Leah Remini Just Criticized This Former Celebrity Scientologist Best Life
Actor Leah Remini became an outspoken opponent of Scientology after leaving the religion herself eight years ago. And while not everyone will end up producing an Emmy-winning documentary on the topic like Remini did, she still finds it disappointing when former Scientologists with a platform don't use it to share their new thoughts on the church. In an interview with Daily Blast Live (as reported by E!), Remini was asked about Laura Prepon, who recently shared that she is no longer a Scientologist. And Remini did not hold back when it came to her opinion of the That '70s Show star. Read on to see what Remini had to say about her fellow TV star and former Scientologist.
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Remini said she reached out to Prepon after finding out that she left the religion. She admitted that she is not happy that the Orange Is the New Black actor hasn't explicitly spoken out against Scientology, however.
"I was a vocal Scientologist," Remini said. "I got people into Scientology—I promoted it most of my life. For those of us who were in the public eye and who were speaking on behalf of Scientology, getting people into Scientology, I feel that we have a responsibility to do the work when we find out that none of those things we were doing was not only [not] helpful, but damaging and very harmful to people's lives. I think people have a responsibility to do their part."
Remini added that some former followers of the faith, like her, are left to "take a beating" while others who don't speak out don't have to. "Some people, like Laura, feel that they don't have a responsibility to speak out," Remini said. "Do I respect it? I mean, not really."
In an interview with People in August, Prepon said that she wasn't active in Scientology anymore and hadn't been for five years. "I'm no longer practicing Scientology," she said. "I've always been very open-minded, even since I was a child. I was raised Catholic and Jewish. I've prayed in churches, meditated in temples. I've studied Chinese meridian theory. I haven't practiced Scientology in close to five years and it's no longer part of my life."
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Prepon did not often speak out publicly about being a Scientologist, but she was a known celebrity member, along with movie stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta. The 41-year-old did make headlines in 2015 after giving an interview to the Scientology magazine Celebrity in which she spoke in depth about her experience in the church and praised its practices.
Remini left the Church of Scientology in 2013 after being a member since childhood. In the years since, she's become a vocal opponent. She released her book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, in 2015, and in 2016, her docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath premiered and ran for three season on A&E. She now hosts a podcast about the controversial faith called Scientology: Fair Game. The church has denied Remini's claims about the religion, including alleged instances of psychological and physical abuse within the organization.
"If you speak out, you're labeled an enemy to the Church and the Church has policies on how to deal with its enemies and they go after them," Remini said on Today in 2016 (via E!). "It's in their own policies. So they don't know any different, as I did when I was of the Church. So I understand this. I have compassion for it. Because you do become a person who's very hateful and you're very judgmental towards anyone who isn't a Scientologist."
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