14 DAY TRIAL // Leah Remini defected from the Church of Scientology earlier this year but, no matter what her former friend and current Scientologist Kirstie Alley says of her in public, she will not engage in a dispute and is choosing to take the high road.
The other day, Alley, who is one of the most high profile members of the cult, went on Howard Stern to promote her new TV show and, as was to be expected, Leah’s departure from Scientology came up. Kirstie did not have nice things to say about her former pal.
First of all, she said they weren’t even as close as speculated in the media, and went on to call Leah a “repulsive” bigot and a liar, her worst enemy because she’d committed the biggest faux-pas in the book by picking on someone for their religious beliefs.
“When you are generalizing and when your goal is to malign and to say things about an entire group, when you decide to blanket statement that Scientology is evil, you are my enemy. The truth is I don’t think I’ve seen Leah for like seven or eight years. I didn’t care if she was in or out, I honestly didn’t,” Alley said.
The reality of it was that, upon her departure, Leah only said that she was being shunned by people she’d considered her “friends,” and that she had gotten tired of being manipulated by people in a position of power within the Church.
She’s choosing to take the high road once more: paparazzi from TMZ caught up with the actress after a dinner date and, of course, asked her if she had any comment on Kirstie’s statement.
“You know, I just wish the best for people,” she said with a smile. Pressed to say more, Leah laughed again and said, “Honestly I really do wish the best for people.” Video of the exchange is included below, embedded at the end of the article.
The paparazzo also asked her if she’d gotten the chance to see Alley’s new sitcom but, as Leah put it, she’s too busy watching reality TV to check out scripted programming.