Leah Remini Applauds Scientology Exposé

Leah Remini wants to make her thoughts on Scientology perfectly clear. And the former King of Queens actress did just that on the day the controversial Scientology documentary, Going Clear, premiered on HBO, by showing support for the film on social media. Leah Remini applauded the Scientology doc filmmakers via her Twitter page, calling them "brave." She tweeted,

Thank you to the brave who did something about it. And to those who didn't have a voice, you do now. #GoingClear

As for the church itself, it released the following statement giving its official opinion of the film,

The accusations made in the film are entirely false and alleged without ever asking the Church.

Remini, who is a former Scientologist, is well known for leaving the Church of Scientology in 2013, according to Us Weekly, around the time when her daughter Sofia was approaching the age when children in the church begin the auditing process. (Scientology.org describes auditing as a process that "deletes life’s painful experiences and addresses and improves one’s ability to confront and handle the factors in his life.") Remini says she quit the church for the sake of her daughter. Now, the church is in the news again because of Going Clear, which includes several damning allegations about how the religion controls its members, its most famous of whom include John Travolta and Tom Cruise.

According to the Daily Mail, some of the allegations made in the film include the church keeping a "blackmail file" on Travolta from auditing sessions, instructing Cruise to wire tap former wife Nicole Kidman's phone, and even forcing some other members to complete 30 hours of hard labor in a "prison-style camps." While Remini is right to say that it is "brave" for people to speak out and have the opportunity to let their voices be heard about their experiences, it cannot be ignored that Remini is quite brave for even saying this in the first place.

As we all know, anything that mentions Scientology is bound to be controversial. The church has long been the subject of skepticism and up-close examination, even back in the 1970s. These exposés have been covered by many prestigious publications, including The New York Times and Rolling Stone, which have printed allegations surrounding financial mismanagement to near-slavery conditions of the members. Despite the hard-hitting accusations, the church has a reputation for denying just about every claim thrown its way. The church has also publicly battled against Remini, calling some of her concerns "unnecessary" — such as the whereabouts of the church leader's wife, who hasn't been seen in public since 2007.

It goes without saying that it would be the easy thing for Remini to just sit back and relax as the filmmakers took heat from the church for their documentary. After all, she was not the one who made the film. Plus, she is no longer even a Scientologist. But as she has shown before, sometimes the easy thing is not always the most effective. Thus, it is worth applauding her for continuing to speak up, when it would have been easy for Remini to stay silent during this time, but it seems she's still refusing to be silenced.

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