Leah Remini is taking legal action against the Church of Scientology. Ten years after her highly publicized exit from the church, the star is suing the institution. The star went as far as posting her lawsuit on social media.
Remini alleges in her complaint that the church went as far as coordinating malicious attacks on her life.
According to her complaint, Remini is suing the institution for “civil harassment, stalking, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.”
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The King of Queens star also claims that the founder, David Miscavige and his followers have “undertaken a campaign to ruin and destroy” a lot of her livelihood.
Behind the Lawsuit
The statement further states, “For the past ten years, Ms. Remini has been stalked, surveilled, harassed, threatened, intimidated, and moreover, has been the victim of intentional malicious and fraudulent rumors via hundreds of Scientology-controlled and -coordinated social media accounts that exist solely to intimidate and spread misinformation. Defendants have caused Ms. Remini significant and ongoing economic harm and have forced her to endure a new but never-normal life in which Scientology’s surveillance, abuse, and lies are the punishing, inescapable, daily cost of exercising her First Amendment right and moral duty to speak out about Scientology’s conduct.”
The church, known for many speaking against it, has not responded to the claim, but a Scientology Spokesperson told PEOPLE back in 2017 “It is Remini who is the attacker. Her whole anti-Scientology shtick was scripted and choreographed by her, casting herself in her drama as the ‘victim’ so she could cash in on her false narrative while savaging her friends and those who helped her most of her life.”
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Remini alleged in her complaint that the Church of Scientology subjected the her to stalking, surveillance, harassment and threats. Remini has been an outspoken critic of the church. She poke highly on the matter while promoting her book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology as well as her A&E documentary series, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
The star says much of the harassment came in the time while working on the two projects. Remini also claims the church hired “individuals with mental illness or who are homeless or addicted to drugs, and other vulnerable people” to stalk, surveil, and harass her at her residence.
The actress also goes on to admit that the church damaged her personal property and made false public claims about her reputation. She claims these impacted business ventures and contracts with companies like iHeartMedia, AudioBoom, Game Show Network, and much more. Remini is now asking the court to grant her compensatory and punitive damages.
Tom Cruise Involvement
Remini claims in the statement that her involvement with the church also changed after Tom Cruise’s 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes. Remini claims the star is Miscavige’s “best friend” who is “essentially second in command in Scientology.”
“It is a High Crime in Scientology to criticize [Tom] in any way,” the filing claims, noting that in 2004, Miscavige supposedly told an audience of Scientologists at a gala in England that Cruise was “the most dedicated Scientologist I know.”
The event was billed as “the wedding of the century,” so Remini says she was surprised when Miscavige’s wife, Michele (“Shelly”) Miscavige, “was nowhere to be found.” Shelly’s “job was to constantly record everything” David said “so that a team of secretaries could later transcribe his words and orders for dissemination throughout Scientology.”
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“When Ms. Remini asked a group of Scientology executives and Tom Cruise’s personal handlers … ‘Where is Shelly?’ she was immediately admonished by the group, despite the fact that she and Ms. Miscavige were good friends,” the lawsuit claims.
“Ms. Remini witnessed other behavior at the wedding that set off red flags for her, including unethical contacts between various Scientology executives and others at the wedding which she understood to be forbidden by Scientology teachings,” per the document.
The star shared her concerns in a written “Knowledge Report” and submitted it within the church.
“Ms. Remini had been brainwashed into believing that by filing reports like this, she was helping Scientology and saving her religion.”
Remini’s 4 Month Holding At a Facility
After the Italy incident, the star was ordered to a base in Clearwater, Florida. From there, the actress was forced to “undergo a quick ‘ethics cycle'” which “was one of her life’s worst nightmares.”
“Upon arrival, Ms. Remini was presented with dozens of internal reports from Scientologists complaining about her behavior at the wedding. It was clear to Ms. Remini that she was being punished for asking where Shelly Miscavige was and for filing reports on David Miscavige and others. Ms. Remini was held at FLAG for four months while she was put through a process that cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars and nearly led her to have a psychotic breakdown,” the lawsuit alleges.
It goes on to state,“After months of psychological torture, Ms. Remini was nearing the point of psychotic breakdown. She finally gave in, rescinded all of her reports, and admitted that she was the problem in this situation (despite it not being true).”
Remini then left the facility “where she was forced to lie to her colleagues, friends, and family about what happened while she was in Florida.”
The actress was forced to make peace with David and Cruise by “donating money to name a seat in a theater after Suri Cruise.” She alleges she spent around $5 million for her more than 35 years as a Scientologist.
