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Leah Remini Says Tom Cruise's Creepy Wedding Turned Her Off Scientology
Actress and Scientology defector Leah Remini did not have the kindest words for former brother-in-Xenu Tom Cruise during an interview with ABC's 20/20 last night. Remini, whose tell-all memoir Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology comes out Tuesday, said that she started getting reprimanded by church authorities after she challenged Cruise and behaved badly at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.
The NY Daily News writes that during the wedding, Cruise essentially reenacted a scene from Top Gun by serenading his bride with the song "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." Remini said, "We're like, 'that’s an interesting song to sing to your bride.'" According to People, Remini said that numerous Church members filed a "Knowledge Report" alleging that she was "loud, late and rude." Remini said she was accused of having "basically destroyed the wedding."
Predictably, a spokesperson from the Church of Scientology told ABC News that Remini's claims about the wedding were bogus. "Every claim Miss Remini has made is not only untrue but ridiculous and stupid." Sure, okay!
Remini also said that "being critical of Tom Cruise is being critical of Scientology itself. You are a person who is anti the aims and goals of Scientology. You are evil." But it wasn't always like that. Remini said that when she first met Cruise, she was sucked in by his effusive personality, of which she said, "At first it’s very effusive. It’s very loving and you get the laser in on you and you’re the most important thing. It’s like, 'How are you? How you doing?' and 'Yeah, great! Great! Great-great! Great!'
Holmes declined to be interviewed for the 20/20 piece, but issued a statement that said, "I regret having upset Leah in the past and wish her only the best in the future."
She also dished about her personal history with Scientology. After her parents divorced, Remini's mother enlisted her in the Sea Org, a full-time religious indoctrination program where she signed a billion-year long contract with the church. Ha ha...ha...uh. During her year in Sea Org, where she lived in "roach infested dorms," Remini got in trouble for fraternizing with teen Scientology boys. The Hollywood Reporter wrote:
"I allowed my boyfriend at the time … to go like this over my shirt,” she said while lighting touching her breast over her shirt. Remini remarked the action was a church violation and she was threatened to be put in the rehabilitation project force. “When you have screwed up royally in the Sea Org, it’s basically to reform you. You have to wear black, you have to run everywhere you go, you have to call everyone sir. It’s pretty severe punishment for an adult, not to mention a child,” Remini said.
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There are many more juicy stories from the interview, which are likely only a sliver of what will emerge when Troublemaker hits stores on Tuesday.
Thank you for listening. Thank you all for your loving support of this journey. And to @ABC2020 for telling this story.
— Leah Remini (@LeahRemini) October 31, 2015
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