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Leah Remini

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Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology Kindle Edition

by Leah Remini (Author), Rebecca Paley (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 22,645 ratings

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An eye-opening, no-holds-barred memoir about life in the Church of Scientology, now with a new afterword by the author—the outspoken actress and star of the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath

Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost.

That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices.

Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology’s causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she’d worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology’s most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.

But when she began to raise questions about some of the church’s actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a “Suppressive Person,” and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever.

Bold, brash, and bravely confessional, Troublemaker chronicles Leah Remini’s remarkable journey toward emotional and spiritual freedom, both for herself and for her family. This is a memoir designed to reveal the hard-won truths of a life lived honestly—from an author unafraid of the consequences.

Praise for Troublemaker

“An aggressively honest memoir . . . Troublemaker is the most raw and revealing Scientology memoir to date.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Leah’s story is a juicy, inside-Hollywood read, but it’s more than that. It’s a moving story about the value of questioning authority and how one woman survived a profound crisis of faith.”—People

Review

“An aggressively honest memoir . . . Troublemaker is the most raw and revealing Scientology memoir to date.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Leah’s story is a juicy, inside-Hollywood read, but it’s more than that. It’s a moving story about the value of questioning authority and how one woman survived a profound crisis of faith.”—People

“Remini [offers] up some juicy tidbits from her decades in the church.”—Newsweek --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

AS FAR BACK AS I can remember, I was always performing and trying to make people laugh. I grew up on I Love Lucy, Welcome Back, Kotter, Happy Days, Gilligan’s Island, Three’s Company, Sanford and Son, All in the Family, Good Times…You get the idea. Watching all of these shows always made me feel something. I knew early on that I wanted to make people feel this same way.

As a kid I was always putting on shows—re-creating skits from The Carol Burnett Show and singing Donny and Marie songs in the living room. My older sister, Nicole, reluctantly played my sidekick; although she never had any enthusiasm for these skits and performances, she obliged. I also took to giving her notes like “Nic, Donny loves Marie, so when we do ‘I’m a Little Bit Country,’ you gotta look at me like he looks at Marie, with a smile and maybe a wink.” She would respond with “Or how about I just punch you in the face?” Okay, we all make choices as performers.

WHEN I WAS NINE YEARS old, I heard that the Broadway musical Annie was holding open auditions for the lead role. I didn’t let the fact that I had no singing talent or acting experience deter me. My mom supported me, believing that I would one day be an actress, and she got a playwright friend to teach me the song “Tomorrow” and take me to the group audition. Her boyfriend at the time photographed me for my “headshots,” in which I wore my very best Little House on the Prairie shirt. When I got the pictures back, I was seriously floored at how beautiful I looked. Clearly, the Annie people would see this little gem from Brooklyn and want to hire me on the spot—but I was still willing to sing for them if need be.

The audition was a cattle call, which meant everyone was assigned a number and sat in the audience section of a huge theater until that number was called. The image running through my mind was that of a front-page headline in the New York Post: “Brooklyn Girl with No Experience Nabs Annie Role.” Whatever I lacked in terms of dancing or singing, someone could teach me. I had the chutzpah to land the part. And as for my long, straight brown hair—well, that’s what wigs were for. And with that, I was off to hand the director my picture.

But as soon as my name was called and I got onstage, facing the director and all those people sitting in the darkened theater, I went blind with panic.

The pianist hit a key and I started to sing immediately. “The—”

“No. That’s for the key,” the director interrupted.

“Okay. Well, maybe you should tell people…Do you want me to start again?” I said.

“That’s okay. Go home to Mommy,” the director said as he looked down at his clipboard.

I burst into tears before I had even gotten off the stage. I was crying the way kids do when they can’t catch their breath. My mom’s friend, the one who taught me the song, who had brought me to the audition, took me for a slice of pizza and an Italian ice, over which we discussed how that director would regret not hiring me and how Annie would bomb without me. The Broadway show Annie would suffer and suffer big without me in it!

