Paul Haggis, ex-Scientologist, wrote an essay about Leah Remini being awesome

Leah Remini split from the Church of Scientology a few months ago, and we’ve only known about it for a few weeks. But it’s been a wild few weeks! Apparently, the whole situation began years ago when Leah asked (innocently) about the whereabouts of David Miscavige’s wife Shelly. Everything escalated from there. After that, Leah openly questioned Miscavige’s dictates, and openly disagreed with CoS’s long-standing tradition of “disconnecting” from former Scientologists. Leah confirmed as much last week, making only her second public statement about the situation, basically making it sound like CoS was already threatening her family.

Enter Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis. Haggis left CoS several years ago, and he basically wrote a Dear John (Dear Xenu? Dear Shelly? Dear Tommy?) open letter in which he called out Miscavige and all of the powerful people in the church. Since then, Haggis pops up now and then to chime in about CoS-related stories – he ended up confirming some interesting details about Vanity Fair’s Tom Cruise story last year too. Anyway, it turns out that Paul and Leah were (and are) friends. And he wrote another open letter/essay thing about everything that’s going down:

I didn’t say anything at the time for a number of reasons. I am in Europe and have been working here for the last year and a half, and, disregarding a few friendly e-mails and a couple of tweets, Leah and I haven’t spoken in quite a while. What I knew about Leah is that she was one of two Scientologists who had refused to “disconnect” from me and certainly the only high-profile one when I decided to quit the organization in August 2009. I also thought any comment would be premature and self-serving.

Leah and I were always friendly but never close friends. Despite this, she called me as soon as she heard about my letter of resignation. Unlike the rest of my former friends, she expressed real sadness that I was leaving and concern for me and my family. A few months later, we ran into each other at a school fair. I kept my distance for fear of putting her in an awkward position, but Leah had no such fear. She walked up, asked me why I was being weird and told me she would always be my friend and would never “disconnect” from me. Then she dragged me over and introduced me to her family. Soon after that, I moved to New York, and our paths just didn’t cross, but I was deeply touched by her gesture and genuine concern.

So all I could have said at the time was that, whether it was true Leah had resigned, she had always been a class act and a lovely human being — but that wasn’t news. Millions of people know that; her character shines through everything she does.

In the last few days, I read some things that really disturbed me. First was the way Leah was being attacked by her celebrity “friends,” who were disparaging her character. [Editor’s note: After actress Kirstie Alley tweeted “the sweetest poison is often served with a smile,” it was widely interpreted as referring to Remini. Alley vigorously has denied that and says she does not criticize anyone’s religious beliefs.] Having witnessed Scientology’s smear tactics, I can imagine how this was being orchestrated, but I was still shocked to see how quickly those friends — some of whom had known Leah for 20 or 30 years — jumped on the “malign Leah” campaign, and with such apparent glee. I assumed Scientology’s next step would be to try and plant disparaging stories about her with less-informed journalists and bloggers. And if others who have made noisy exits from the church are to be believed, Scientology would also use their Office of Special Affairs employees to attack Leah indirectly, posting negative comments about her shows and career and abilities under myriad false names, pretending to be disappointed fans or whatever. None of that is new.

What was new to me was the report that Leah had run afoul of the church by challenging Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, who is held to be infallible. When I was leaving and was visited by waves of angry friends and a phalange of top Scientology executives, trying to convince me to tear up my letter and resign quietly, I made a similar mistake by insisting they look into the charges of abuse detailed by the Tampa Bay Times. I was working on a film about Martin Luther King Jr. at that moment and made the polite suggestion that even great leaders like Dr. King were human and fallible. Two of the senior church leaders leapt to their feet and shouted at me, “How dare you compare a great man like David Miscavige to Martin Luther King!” I ended the meeting at that point, thanking them for coming.

According to what I read on Tony Ortega’s blog, at the 2006 wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Leah asked questions about her longtime friend Shelly, David Miscavige’s wife, who had suddenly disappeared. [Editor’s note: An attorney for Shelly Miscavige told Us Weekly in 2012: “She is not missing. Any reports that she is missing are false. Mrs. Miscavige has been working nonstop in the church, as she always has.”] Unlike her pious friends, Leah refused to accept the easy excuses that were offered. She kept asking questions.

The next thing I learned made me feel terrible. Leah got in trouble because of me, because when I was “declared” a “Suppressive Person” and shunned, she came to my defense — without me ever knowing it. She had shouting matches with Tommy Davis, then the church spokesman, who had come to try and keep her quiet. The fact that she fought within the system so resolutely for so long, never making her feelings public, is a testament to how much she believed in the basic goodness of her friends and the institution. Finally, according to what I read, she was turned in by a celebrity friend who had noticed one of our few innocuous tweets.

