This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Leah Remini recently left the Church of Scientology very publicly, announcing that she felt she had been brainwashed and inquiring after the whereabouts of a church leader's wife who hasn't been seen for years. In a recent segment on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Remini claims that her decision to part ways with the controversial organization cost her some friends:
"We lost friends that can no longer talk to us who are still in the organization....these are friends that we've had for dozens of years. But I have great friends, other friends that are not in the church, that have stood by us. Our family is stronger, we're together and that's all I can ask for."
As she was departing the church, Remini claimed that she endured years of "interrogations" and "thought modification" for questioning one of the church leaders, David Miscavige. She also claimed that followers were encouraged to cut ties from family members who left the church, a policy she disagreed with.
Remini went on to file a missing person's report for Shelly Miscavige, David's wife, who Remini claims hasn't been seen in public for six years. Church spokesman Tommy Davis reportedly told Remini, when she initially asked about Miscavige, "You don’t have the fucking rank to ask about Shelly."
