Actress Leah Remini sues Church of Scientology for harassment, defamation

Actress Leah Remini announced she is filing a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader David Miscavige Wednesday.

In a statement posted to her accounts on Substack and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Remini said she is filing the lawsuit in the California Superior Court because of “harassment, intimidation, surveillance and defamation” she said she faced at the hands of Scientology for 17 years. She said the organization has attempted to “silence” her and many others who have spoken against it.

“While this lawsuit is about what Scientology has done to me, I am one of thousands of targets of Scientology over the past seven decades,” Remini said in her statement. “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.”

Remini has an extensive past of speaking out against Scientology, of which she was once a member. She released a book in 2015, “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology,” and worked on a television show from 2016-2019, “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” — both critical of the religion.

“With this lawsuit, I hope to protect the rights afforded to them and me by the Constitution of the United States to speak the truth and report the facts about Scientology without fear of vicious and vindictive retribution, of which most have no way to fight back,” Remini continued in her statement.

In a statement about the case, the Church of Scientology said Remini’s allegations are “pure lunacy” and accused her or profiting off her attacks on the church.

“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,” the statement read.

“All the while, Remini has profited handsomely from her fabrications, through the sale of hate books, hate podcasts and paid-for tabloid hate television.”

Updated: 5:34 p.m.

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