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4 NOVEMBER 2016
The Church of Scientology has issued a 530-word statement calling one of its former members a "spoiled entitled diva" who is "joined at the hip with" other former Scientologists that the church refers to as "a collection of deadbeats, admitted liars, self-admitted perjurers, wife beaters and worse".
The target of this ire, which was published in a statement to US entertainment website E! News, is Leah Remini, a US actress known for appearing in television sitcoms including The King of Queens and The Exes.
Remini was introduced to the church by her mother when she was nine but left in 2013, when she was 43, after taking umbrage with its policies, such as the forbidding of members to question the actions of Scientology leader David Miscavige. She was blacklisted within the church after "years of interrogations"and "thought modifications" and inspired damning reports from other members.
Since leaving, Remini has been outspoken about the church's practices and her removal from Scientology, giving TV interviews about her experiences.
Last year she published her memoir, Troublemaker, which detailed warts-and-all reports from inside the wedding of Scientology's most famous member, Tom Cruise, and his wife Katie Holmes.
The church has been triggered to respond to Remini again in light of her forthcoming documentary series, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, in which she interviews people who have managed to escape from the church's clutches. The allegations made in the trailer alone include rape of a minor and the forcible separation of families at the hands of the church.
The church issued a lengthy statement, some of which is below:
Leah Remini needs to move on with her life. Instead, she seeks publicity by maliciously spreading lies about the Church using the same handful of bitter zealots who were kicked out years ago and whose false claims the Church refuted years ago, including through judicial decisions.
Leah Remini has become what she once declared she never wanted to be known as: 'this bitter ex-Scientologist'. As USA Today wrote, Ms. Remini is ‘as famous for being an ex-Scientologist as she is as an actress.’ She needs to move on with her life instead of pathetically exploiting her former religion, her former friends and other celebrities to appear relevant again.
Sadly, bitterness and anger are common threads through Ms. Remini’s life. Ms. Remini is showing herself to be a spoiled entitled diva who still obsessively complains about petty matters.
She also inserts herself uninvited into the family matters of others. Rather than take responsibility for self-inflicted problems, she is quick to blame others. When her firing from The Talk erupted into a public embarrassment for her in 2012, we tried to help pick her up off the floor.
The statement in full can be read at E!. Remini's documentary was announced a few days ago. She said at the time: "For too long, this multi-billion-dollar organization bullied victims and journalists to prevent the truth being told. It is my hope that we shed light on information that makes the world aware of what is really going on and encourages others to speak up so the abuses can be ended forever."
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