Leah Remini Celebrates Finishing Her First Semester at NYU: 'It's Never Too Late'
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Eric McCandless via Getty Leah Remini
Leah Remini is closing the book on a successful first semester of college.
The Emmy Award winner, 51, completed her first round of finals this week at New York University, celebrating her academic achievement Saturday on Twitter with some words of encouragement for her fellow lifelong learners.
"Going to college for the first time at 51 after living most of my life in a cult and only having an 8th grade education hasn't been easy," Remini wrote. "But I took my first NYU final exams this week and I'm glad I decided to educate myself. It's never too late. It's tough, but it's worth it."
Remini, who just received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for outstanding game show host on PEOPLE Puzzler, previously revealed that she was accepted to NYU, where she's working toward an associate's degree in their Liberal Arts program, sharing her admissions letter on Instagram last May.
"I am so excited, in tears and wanted to share this with you guys," Remini wrote at the time. "For someone like me, a person who desperately wanted a higher education and options in my life, coming from a cult and a family who didn't value an education, this is a very big day for me. This didn't come easy."
Going to college for the first time at 51 after living most of my life in a cult and only having an 8th grade education hasn't been easy.
But I took my first NYU final exams this week and I'm glad I decided to educate myself.
It's never too late. It's tough, but it's worth it.— Leah Remini (@LeahRemini) May 7, 2022
"This is one of the last chunks of my life that I am taking back for myself from Scientology. It took a lot for me to take this step, for fear that I was not smart enough, not worthy enough, not able to do the work that will be required, my age ... I did it anyway with a lot of encouragement from a very special person in my life," she added.
Remini previously spoke to PEOPLE about juggling her first semester of college and work as an actress, wife, and mother. "It's been amazing," she said in February.
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"It's been difficult when I'm working because sometimes I'll work from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. and then have to come home and read chapters and do a quiz when my brain is shutting down," Remini added. "But I'm doing it, and I am proud of myself. With my degree, I might eventually want to go into politics, but who knows? I would like to be of some kind of public service."
Remini left the Church of Scientology in 2013 after growing up in the controversial religion. She opened up about her experience with the church in her 2015 book Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, as well as on her Emmy-winning docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
