on drug-free childbirth and choosing to get an epidural, but the final straw came when officials came to her house and abused her for continuing to ask questions about Shelly Miscavige.
Allegedly, profanities were thrown around, and Remini’s husband grabbed one of the Scientology officials by the collar, after which, she decided to cut ties from the group, with the support of her family.
The best part of the interview? Remini wholeheartedly agrees with South Park‘s portrayal of galactic warlord Xenu, saying “that’s some crazy shit.”
Scientology has already issued a statement in response to Remini’s admissions, claiming that she was actually “expelled” from the group, and continuing:
“Leah Remini has become what she once declared she never wanted to be known as: ‘this bitter ex-Scientologist’ … She needs to move on with her life instead of pathetically exploiting her former religion, her former friends and other celebrities for money and attention to appear relevant again.”
Wow. Um … sick burn, Scientology. We can’t wait to give Remini’s memoir a good shake and see what other terrible/amazing celebrity anecdotes fall out.
via USA Today
Photo: NBC Universal via Getty Images
Photo: NBC Universal via Getty Images