WHEN I WASN’T ACTING OUT my favorite TV shows, Nicole and I could be found hanging out on Eighty-sixth Street, near Bay Parkway, where loud music thumped from the cars to get girls’ attention, even though the guys in their gold chains, Old Spice, and gelled hair acted like they were too cool to care. I aspired to be one of those girls whose attention the guys sought—tight Jordache and Sergio Valente jeans with a brush jammed in the back pocket, lots of makeup and Aqua Net, and even more attitude. All they ever seemed to do was hang out on the corner—like a hooker, but not—and I wanted in. I vowed that when I was older—maybe twelve or thirteen—I would be just like them.

This was Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, circa 1980. We talked tough, but ultimately it was a protective neighborhood for those who belonged. When a car alarm went off, there would be five Joeys and Frankies out on the street with bats within two minutes. There was no such thing as minding your own business. If a boyfriend was fighting with his girlfriend, another guy would start yelling at him: “Yo, don’t fuckin’ talk to a girl like that.” ’Nuff said.

When we were kids, our neighborhood—basically consisting of a bakery, a pizzeria, a bagel store, a Baskin-Robbins, a Chock full o’Nuts, a Te-Amo, and an Optima—was our whole universe.

While Manhattan, just a quick train ride away, was foreign to Nicole and me, places like Long Island and New Jersey were another planet. When our mom took us to the Poconos for vacation (a rarity), we met a group of girls who asked us if we wanted to help “collect things for a collage.” First we had to clear up what a collage was, because my sister and I didn’t speak French. When it rained, these kids stayed inside and played Atari, unlike us Brooklyn kids, who were used to hanging out in front of the candy store come rain, sleet, or mini-hurricane.

Our regular neighborhood haunt was the local Te-Amo convenience store, near the D train. We could also be found at other people’s houses, where it seemed there were always better toys and better food than at ours. I spent a lot of time at my friend’s place above our apartment on Bay Parkway. She had a Barbie Dreamhouse, which back then, to little girls, was pretty much the equivalent of crack. That’s where I was playing one day when my mom called Nicole and me down to share some news.

“I’ve got to tell you girls something,” Mom said. “Your dad and I are separating. I don’t want you to be upset. I’m okay, and we’re going to be okay.”

I sat there basically without expression and looked at my sister, wondering if I should try to fake being more upset.

George, my dad, was the classic paesan of Sicilian origin who used hairspray on his remaining three hairs, wore a rope chain and pinky ring, got his nails done, and kept his car—a Cadillac, of course—perfectly clean and smelling good with one of those scented trees that hang from the rearview mirror. And I was scared shitless of the man.

He never hit me. (Nicole, on the other hand, would get smacked. “You are older. You should know better,” he used to say to my sister, as if she were going to college already, though she was just a year older than me.) What terrified me was the way my dad could annihilate you when he spoke, throwing around words like “idiot,” “retard,” “moron” at the drop of a hat.

One time when we were little and pretending to make soup in the bathroom sink out of his Old Spice, Contac cold capsules, and most of the other contents of the medicine cabinet, I saw my dad at the end of the hallway. When he asked, “What the fuck are you’s doing?” I got hot all over and couldn’t say a word. After Nicole answered, “We are making a soup,” he spanked her. For some reason I always laughed when my sister got hit. I’m sure it was a defense against more complicated emotions. Or I was just evil as a kid and liked her getting hit.

“Idiots,” he said. “Get into your room.”

He was only raising us the way he had been raised, but anytime he was around, I was tense—even when he was trying to be kind. For example, one time when I came to the dinner table, I found a paper bag on my chair, so I didn’t sit down.

“What are you going to do, stand there?” he asked, looking at me.

“What’s the right answer?

I didn’t want to say the wrong thing, so I didn’t say anything.

“Pick up the bag, idiot,” my dad said.

Thinking this was some kind of a trick, I nervously picked up the bag and opened it. Inside was a doll. By the time I realized what it was, however, I was so wound up that I had started to cry.

“What’s with you?” Dad started yelling. “Someone tries to give you a gift and you’re crying?”

I couldn’t catch my breath to explain.

