More than a decade after Leah Remini walked away from the Church of Scientology, the Emmy-winning actress says the shadow of her past still follows her. In a raw and defiant new interview, Remini claims that the church is still targeting her and her daughter Sofia with a campaign of fear and intimidation. including the using terms meant to suggest her erasure. “I’m hunted,” she says. “There is constant surveillance. And my daughter is petrified.”
The ‘King of Queens’ actress has been outspoken about her battle to leave the organization, which she joined at age 13 when her mother became a member, and she has affirms she’s still being targeted. She filed a civil harassment lawsuit against the church in 2023 over allegations of stalking and intimidation against her and her 20-year-old daughter Sofia, and they are set to go to trial in October.
In an Exclusive with Us Weekly, she said, “They harass my underage daughter online.” She shared that they used a Scientology term that means basically to erase me from the face of the earth.
“When you talk to a lawyer, they say, ‘It’s going to cost you more to defend yourself than to pay them off.’ And Scientology knows that.”
While it’s been over a decade since the 54-year-old actress left the church, she insisted things haven’t necessarily “gotten easier”. She argues, “It’s difficult to say it’s gotten easier when I have a multimillion-dollar organization terrorizing me and my family...I’m hunted. My daughter is followed. There is constant surveillance.”
Leah admitted the pressure “takes a toll” on her and her daughter, who is “constantly petrified that her phone is being tapped”. She has told her to “be aware”, but Sofia doesn’t want her mother to stop speaking out against the organization.
She explained: “If it was affecting Sofia in a way that was debilitating to her, I would pass the torch to somebody. But she doesn’t want me to give up, and [late friend Mike Rinder] wouldn’t want me to give up. In his honour, I feel an obligation to continue.”
Meanwhile, Leah insisted she hasn’t found the experience of leaving “as liberating” as she imagined. She added, “I can’t because I haven’t been able to truly extract myself. It hasn’t been as liberating as I’d hoped.”
“I don’t have a church dictating who I can speak to, including my own family.” In response, the Church of Scientology has dismissed the allegations in the new interview.
They said in a statement to the outlet, “For years Ms. Remini has repeated ad nauseam unsupported and untrue allegations to monetize her hate campaign against the Church of Scientology.”
Us Weekly clarified that they did not pay Leah for the interview.
The church continued: “There has never existed a shred of evidence to support, let alone prove, any of her outlandish claims…"
“Contrary to Ms. Remini’s representations, the church has never committed or conspired to commit these crimes, and no evidence exists to suggest otherwise. The church is not ‘surveilling’ or doing anything to Ms. Remini. On the contrary, she is harassing her former church.”