I can’t express how much I admire Leah. Her parents, family and close friends were almost all Scientologists; the stakes for her were so much higher than for me. Her decision to leave was so much braver.

Having been consumed with my movie, I only learned much of what I have written here in the last few days. I also have to confess to not paying that much attention to news about Scientology. In this case, I should have. I finally called Leah during the last week of July. Her answering service didn’t recognize my number, so it took a while to get through. It was good to hear her voice and great to hear her laugh — though it was easy to tell she had been terribly hurt and shaken by the events of the last weeks. That said, Leah is an incredibly strong woman and will get through this with the help of her family and her true friends. She is kind and generous and loyal; she has always cared more about others than herself. She barely knew me, and yet she fought for me and my family, a battle she had to know in her gut she was never going to win. That takes an enormous amount of integrity and compassion. I will leave it to you to decide if the same can be said of Scientology’s executives and Leah’s many former friends — especially those Scientologists who are watching her be smeared now and are choosing to stay silent.

I will forever be grateful to her.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Aw, that’s nice. I mean, it’s nice to know that Haggis has learned (retroactively) what Leah was doing on his behalf and how she was standing up to CoS leaders. This makes me like Leah so much. Also: CoS is such a freakshow. I’m worried for Leah too. But surely she’s so high-profile, CoS can’t do anything to her, right? RIGHT?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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31 Responses to “Paul Haggis, ex-Scientologist, wrote an essay about Leah Remini being awesome”

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  1. Aud says:

    It is a huge step to take. I admire her for taking this on and making that break.
    Many people aren’t so successful. Right now I’m reading a tome of a book about the Reverend Jim Jones and there are instances where some of his followers do try to leave, but they are so psychologically battered that they struggle to make the break because the cult leader at the top has, through various stages, made the followers so dependent on the religion/cult and they cannot imagine or contemplate a life apart from the cult and this is usually due to the attachment of other family members – which is an element that all cult leaders rely on and use, to control their ‘flock’. One lamb goes awol, and the family is left in the cult and manipulated by the leader in order to attract the errant follower back and sometimes this can be successful, especially with people who perceive themselves as having fewer opportunities to live on their own or work.
    Hopefully she doesn’t feel that way and has a good non-Scientology network that can support her through this transition.

  2. FLORC says:

    That made me cry a bit. Leah should real courage to walk away from COS risking the loss of possibly everyone in her life. I like her so much now!

    COS is a sinking ship. If they attack Leah now it would be too high profile and would hurt them in their weakened state. Unless, they’re so blind with power they attack her anyways. She won’t be making any films with Johnny, Tommy, or Kristie, but she’ll do just fine.

  3. Launicaangelina says:

    So I have always liked Leah. The first time I remember seeing her was on Saved by the Bell and she always seemed like a down to Earth person outside of her acting gig. I really admire her now. It’s hard to grow up indoctrinated in this f–cked up way of thinking/living, especially knowing it’s a way of life in a large portion of her family. She amazing for what she’s doing and I’m glad other people are backing her up so publicly. This dangerous cult has to be stopped! It’s been a long time coming.

  4. Noreen says:

    I don’t know much of her and I have never seen anything she’s been in (literally nothing, ever) but I SO MUCH love her for what she’s doing–exposing Scientology and actively calling them out.

  5. insomniac says:

    I never really had an opinion on her before the last couple of weeks, but Leah Remini is indeed awesome. Paul Haggis is pretty awesome too.

  6. Jay says:

    She may be high profile, but I fear they are patient and not one to let go of a grudge.

    • Kiddo says:

      After this exposure, it will only look like sour grapes. The genie is out of the bottle, so to speak. Stepping out in front of it, and describing the methods of intimidation to come, is like a salve for the sting.

  7. Jade says:

    “Leah got in trouble because of me, because when I was “declared” a “Suppressive Person” and shunned, she came to my defense — without me ever knowing it.”

    I’ve never known her for anything else aside from her sitcom and her Scientology background but the above quote just shows she is an amazing person and great friend. I wish her and her family all the best.

  8. Samtha says:

    Wow. It took a lot of courage for her to stand up for him like that when it would have been so much easier for her to say nothing at all.

    And for a “friend” to turn her in because of tweets! That’s twisted.

    I’m still wtfing over the Martin Luther King Jr. incident.