I remember once when I carelessly shoved a box of cookies into the kitchen cabinet. My dad walked by, saw what I was doing, and said, “What kind of fucking animal puts cookies back this way?!” He grabbed the box and threw the cookies across the room.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Leah Remini is an actor, producer, and writer. A fixture on television since the age of eighteen, Remini is best known for her beloved role of Carrie on the nine-season hit The King of Queens. Remini went on to produce and star in one of the earliest and most successful comedic web series, In the Motherhood, and appeared in the movie Old School alongside Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn. In 2010, Remini helped launch and co-hosted the first season of the CBS daytime hit show The Talk, and in 2013 she was seen on the dance floor in Dancing with the Stars. She currently co-stars in the TV Land comedy The Exes and TLC’s reality show Leah Remini: It’s All Relative, which she also created and executive produces. Remini finds great joy in her philanthropic work with numerous and diverse military, women’s, and children’s charities. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B015BCX0JY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ballantine Books (November 3, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 3, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 42815 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 246 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #63,452 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #34 in Biographies of Actors & Actresses
- #72 in Television Performer Biographies
- #139 in Biographies & Memoirs of Women

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Leah Remini

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Leah Remini is an actor, producer, and #1 New York Times bestselling author. A fixture on television since the age of eighteen, Remini is best known for her beloved role of Carrie on the nine-season hit The King of Queens. Remini went on to produce and star in one of the earliest and most successful comedic web series, In the Motherhood, and appeared in the movie Old School alongside Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn. In 2010, Remini helped launch and co-hosted the first season of the CBS daytime hit show The Talk, and in 2013 she was seen on the dance floor in Dancing with the Stars. She currently co-stars in the TV Land comedy The Exes and TLC’s reality show Leah Remini: It’s All Relative, which she also created and executive produces. Remini finds great joy in her philanthropic work with numerous and diverse military, women’s, and children’s charities. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.

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Abigail

A Courageous Exposure of Scientology - Honors to Leah for Revealing the Poison inside the Sugar-Coated Pill of the "Church."

Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2016

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No wonder Leah Remini's book is a blockbuster. It is extremely well written. More than that, she provides in detail a chilling account of the steps deployed to ensnare good and trusting people--and families--how they can be seduced into a dark cult of exploitation and isolation from the world. Leah Remini provides an heartfelt and honest task of describing how, in a needy moment, her mother believed that this spiritual path of Scientology was a positive and enlightening step for her daughters. Once inside, there is little chance to walk away. There is no part of an individual's life that is not excavated, plundered, and used against that person. In addition, as Remini describes in detail, there is no way that Scientology does not suck dry every possilble cent and asset from its victims. Start small with the cost of "teaching supplies" being about $35, and then get each person in financial quicksand and debt up to their ears for life in quicksand. Make them go in debt. Make them sell their 401Ks and cash out pensions. Make them sell their homes. All assets to the Church where the largesse of the fortune quietly disappears under the auspices of the Chairman of the Board, David Miscavige, a brutal sociopath at best. Through unbearable pressure and threats, Scientology extracts as much as a quarter-million dollars from many of its ordinary members (from credit card debt, retirement plans, homes, cars, educational funds, and from all tangible assets) that desperate members might be driven to liquidate. From celebrity members, frequent donations of a million or more are expected. Where it goes is into the pocket of Miscavige, his tiny cabal, and the impenetrable and inescapable compounds he builds throughout the world.

Those who come in alone are more empowered to walk away unscathed. Those who come in with family are sitting ducks for abuse and exploitation. Miscavige and his crew use the deadly ploy of triangulation to keep members hostage. Knowing that you can never, never, never have contact with a spouse, your children, or parents, or any other relatives--the fear and terror of that--means most of the victims choose to stay and see it through. If they can get to your family and friends inside the church (very possibly the only support system you've ever known), they can keep you from leaving. Even if a member decides to leave at all costs and leave many family members behind, the price is so high as to be at a criminal level. "Troubemakers" like Leah who dare to question the chain of authority and purpose of the Church find themselves slapped with loathsome jobs punished cruelly, assigned menial laboring tasks, forced to stand in a garbage can for hours while others pour water over them. Many have attested how Miscavige beat them mercilessly, choking them, giving them black eyes. A tiny man of slightly over 5-feet tall, Miscavige has overcompensated his inferiority by seizing power of an international scheme, conducting his entire life on God-like terms, and even requiring his own father to refer to him at all times by, "Sir." Children and parents are separated and rarely interact. Instead of a formal education, the children caught in the claws of Scientology are given books and lessons about Scientology, not about the real world. A member who has been in the Church for 25 years, like Remini and others, have no education, no skills, no money, no means of support, even if they were able to hatch a plan for escape. The more attention drawn to Scientology, the more easily appalled members can escape. Operating under secrecy makes Scientology powerful, but having to account for its actions breaks it open.

