Why Leah Remini Has A Problem With Laura Prepon
It's a well-known fact that Leah Remini has been a major voice against the Church of Scientology — what many would deem a cult — since she left in 2013. The actor, who made her big break in the late 90s as Carrie Heffernan opposite Kevin James on "The King of Queens," is currently the host of "People Puzzler" a game show with a crosswords format. She's still active, and she continues her fight against the Church of Scientology in everything she does.
According to Us Magazine, Remini told Ellen DeGeneres that her mother got her involved with Scientology when she was nine and she was a member ever since. She was open from the moment she left Scientology about how hard it was and how she lost friends over it, because they weren't allowed to speak to her, an ex-member. She also went on to host "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath," a documentary series on A&E that sought to expose the Church of Scientology and tell stories from former members. With advocacy being a big thing for her, it's understandable why she might get upset when other prominent members of Scientology, like Laura Prepon, sweep their involvement under the rug.
Leah Remini thinks Laura Prepon should speak out against Scientology
There's some public tension between Leah Remini and Laura Prepon. In fact, there's been tension for a while, with the reason being the Church of Scientology. In her activism against the church, Remini has also been a very vocal person against those associated with the church and those who haven't spoken out about it as well. This includes "Orange Is The New Black" actor, Laura Prepon, who left the Church of Scientology five years prior to speaking about it in 2021. "As a brand new mother, I was reflecting so much on my own upbringing and the way I was mothered," Prepon told People, who now has a five-year-old daughter and an almost three-year-old son. "I was forced to look at a lot of things in my life that I wasn't looking at before." She stated that she's "always been very open-minded" when it came to religion and that Scientology just isn't a part of her life anymore.
While Prepon didn't go into more details on leaving the notoriously hard-to-leave church and instead talked about how she and her husband meditate now, Remini was not happy with her brief admittance to leaving the church. "I reached out to her and I just said, not everybody who has a voice uses it," Remini told the Daily Blast Live. "Some people, like Laura, feel that they don't have a responsibility to speak out. Do I respect it? I mean, not really."
Leah Remini has always been outspoken against Scientology and Laura Prepon
As stated above, Leah Remini has been a loud critic of the Church of Scientology for years and received support from her friend, Jennifer Lopez, while she was transitioning out. Part of the reason she feels a duty to speak against them is because of her role in recruiting people. "For those of us who were in the public eye and who were speaking on behalf of Scientology, getting people into Scientology, I feel that we have a responsibility to do the work when we find out that none of those things we were doing was not only [not] helpful, but damaging and very harmful to people's lives while some of us take a beating," she told Daily Blast Live. This is, of course, where a bulk of Remini's criticisms of Laura Prepon come from.
And this goes back to 2016. Someone asked whether members are "told to lie" about homophobia not existing in Scientology. Remini tweeted: "[Prepon's] lying as I did. Sad, but true. She knows what the tone scale says about 1.1's (covert hostility) and the book science of survival." She also said on the "Ground with Louis Theroux" podcast that Prepon is almost scared of her. "I've been in Chelsea Handler's home, where Laura Prepon was there and saw me and literally ran away from me. This is the kind of thing that goes on."