14 DAY TRIAL // Another powerful blow has been dealt to the Church of Scientology, at least in terms of media exposure, as former member of the church, Leah Remini has said some pretty shocking things about the time she spent as a member of this church.
The actress, who is best known for her role in the sitcom “The King of Queens” made headline news when she let the secretive organization last summer, and now she's opening up again about those days. The things she has to say do not paint a pretty picture.
In a recent interview with Buzzfeed, the actress claimed that the time she spent with the Church of Scientology has made her a “hypocrite” and that everything the church has taught her was “a lie.”
The whole reason Remini decided to leave the church after being a member for 30 years was for the well-being of her 9-year-old daughter, Sofia. According to her, this was the age that Sofia would have had to start becoming an active member of the religious organization “She was getting to the age where the acclimation into the church would have to start.”
The bittered actress goes on to explain how she was brought into the church as aged 10, by her stepfather, who had convinced her mother to move to the organization's compound in Clearwater, Florida along with her daughters but never followed suit.
She said that she and her sister were separated from their mother and forced to sign “billion-year contracts we didn't understand” as well as work for the church “from morning until night with barely any schooling.” The only thing good that came out of that experience is her present work ethic.
Now, after having experienced all the hardships the church imposes on its members, the 43-year-old mother doesn't want the same fate for her daughter, “I started thinking of my own childhood and how I grew up resenting my mother because she was never home.”
She continues, “It's funny; somehow my father, the guy who left his kids and never paid child support, was excluded from my resentment and I grew up resenting my mother for not being home to make food, like all my friends' moms were. But my mom thought she was doing something good; she thought she was helping the planet. That's what the church tells you.”
Her intentions to bring some changes to the church were met with opposition and this eventually showed her the true nature of Scientology. “They didn't care about doing the right thing. That showed me everything the church taught me was a lie.”
Despite all that, Remini maintains that, “I don’t want to be known as this bitter, ex-Scientologist. I’m not trying to bash anybody and I’m not trying to be controversial. I just want people to know the truth.”