Those who do effect an escape are often subjected to years of harassment and intimidation in the outside world. False documents are prepared to get them fired. Pretext phone calls full of slander are sent to their families and friends. Lies about them being prostitutes with venereal diseases are copied onto papers and passed out to their neighbors. Their personal property is destroyed. The Mafia couldn't do a better job of terrifying and intimidating a marked person. The message is: Leave us at your peril. We will get you. We will destroy you.

The value of Leah's remarkable book is that it is deeply personal, told with an inner voice of great intelligence, compassion, and strength for the family she treasures. One cannot but admire the ferocity of her commitment to her husband and child, and her other family members. It is this burning determination of Leah's that transcends all the psycho/spiritual babble of the Church. Waking up from a nightmare is a frightening experience, but Leah uses every shred of her courage and intelligence to get her and her family out of the Church. She's one tough woman from the Brooklyn who doesn't tolerate BS. She speaks up. She challenges authority. She curses. She gives as good as she gets. She asks vital and key questions. She demands to know why she has devoted her life to this religious organization that devalues her. Her courage is overwhelming to witness. Even throughout her struggle, Remini has tried for years to meet the specific burdens and demands forced upon her by the Church, in the hope that, fulfilling these, might bring her solace, family connection, and peace. At every turn in attempting to uncover the real goal of the church, she is stymied, and this endless thwarting only serves to increase her suspicions that the Church is a fraud, a front for money and power. A fraud, and that is what Leah finally discovers. To this reader, I was appalled by the lengths Scientologists would go to intimidate and keep members from escaping. Newer members, or those who have expressed doubts about the Church, are assigned "minders" to ensure that they cannot escape, even if it's for a visit to the dentist. One can see the draconian measures the upper echelon has taken to assure that no one will leave, and it reminds one of the most heinous prisons worldwide. Simply google the secret HQ in Hemet, CA (Gold Base) to see the razor wire and long, sharp metal knives on the fence perimeter, pointing INWARD as well as outward to guarantee that no member can leave. It is a dark hole into which the "troublemakers" are thrown for years on end. And they are thrown there without any hope of contacting relatives and friends in the outside world by phone or letter. It is a prison overtly sparkling with exquisite buildings, lush accommodations for the wealthy, swimming pools and tennis courts for the elite even as the defiant are forced into hard labor all day, every day in dark holes of Gold Base--unable to leave.

At its most basic level, Scientology appears to the naive to be a spiritual haven for those who are searching for meaning in this word. That is a lofty goal. However, that is the trickster veneer. In fact, Scientoilogy's ultimate goal is a twisted, sharp-toothed, ravenous, voracious maw that sucks up fortunes, assets, families, and human labor to elevate its Lilliputian chairman and his ruthless henchmen to the height of power. The Office of the Attorney General should expend its resources to expose this malignant organization once and for all. Miscavige's wife Shelly has not been seen by any reliable source in more than 10 years. Most suspect that she is dead, though the Church refuses to admit it. Only in exposing the real purpose of Scientology will it crumble. Leah Remini, at great personal cost to herself and family, has begun that journey of exposure, and I am so deeply grateful for her courage in writing this book. Thank you, Leah. Thank you for showing the world the deadly jagged glass hidden inside the sugar-coated pill of Scientology. God-willing, potential victims will read your book and stay far, far away from this fascist organization.

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Teri A Dugan

Insightful

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2024

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I have a fascination with comparative theology, cults and forms of spirituality. Its fascinating why people believe what they believe. I grew up nominally Catholic. Personally I believe any path can become a cult. (Aside: Recommend the podcast Cults to Consciousness.)

