Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

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.

Arts & Entertainment

Leah Remini Is Producing A TV Show About Scientology

GettyImages-489501494.jpg
Actress Leah Remini attends the Life is Good supports Dream Court opening BGCLB event on September 21, 2015 in Long Beach, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Life is Good)

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

Actress Leah Remini left Scientology three years ago and has since dished out some of their dirty secrets on TV and in a tell-all memoir. She's now channeling some of these personal traumas into a more creative outlet.

Journalist Tony Ortega, who has reported on Scientology for over two decades, has the scoop on his blog The Underground Bunker, saying Remini is working on a show "about the way Scientology rips apart families."

"Leah's series is currently shooting footage, and appears to be on a fast track," writes Ortega, who also notes that the same unnamed network is working on another similar series (one that Ortega is also serving as a consultant).

Both series appear to be about the church's policy of "disconnection," where members are forced to cut out people who are "antagonistic to Scientology or its tenets." This can include close friends or even family members.

Earlier this year a billboard was put up in Echo Park by ex-Scientologists asking their children—who are still in the church—to call them.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right