"My heart has opened up so much" — Leah Remini opens up on her battle with Scientology

Kevin Can Wait alum, Leah Remini, has had a controversial past with the Church of Scientology. Founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1953, the Church encompasses certain practices and beliefs and is widely known for disseminating Scientology. With its controversial and problematic history, the Church is headquartered in Los Angeles. The organization has previously faced legal complications for its reputation as a religion and has met with accusations related to its aggressive ways of handling critics.

Leah Remini, who turns 55 on June 15, 2025, was a member of the Church of Scientology since she was a young girl. Her mother was a member, too. As per reports, Remini joined the organization in 1979. It has been almost 12 years since she quit the Church in 2013.

After being a member of the Church for over three decades, Leah Remini decided to expose what she felt were the alleged darker side of the organization, which involves various abusive practices. The King of Queens actress tried exposing all the ill practices that have been allegedly going on inside the Church of Scientology for decades, in her A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which won an Emmy. She also talked about the allegedly different abusive methods of the Church in her memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, which was released in 2015.

Leah Remini, while speaking with US Weekly, claimed that she does not regret quitting the Church of Scientology. Even though she had to go through difficult times, leaving the controversial organization, according to her, was worth it. Remini, who had been a member of the Chuch for decades, where she allegedly worked 12 hours a day and lived in dorms crawling with cockroaches, said:

"There are good days and bad days, but in general, it’s been worth it. My heart has opened up so much."

Leah Remini revealed the Church of Scientology allegedly harassed her after she quit the organization

As Leah Remini has been a critic of the Church and has always aimed at exposing its allegedly abusive practices, she claimed that the controversial organization kept harassing her and her family members. The Church also allegedly harassed her 20-year-old daughter Sofia, per US Weekly. In August 2023, Remini filed a lawsuit against the organization, accusing it of harassing her and her family. She also claimed that she and her daughter were being surveilled. Remini told US Weekly:

"It’s difficult to say it’s gotten easier when I have a multimillion-dollar organization terrorizing me and my family. I’m hunted. My daughter is followed. There is constant surveillance."

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On the other hand, when US Weekly reached out the Church of Scientology for comments, a representative said:

"For years Ms. Remini has repeated ad nauseam unsupported and untrue allegations to monetize her hate campaign against the Church of Scientology. There has never existed a shred of evidence to support, let alone prove, any of her outlandish claims… Contrary to Ms. Remini’s representations, the Church has never committed or conspired to commit these crimes, and no evidence exists to suggest otherwise. The Church is not ‘surveilling’ or doing anything to Ms. Remini. On the contrary, she is harassing her former church."

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