The 'King of Queens' actress says 'over time, my eyes got opened' and her decision to leave the controversial church was not without a cost.
- Sep 10, 2013
AceShowbiz - Leah Remini talked about her exit from Scientology on a national television for the first time when visiting "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on its Monday, September 9 season premiere. "We have lost friends that can no longer talk to us who are still in the organization," she opened up.
"And these are friends that we've had for dozens of years," she added. Though "it's hard," she said she's OK because she had "great friends, other friends that are not in the Church, that have stood by us, and our family is stronger, we're together, and that's all I could ask for."
When asked the reason why she left, she chose not to go into details, "My mother got involved when we were very young, so it's all we really knew. But over time, my eyes got opened and I could just no longer be affiliated with the organization, and my family felt the same, so we left."
Her visit to Ellen DeGeneres came ahead of her participation on the upcoming season of "Dancing with the Stars". The rehearsals, she said, left her hurting "everywhere," including "places I didn't know could hurt. ... It's so much harder than I thought, and most people do say that, but it's true."
Leah Remini, 43, was revealed leaving the Church of Scientology last summer. The former "King of Queens" actress reportedly left after being subjected to years of "interrogations" and "thought modification" for questioning the leadership of David Miscavige.
