Leah Remini Hits Church of Scientology With Harassment and Defamation Lawsuit
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Leah Remini has sued the Church of Scientology in a wide-ranging lawsuit that includes claims of harassment, stalking and defamation.
Remini, who broke with the organization in 2013 before becoming a outspoken critic, alleges in a suit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court that she has been “stalked, surveilled, harassed, threatened, intimidated, and, moreover, has been the victim of intentional malicious and fraudulent rumors” to intimidate and silence her. She points to a “series of retaliatory activities” against people and groups deemed an “enemy” of the church.
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The complaint names church chairman David Miscavige and the Religious Technology Center, which allegedly manages policing operations and enforces punitive measures. Remini seeks unspecified damages and a court order requiring the group and any entity it controls or funds to “cease and desist its harassment, defamation, and other unlawful conduct.”
A representative for the church replied on Thursday in a post on its website that stated, among other notes: “This lawsuit is ludicrous and the allegations pure lunacy.”
In a statement, Remini said she’s been subjected to “psychological torture” for the past 17 years since she raised concerns about the absence of Miscavige’s wife at the wedding of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise — who the complaint says is “essentially second-in-command in Scientology” — in addition to questioning “unethical contacts” between various Scientology executives at the event.
“With this lawsuit, I hope to protect my rights as afforded by the Constitution of the United States to speak the truth and report the facts about Scientology,” Remini added. “I feel strongly that the banner of religious freedom does not give anyone license to intimidate, harass, and abuse those who exercise their First Amendment rights.”
The suit details internal church policies, operations and units — including the Office of Special Affairs, which allegedly handles punitive measures against people and groups critical of the church — that were established by Founder L. Ron Hubbard, according to the complaint. Under the church’s rules, directives originating from Hubbard cannot be changed, the suit says.
The church’s harassment of Remini was allegedly led by OSA and meant to “totally restrain and muzzle” her through a pattern of defamation, stalking and abuse. She says anyone in her orbit — including family, friends, business partners, advertisers, potential employers and staff — was similarly targeted.
From 2016 to 2019, Remini hosted the A&E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which told the stories of former Scientologists who were scammed, abused and raped by members of the church. The organization allegedly looked to discredit the series by claiming that it incited hate crimes against Scientologists, including the murder of a 24-year-old member of the church in it Australian headquarters. “Scientology and Scientology operatives with over 200 Twitter accounts continually tweet and re-tweet intentionally false and libelous information regarding the incident,” states the complaint.
Remini also says she was surveilled and stalked by the church for years. Private investigators were hired to follow her while she was in New York, according to the complaint. A message from one of them obtained in unrelated litigation, which was cited in the suit, shows that “word is they [Scientology] want to kill her.” The complaint points to several alleged instances in which people under the direction of the church attempted to break into Remini’s home or surveil her. “In 2022, employees of Talon showed up at Ms. Remini’s neighbor’s home under the guise that Ms. Remini arranged for Talon to install ‘free security and surveillance’ technology there,” the suit states. “In reality, and based upon information and belief, Scientology had hired Talon to plant equipment that would allow Scientology to spy on Ms. Remini.”
Scientology’s harassment of Remini allegedly forced iHeartMedia to end its contract with her for a podcast about the church after four years, according to the suit. People hired by the church harassed producers and company executives until they “grew so fearful that iHeartMedia made the decision to terminate the relationship with Ms. Remini to protect its employees and agents, even though the show was successful in its ratings,” the actress alleges. The church similarly caused her to lose a deal with AudioBoom.
The suit was filed as Danny Masterson, a member of the church, awaits sentencing after being found guilty of raping two women at his Los Angeles home in the early 2000s. The church played a prominent role in the trial, with accusations that the organization looked to silence his accusers, who testified that they feared being labeled a “suppressive person.” They’re pursuing a civil case against the church, alleging that they’ve been harassed after reporting their rapes to law enforcement. Last year, the Supreme Court turned down a bid by the church to handle the case in arbitration.
Aug. 3, 2:50 pm PST Updated with a reply from the Church of Scientology.
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