Leah Remini, a former Church of Scientology member who is suing the church for defamation, says in new court papers that church member Tom Cruise holds special standing with the faith’s leader, David Miscavige.
“Cruise, David Miscavige’s best friend, is essentially second in command in Scientology, the actress says in a sworn declaration filed Friday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Randolph M. Hammock. “It is a high crime in Scientology to criticize him in any way.”
Remini says she and her husband attended the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes wedding in Italy in November, 2006, and that she wondered why Shelly Miscavige, the church leader’s wife, was not present.
“When I asked a group of Scientology executives and Tom Cruise’s personal handlers … `Where is Shelly?,’ I was immediately admonished by the group, despite the fact that Ms. Miscavige and I were good friends,” Remini further says.
Two years earlier, Miscavige told an audience of Scientologists at a gala in England that Cruise was “the most dedicated Scientologist I know,” according to Remini, who adds that the Cruise-Holmes wedding was billed within Scientology as “the wedding of the century.”
According to Wikipedia, Shelly Miscavige was last seen in public in August, 2007, and since her disappearance, “she has been the subject of speculation and inquiries regarding her whereabouts and wellbeing.” Church attorneys have responded, according to the site, that she has been living a private life devoted to the church.
The actress’ 32-page declaration was filed as part of her opposition to the church’s motion for an anti-SLAAP suit that represents the faith’s defense of the majority of claims in Remini’s amended civil harassment/defamation complaint. Remini maintains that intimidation of her increased after she first sued the church this summer.
An anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) motion reflects a law intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
Church lawyers state in their court papers that they determined that the vast majority of the allegations in the 68-page revised suit implicates the church’s constitutionally protected speech or activity.
“This lawsuit is nothing but an attempt by (Remini) to stop (the) Church of Scientology International and Religious Technology Center from responding to her hateful attacks with truthful speech,” the church lawyers state in their court papers.
Remini wants to impose liability on the church for stating opinions about Remini’s “hateful conduct,” the church attorneys further maintain.
But according to the actress, after leaving the church in 2013 and continuing to this day, Miscavige and others have leveled “a coordinated and malicious assault against me as part of their policies.”
As a Scientologist, Remini was forbidden from reporting crimes to police or file missing persons reports, but after her days with the faith were over, she recalled that Shelly Miscavige was not present at the Cruise-Holmes wedding and so the actress filed a missing person report, according to Remini.
Dozens of Scientologists were tasked with videotaping messages in Scientology production studios to make disparaging and false claims against Remini, including that she was a racist and abusive of her mother and daughter, Remini says.
“To discredit my truthful public comments regarding (the church), defendants also used and manipulated my estranged and now deceased father, George Remini and his third wife, Dana, to make false statements about me, including that I am a liar, that I only wanted my name in the news, that I would not help to pay for his cancer treatments, that I turned my back on my half-sister when she was in the hospital, that I ransacked my dying grandmother’s apartment and that I have no morals,” Remini further says.
Remini says she did not turn her back on her father nor refuse to help him pay for his cancer treatments.
“Scientology knows it is false because I told them,” Remini says. “I communicated to Scientology how difficult my relationship was with my father and that I continually wanted to reestablish a relationship with him and provide support to him.”
In 2015, Remini released her book, “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology,” which deals with her growing up in Brooklyn, New York, her career and her Scientology upbringing.
“In addition to physically following and harassing me during my book tour, defendants sent disparaging and threatening letters to third parties who were promoting my book, including … ABC News Senior Vice President Tom Cibrowski,” Remini says.
The church’s alleged harassment of Remini has touched every area of her life, she says.
“When someone new befriends me, I worry that they are a plant sent by Scientology to infiltrate my life,” Remini says. “When I am driving and notice a car behind me, I worry that it is Scientology (member) following me again. When my phone calls drop, I worry that Scientology is tapping my phone. When someone knocks on my door, my first thought is that it is a Scientology operative.”
Remini says that when her daughter, who is currently away in college, calls and says she met someone new, Remini reminds her that it could be a “Scientology plant” trying to get close to her.
“I hate that I have to teach her to live in fear,” Remini says.
A hearing by Hammock on the church’s anti-SLAPP motion is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Remini’s original suit was brought Aug. 2 and included allegations of civil harassment, stalking, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation. Miscavige is a co-defendant in both the first suit and the updated complaint brought Aug. 29.
“In the short period of time since Ms. Remini’s complaint was filed, Ms. Remini and others have been subject to continued, aggressive harassment,” according to the amended suit, which cites as an example a Scientology statement maintaining that the actress’ remarks had “generated threats of and actual violence against the church and its members” and suggesting that she consider moving to Russia.
“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 said in a previous statement. “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 53-year-old “The King of Queens” star released the book “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology” in 2015, and hosted the A&E documentary series “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” from 2016-19.
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