Leah Remini isn’t mincing words when it comes to the role she believes Scientology played at the end of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ marriage. A week after slamming Cruise as a fraudulent “good guy,” the former Scientologist told The New York Post more about how the church viewed Holmes before the Dawson’s Creek actress filed for divorce in 2012.
“Scientology considers Katie a suppressive person which is an enemy,” Remini told the Post on Wednesday. “I knew Katie when she was in [Scientology] and she seemed very indoctrinated into Tom’s world, but as time went on, I understood why she did what she did to protect her daughter.” Remini, who has been a vocal opponent of Scientology after leaving the church in 2013, added she was “really proud” of Holmes for taking action in a situation that could have been “very toxic and dangerous” for her family.
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On July 27, Remini called out Cruise as different than his Hollywood persona in a statement to Us Weekly. “I think it’s time for people to start waking up to the real facts here. Tom has for years manipulated his image to be the good guy,” she said. “Although I believe there was a time when Tom was a decent and kindhearted person, he has morphed himself into [Scientology leader] David Miscavige and is completely dedicated to Scientology’s mission to ‘clear’ planet Earth — which means making 80 percent of the world’s population into Scientologists.”
Remini has accused the Church of Scientology of following and threatening her since her departure, exposing many of the church’s alleged scandals in her Emmy-winning series, Scientology and the Aftermath. Currently, Remini has been outspoken about Cruise’s role in Scientology. In July, she spoke about the actor to The Daily Beast after Thandie Newton described working with him on Mission: Impossible 2 as a “nightmare.”
“Tom has gotten away with being this ‘nice guy,’ because that’s what Scientology policy says — to create good PR in the world and make those ‘good actions’ known,” she said at the time. “That this guy can be running around and having people think he’s this super-nice guy, I don’t get it. But that’s the Hollywood bulls–t game people play.”
Despite Remini admitting to having to check her home for bugs regularly, she told the Post, “At the end of the day, I can’t live my life in fear of doing the right thing because I’m fearful that something is going to happen to me. I mean, I have a daughter, that’s where really my concern is. I don’t want my daughter to ever get caught up in this.”
