Leah Remini Doubles Down on Anti-Scientology Crusade: I Want a Federal Investigation
by Seth Abramovitch August 09, 2017, 6:30am PDT
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fea...gation-1027737
The firebrand star revs up her war in season two of A&E's Emmy-nominated docuseries 'Aftermath' as she heads to New York to join Kevin James' CBS comedy amid a church counteroffensive: "It's been really trying."
Some moments from Leah Remini's childhood will never fade. Like the afternoon she rode a graffiti-covered B Train with her big sister, Nicole — at ages 8 and 10, their first time alone on New York City mass transit. Their journey took them from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to Times Square — a seedy porn-theater mecca in the late '70s — and the Church of Scientology building on 46th Street. There, they met their mother, Vicki, a divorcee whose new boyfriend had indoctrinated the family in the self-fulfillment movement. "We went all-in, because Scientology is an all-in proposition," says Remini. "My mother thought she'd found the answers to her life and, you know, our future."...
...Remini also will continue to produce and star in Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath — the second season premieres Aug. 15. This enthralling A&E documentary series profiles ex- Scientologists like herself — people shunned and targeted by the church and, all too often, by their own family members. The two vastly different shows will air concurrently ("hopefully not on the same day," says Remini). Aftermath has earned Remini, who stars and executive produces the show, an Emmy nomination for best informational series or special. It's her first shot at an Emmy and, after nearly 30 years in the business, that feels good — even if it's not quite as she had always imagined it. "When I was just acting, of course it was something you always wanted," she says. "Like, hey, we're on a show for nine years, you want some recognition from your peers." Now she's more interested to win it for her Aftermath subjects. "They don't get paid to do the show. The only thing they get is a hate website put out on them by Scientology. They get paid internet ads against them. Their families turn against them. Any award I get is for them."...
...But her flight from Scientology in 2013 dramatically altered the course of her career — and, it turns out, revitalized it. Doubts about the organization and its strong-arm tactics had begun to creep in as early as 2004, but it was at Tom Cruise's storybook wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006 that Remini began to seriously contemplate cutting and running. At the ceremony, set at a 15th century Italian castle, she'd innocently asked about the whereabouts of church leader David Miscavige's absent wife, Shelly. That was apparently a big no-no, and she says church elders cursed at her and told her to mind her place. Drawn to keep asking questions, Remini soon saw her life become hell, as former friends and colleagues subjected her to blacklisting and the filing of dozens of "internal reports."...
...Remini is astonished at the impact of Aftermath's first season — which focused on disconnection. "We've heard from people who were inside Scientology, who told me, 'I watched your show. I went on the internet. I decided to leave. I am fighting for my children after watching your show,' " says Remini. "We get tons of those. And it's those moments that you go, 'OK — we're doing something.' "
Season two will ramp up the attacks on the religion, shining a light on what Remini calls "all of the abusive practices of Scientology — sexual abuse and physical abuse." Remini intends for the sophomore outing to move into an "activist" realm — meaning she hopes to present enough evidence of criminal wrongdoing to warrant a federal investigation. "I'm talking about the FBI, the police, the Department of Justice, the IRS," she says. "If the FBI ever wanted to get anywhere, all they would need to do is do a raid. Everybody who's ever gone to Scientology has folders, and anything you've ever said is contained in those folders."
Asked to explain these "abusive practices," Remini takes a deep breath, then lays out some foundational principles. "Scientology policy dictates that children are grown men and women in little bodies. They believe a 7-year-old girl should not shudder at being passionately kissed. That's in Dianetics," she says, referencing L. Ron Hubbard's 1950 book that establishes core tenets. "If you join the Sea Org [a clergy class with a nautical heritage] as a child, your parents give you over to Scientology. Children are treated as crew. They are assets. And if a child is molested, that child and/or parent cannot go to the police, because it's against policy. They handle it in Scientology. They will usually bring the molester in and give them spiritual 'auditing,' or counseling." The victim, she continues, "gets punished for 'pulling it in,' which is a Scientology term that means you did something that you're not telling the church about — and that's why you received the abuse. The child is usually made to do some kind of amends, to make up for what happened to them."
Remini ... argues that "there are no victims in Scientology. Anything that happens to you in Scientology happens to you because you made it happen."...
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