Leah Remini: Nine things we learned when she spoke to Louis Theroux

1. She thinks Scientology’s reputation as the “Hollywood religion” is misplaced

When Louis describes Scientology, he calls it “The Hollywood religion”, because of famous members like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Leah says she believes that reputation is unfounded. “That is their PR line,” she says. “That is what they want to be known as. There are more non-Scientologists in Hollywood than there are Scientologists. Scientologists are a very small number in general. I think the numbers are 40,000 worldwide, and that’s including staff members. So, they’re not as powerful as they want to appear.”

2. She became a Scientologist when she was a child

Leah became a Scientologist at the age of nine. She was introduced to it by her mother, whose boyfriend at the time was a member. “It was being sold as, ‘Think for yourself. We’re helping the planet. As time goes on, we’re the only answer.’” She says the religion made her feel like she was better than everyone else. “Growing up like that and feeling if someone didn’t get me or I was having trouble in my life, it was because they were not Scientologists. It always excused away any issues I might have had… It was never my fault.”

3. She spent millions of dollars on the church

Leah says that she reached Operating Thetan Level 5, or OT 5, in the church. The Church of Scientology reputedly operates on different levels, with members rising through the levels as they become more educated in the religion. Leah says there are eight levels altogether and that in order to reach high levels a Scientologist would have to donate a lot of money. “I think the number is $400,000 just bottom line [to reach OT 5],” she says. When Louis asks how much she donated, Leah says if she thinks about it, “honestly, it would make me cry… I’ve given millions.”

4. Scientology made her feel special

Leah Remini, image from Getty.

Leah says the reason she stayed in the church so long was because it made her feel, “very special. I felt like I was contributing to my church by volunteering and giving millions of dollars and I felt like this made me special. You get high on that kind of love-bombing and, ‘We get you, Leah. You’re doing so much work for us. You deserve this kind of treatment.’ You can get caught up in that.”

5. Since leaving, other Scientologist celebrities avoid her

Leah left Scientology in 2013. She says that since her departure she has been regarded as a “suppressive person” by the church, “an enemy”, meaning active members cannot associate with her. She says that when she won her Emmy award that actress Elisabeth Moss, a Scientologist and star of The Handmaid’s Tale, left the room when Leah’s category was being announced. “I’ve been in Chelsea Handler’s home, where Laura Prepon [Orange Is the New Black actress and a Scientologist] was there and saw me and literally ran away from me. This is the kind of thing that goes on.” She says Scientologists are told that suppressive persons are “dangerous to your life.”

6. She auditioned for Monica on Friends

Leah became an actress in the late 80s. In 1994, she auditioned for what would become one of the biggest sitcom roles in history: Monica in Friends. “That wasn’t so fun for me because I didn’t get that,” she tells Louis. “Ultimately I ended up on King of Queens, which was amazing, and we had an amazing nine years.” Although she didn’t land a lead role in Friends, Leah actually did appear in the show, playing a pregnant woman in The One with The Birth, the penultimate episode of the first season.

7. She says she was yelled at by Tom Cruise for not bringing in enough celebrities

Tom Cruise is the most famous member of The Church of Scientology. Leah says she was part of Tom’s core group of seven celebrity Scientologists and that he once assembled them, “and basically yelled at us and told us we’re not doing enough.” She says she was asked why she wasn’t bringing other celebrities into the church, including King of Queens co-star Kevin James. She says there were seven celebrities in that group, including actors Jenna Elfman and Giovanni Ribisi. She says famous Scientologists Kirsty Alley and John Travolta were not part of the group: “Tom wasn’t a fan of John’s.”

8. She took Jennifer Lopez to Tom Cruise’s wedding

Tom Cruise married Katie Holmes in November 2006. Leah was a guest and decided to take her friend Jennifer Lopez. When she arrived, she discovered that Jennifer would not be sitting with her at the reception. Leah says she got in a lot of trouble for asking about it. “What I did was I went up to Tom’s assistant – one of the 30 – and I whispered in her ear, ‘Jennifer’s wondering why we’re not sitting together… She’s asking if we can be added to her table and if not, no problem.’” She says they were not moved, “so it didn’t ruin anything, but I was severely punished for that.”

9. The wedding sparked her decision to leave

Leah first thought about leaving Scientology at that wedding, but not because of the Jennifer Lopez situation. Leah was very good friends with Shelly Miscavige, the wife of David Miscavige, the current head of the church. “Shelly was not at the wedding and that was very odd to me,” she says. “Shelly had been at every public event and private event. That is her job. That is her post in life. She was not there, and I asked where Shelly was and everybody scattered. I was told that I didn’t have the rank to ask where Shelly was and I thought that was insane. That started the ball rolling.” She has not seen Shelly since. Leah says it was after this event that she started to look into how the church treated people who left, “which I thought was not becoming of a church,” and decided to leave herself. “I was now opening my eyes to what people have been telling me for years.” She left in 2013.

The Church of Scientology denies the allegations made in the podcast, and says: “The entire podcast you are presenting is a fraud… the claims that are being made are false - the claims cannot be substantiated, since nothing that is alluded to ever happened… There is a real story of Scientology and it is a magnificent story.”