I read books like this because they bring feelings of hope. People walking away from what they believed, all that they knew, and people whom they loved and cherished. Then they begin to disassemble and rebuild an entire new life for themselves. The strength they find gives me both joy and hope.

As for the book itself, its well written, an easy read and lacking in any form of pretension. You feel as if you're just sitting and chatting with a friend.

One curious side effect. I now feel the urge to read Dianetics. I'm sure I can find it at my favorite thrift shop or used book seller. Don't worry y'all, I'll always be an SP.

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Amazon Customer

CIA backed money laundering organisation

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2016

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Scientology isn’t a religion or even a cult. It’s a CIA backed criminal money laundering organization with a legitimate front. Around the 1950s and even earlier shadow government organizations started carrying out lots of studies on the psychology of controlling people and society, profiling personality types, and research into the individual brain and body frequencies of individuals. With a view to individual and collective control. Through the Scientology "church" Leah describes how they kept reports on the activities of EVERY single member of the organisation since their childhood. Everything from information about marriages, affairs, family members, transgressions such as “having a boy heavy pet your breasts” (Leah when she was 16- which eventually resulted in her being taken out to sea in a boat and thrown into the water as punishment) with the members awareness and “consent”. They measured their emotional frequencies on an e-metre as they divulged feelings about various things for “auditing” purposes. She talked about how they were encouraged to report on one another if someone was doing something wrong. Bullying and harassing people who don’t believe in Scientology according to Leah was not only encouraged it is OFFICIAL POLICY of this “church”. They were told they were “saving the world” and were instructed to never answer direct questions about it when asked in interviews – but to instead discredit the source or point out the wonderful things Scientology was doing. Essentially lying and brain-washing. The REAL point behind this criminal cabal.These are all very Gestapo tactics- and the CIA in fact have direct links to the Nazi regime. The people at the top “disappeared” likely because they were the ones with true inside knowledge of where the money was going in addition to the pedophilia rings and MK ultra trauma and ritual abuse to keep people in line. It was revealed that the higher ranking members of the “church” that had been there for 20 plus years were given physical beatings by the Chairman of the Board and inflicted physical beatings on others at a 500 acres isolated camp where one member is described as scaling an 8ft wall with barbed wire to escape only to be returned by Scientologists by the roadside (does this scenario sound familiar?). Her husband, who she was cut off from because it is Scientology’s policy not to associate with people who oppose the church even if it’s a family member, has to devise a plan to “break her out” in the middle of the night. Again this is another method of control- breaking up families and isolating people for brainwashing and then recruiting more. Gestapo tactics for a future Orwellian society filled with targeted individuals and community/ covert harassment aka gangstalking (google it). The practices of Scientology provide the perfect blue-print for this: the more and more people you recruit, the more and more people you can spy on and control in society and the more and more people you can use to influence others and bring in money for criminal activities at top level. And the people who don’t fall for the life-long brainwashing or who ask questions or don’t go with the program are eventually broken down using certain techniques such as daily 12 hour interrogations which are rationalized by some official sounding terminology. Like a former girlfriend of Tom Cruise who was recruited through Scientology for him before he was paired with Katie Holmes and then broken down later to keep her quiet. I say “paired with Katie Holmes” this because Leah’s description of Tom and Katie Holmes’ relationship hints at them being Mind Control victims (link below). She talks about how they were NEVER left alone. They both had one woman and one man who was always with BOTH of them (their handlers) even at their side when they got married. She describes feeling “watched” when she was at their house. And she describes how at the wedding dinner their daughter Suri who was 7 months old at the time was left with Tom’s sister and an assistant, lying on the bathroom floor crying for ages while they watched her and they wouldn’t pick her up and hold her. Anyone familiar with Luciferian ritual child abuse will know that this is a tactic that they use to traumatize the child in infancy to make them more controllable in adulthood (refer back to my comment at the top about the CIA carrying out studies on psychology and controlling people). Many Hollywood celebrities have this secret background. And our used as puppets for further social control. Leah describes how Tom and Nicole Kidman's children had their laptops seized and searched whenever they visited the "church". This is probably the reason why many celebrity victims of MK ultra find it difficult to get help from the outside. In fact all members of the "church" were banned from looking up information on the internet about Scientology- this was "against policy". Clearly as a method of control to prevent them discovering the truth about this criminal cult aka government spy agency. This is in fact why they've given it a religious front as a "church"- to make it exempt from taxes for their money laundering activities and to encourage people to join by preying on society's morality.
In sum, Ms Remini did a very brave thing by publishing this book and probably revealed even more than she herself realizes. The only reason she was okay after breaking away by her own admission is that she kept her circle of non-Scientologist friends, which is something the “church” discourages- unsurprisingly for the obvious reasons of maintaining subserviency of their members and society vicariously. I applaud Leah Remini for exposing this criminal cabal. Anyone interested in the history of MK ultra and mind control experiments carried out by the CIA and shadow government, please refer to the link below. Amazon keeps deleting it when I post it, but you can look up a preview on amazon- the name of the book is Thanks for the Memories by Brice Taylor (Susan Ford)

