Not backing down. Leah Remini claimed that Scientology got in the way of Tom Cruise‘s marriage to Katie Holmes, weeks after slamming the actor’s “good guy” image.
“Scientology considers Katie a suppressive person which is an enemy,” Remini, 50, told the New York Post on Wednesday, August 12. “I knew Katie when she was in [Scientology] and she seemed very indoctrinated into Tom’s world, but as time went on, I understood why she did what she did to protect her daughter.”
Holmes, 41, and the Top Gun star, 58, were married from 2006 to 2012 and share a 14-year-old daughter. Earlier this year, the Dawson’s Creek alum reflected on the “intense” adjustment to becoming a single mother following her divorce.
“It was a lot of attention, and I had a little child on top of it,” she told InStyle in her April 2020 cover story, adding that there were several moments where she “actually cried” from being so overwhelmed.
Remini, who left the Church of Scientology behind in 2013, told the New York Post that she was “really proud” of Holmes for taking a stand against a situation that could have become “very toxic and dangerous” for her family. Two weeks earlier, the King of Queens alum put Cruise on blast for the “manipulated” image that he’s developed through his association with the organization.
“I think it’s time for people to start waking up to the real facts here. Tom has for years manipulated his image to be the good guy,” she said in a statement to Us Weekly on July 27. “Although I believe there was a time when Tom was a decent and kindhearted person, he has morphed himself into David Miscavige [leader of Scientology] and is completely dedicated to Scientology’s mission to ‘clear’ planet Earth — which means making 80 percent of the world’s population into Scientologists.”
The New York native has been outspoken against the Church of Scientology since her departure, even creating an Emmy-winning series, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, to expose some of the organization’s alleged scandals. In July 2019, Us confirmed that Remini was “considering taking legal action” against the Church after claiming that she had been “spied on and followed” by its members. (A spokesperson for the Church of Scientology denied Remini’s accusations at the time.)
While speaking to the Daily Beast in July, the former Kevin Can Wait actress doubled down on her critiques of Cruise, asserting that his actions aren’t “consistent” with the positive persona he presents to the public.
“Tom has gotten away with being this ‘nice guy,’ because that’s what Scientology policy says — to create good PR in the world and make those ‘good actions’ known,” she said at the time. “That this guy can be running around and having people think he’s this super-nice guy, I don’t get it. But that’s the Hollywood bulls–t game people play.”
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