Leah Remini Sues Scientology, David Miscavige, Church Responds

Leah Remini has filed a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige, alleging she's been the victim of harassment, intimidation, surveillance and defamation for nearly two decades. The King of Queens actor, who left the church in 2013 after being a member since childhood, filed her lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the economic and psychological harm she says Scientology inflicted upon her.

In the lawsuit, obtained by Deadline, Remini claims she 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." For 17 years, the church and Miscavige have subjected her to "what I believe to be psychological torture, defamation, surveillance, harassment, and intimidation, significantly impacting my life and career," Remini added in a statement Wednesday. 

Remini has been outspoken in her criticism of Scientology, starring in the Emmy Award-winning anti-Scientology documentary series, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, from 2016 to 2019. In 2015, she published the best-selling book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, which Remini claims in the lawsuit forced her to hire bodyguards for the first time in her life, as she learned private investigators allegedly working for the church were following her during her book promotion.

In 2018, Remini also alleges the church held a meeting with celebrity Scientologists about "how to attack Ms. Remini's credibility, based on lies, using talking points that Scientology wrote." The actress also accused the church of enlisting a man with a "violent criminal record" and "history of mental illness" to stalk and surveil her at her Los Angeles home, which the lawsuit claimed resulted in him being arrested twice, once for ramming his vehicle into the security gates of her community and a second time for falsely claiming Remini was holding hostages at her home.

Remini said in her statement Wednesday that while she doesn't believe she's Scientology's first victim, she does "intend to be the last." She continued, "While advocating for victims of Scientology has significantly impacted my life and career, Scientology's final objective of silencing me has not been achieved." While the lawsuit is focused on Remini's own experiences, she added, "I am one of thousands of targets of Scientology over the past seven decades. People who share what they've experienced in Scientology, and those who tell their stories and advocate for them, should be free to do so without fearing retaliation from a cult with tax exemption and billions in assets."

Update Aug. 4: The Church of Scientology has issued a statement denying Remini's claims, which you can read in full below or on the church's website:

"This lawsuit is ludicrous and the allegations pure lunacy. Remini spreads hate and falsehoods for a decade and is now offended when people exercise their right to free speech, exposing her for what she is-an anti-free speech bigot. Remini's complaints are like an anti-Semite complaining about the Jewish Anti-Defamation League for exposing the anti-Semite's bigotry and propaganda."

"Remini's obsession with attacking her former religion, by spreading falsehoods and hate speech, has generated threats of and actual violence against the Church and its members as evidenced by multiple criminal convictions of individuals poisoned by Remini's propaganda. All the while, Remini has profited handsomely from her fabrications, through the sale of hate books, hate podcasts and paid-for tabloid hate television."

"Now that Remini's propaganda has been exposed, Remini has spun entirely out of control by filing a frivolous lawsuit attempting to stop free speech exposing her false propaganda. Remini's decade of harassment and fabrications are all coming back to haunt her. If Remini can no longer get a job, she has nobody to blame but herself. Obviously everybody in Hollywood now knows what we already knew: That Remini is a horrible person and toxic to so many who have the misfortune to come in contact with her."

"While Remini was in the Church, she had to restrain her antisocial traits. She said so herself-that Scientology was the only thing keeping her 'monster' at bay. The Church is not intimidated by Remini's latest act of blatant harassment and attempt to prevent truthful free speech. If Remini does not believe in free speech, then she should consider emigrating to Russia."