[...]

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Marjolaine Dufour

Eye openning

Reviewed in Canada on November 12, 2023

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I adore Leah Remini and have followed her career with much appreciation. I have gotten to know her as she has courageously turned her life around, contributing to helping others do the same. This book was well written, touching and so real. I felt like I was getting to know a very down to earth person who wishes to be as transparent and honest as can be. She allowed herself to be very vulnerable with this book. I just adore her more and my respect for her has simply grown. I have a better understanding now, of her life path and others who have shared it with her.

Nuno Santos

Really enjoyed Leah's book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2023

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This book did not disappoint and always left me intrigued to find out more about her journey.

Leah's departure from the Scientology organisation and her willingness to share her story have earned my admiration.

I enjoyed watching her TV show, "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath", and felt compelled to read her book for more insight into her experiences.

The book exceeded my expectations and left me constantly curious about her journey.

Ania

Top! Wirklich lesenswert

Reviewed in Germany on April 18, 2023

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Ich habe nie KOQ geschaut und Leah war mir eigentlich relativ egal…
Nach dem Buch bin ich ein Fan! Tolle Frau, Wahnsinns Geschichte und gut geschrieben… und bei weitem nicht so trocken wie viele andere Scientology Bücher

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DD

Amazing ! One of the best books I have ever read !

Reviewed in Italy on December 28, 2021

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Congratulations and all my compliments to Leah Remini !

Krishan Chand Has been a great absorbing read. Author's lament and praise of lord is a long long son

Enlightening, entertaining and engaging.

Reviewed in India on January 4, 2019

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First of all Scientology is so dumb, it's unbelievable. As an outsider I always found Tom Cruise creepy, like a Rat that has a lions mask, but literally everyone around me as a kid n teen would just gush about him! I have never followed his work, but next big memory of Tom Cruise was his infamous jumping on Oprah's couch incident. Now reading this book, I actually feel a Sense of Pity and understanding of what this cult n set up can do to a person's mental setup. Attention like alcohol will affect anyone's head after a certain point. The sheer quantity of attention poured on a Tom Cruise..can make a ton of elephants drunk for eternity! Coming back to this book and its author, I knew Leah Remini from watching a bit of King of Queens. She is real. Period. She is funny, articulate and passionate. That comes across. Also, she is full of beans but she is also candid and uncalculating as evidenced that she gets herself the short end of the stick most often. I would believe her anyday over a ridiculously stupid, n dangerously creepy church . Most of us will believe Leah because it is the experience of all of humanity that all institutions become rotten by virtue of people who take positions of power and place themselves above question or reproach. I hope Scientology is fully exposed. The story that has left me truly shocked is that of Shelly Miscavige. How come the govt. And FBI are ok with a person vanishing from face of earth! This is their concern for citizens?! They bombed life out of Iraq but wont lift a finger to find a US Citizen who has vanished suspiciously, and ignore every concern raised about it! Makes no bloody sense at all! Finally, Leah Remini..you are a force! May God protect you!

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Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology Kindle Edition

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