  9. Emily C. says:

    The CoS has been stepping up attacks on long-term critics since Leah escaped the cult. Including stalking Claire and Marc Headley’s children when Marc’s out of town.

    http://tonyortega.org/2013/08/01/leah-remini-retaliation-suddenly-scientology-fair-gaming-of-critics-is-way-up/

    • Kiddo says:

      I didn’t read the article, but isn’t stalking a crime? What about a restraining order?

      • Emily C. says:

        That’s what lots of people are wondering about in the comments. I think the problem is, the CoS has very deep pockets (they’re tax-exempt after all), and so people don’t want the huge headache of going to court against them.

      • Kiddo says:

        I don’t think it takes a lot to go to court and get a restraining order. You don’t need an attorney for that. Call the cops on people following you, if there is a pattern. Right? Am I oversimplifying this? It sounds like I am.

      • Bodhi says:

        “2 people in a van” isn’t really enough for cops to go on. Co$ uses different people & different vehicles specifically because it makes it hard to pin down exactly who is taking pictures, stalking, etc.

        Co$ is evil, but the folks who run it are very, very smart

      • Emily C. says:

        Yeah, I think that’s oversimplified, especially when it comes to the CoS, which is a hugely vexatious litigants with tons of wealth at its disposal. The Headleys are canny, and they know the CoS’s tactics inside out, having been subjected to them for basically their whole lives. They also have a lot of support. I think they’ll figure out what’s best to do.

    • Feebee says:

      Ew, the article is skin crawl material. I’m not keen on guns but that would be enough to make me want to investigate owing one. At the very least I’d be investing in a big camera and be doing some counter surveillance.

    • SusieQ2 says:

      This makes me so furious. Those beautiful, innocent kids.

      I doubt the cops will be much help to the Headleys – isn’t the LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, a Scion?

  10. truthful says:

    I’m so proud of her courage!

  11. Apsutter says:

    Leah is so awesome and sounds like a class act all the way. Paul Haggis is fighting the good fight and I applaud him for it.

  12. Jag says:

    Kudos to her. I hope she starts changing her driving route so that she won’t end up run off the road like some other (former) S’s or the ones who were investigating them. She deserves a long, happy life far from those people.

    • Kiddo says:

      Now that the NSA has access to every f*ing thing, it ought to be pretty easy to track plotting of these type of things. You would think.

  13. Charlotte says:

    Saying again, I always loved Leah and was bummed to discover she was a Co$ member. How wonderful to know she was and is such a fantastic person. Love and light, Leah. One more step in the downfall of the evil of Scientology.

  14. Nerd Alert says:

    That was really nice of Haggis. Rumor has it Co$ is stepping up the intimidation game ever since she left. I truly hope she doesn’t mysteriously die of poisoning by eating at the wrong restaurant or something like that.

  15. Sarah says:

    I have a confession to make. I liked Leah early on, going all the way back to the short-lived tv show that was introduced via “Who’s the Boss.” But then I found out she was in CoS and I figured she must be a lunatic. And not smart. And not nice. I assumed she was a bad person. Finding out an actor has CoS affiliations pretty much always ruins that actor for me.

    I was clearly wrong, having had no idea how much she spoke out within the “church” or that she outright rejected disconnection. Now I feel bad for having dismissed her as a creepy kook all these years.

    • dlsmith says:

      Sarah me too! I remember her from the same show spin-off from Who’s the Boss. Liked her, found out she was a Scientologist and then dismissed her as a loonie and refused to watch any of her shows or movies. It’s so nice to hear I was wrong. I also heard Lisa Marie Presley has quit COS as well.

  16. SusieQ2 says:

    That was such a wonderful thing for him to do. And it must be so comforting to Leah to see the massive support she has received from the public.

    But spare a thought for the ‘little’ people, the ones who are not in the public eye. Those critics, the likes of Tony Ortega, the wonderful Headleys and others who have recently been subjected to increased cult harassment.

    http://tonyortega.org/2013/08/01/leah-remini-retaliation-suddenly-scientology-fair-gaming-of-critics-is-way-up/

    (Copied from Emily C’s post above)

    If Miscavige can’t strike back at Leah, he moves on to the easier targets. Even children. Despicable.

    • lucy2 says:

      Yes – as hard as it is for Leah, she has money, an outside support system, and enough attention on her that they can’t really harm her (hopefully). But most of the people stuck in that dangerous cult do not have those things.

  17. LAK says:

    I love that Paul is stepping out in support of his friends, even if their friendship was more acquaintance than deep meaningful friendship.

    It’s really hard to leave an organisation of any kind. The transition is so much easier if other people who’ve gone through similar experiences speak up for you and also show you that there is a life outside the organisation.

  18. Debsagrrl says:

    I always liked her, she rings true,when so many of these Hollywood types are fake…