Leah Remini was one of the most high-profile members of the Church of Scientology for more than 30 years after being brought into the religion as a child.
However, in 2013, the actor left the church, later telling BuzzFeed that the decision was made in her daughter’s best interest.
In the decade since her highly publicized exit, Leah has openly criticized the religion and its members, particularly in her 2015 book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, and Emmy-winning docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
And now, she’s taking her battle to court, announcing on Wednesday that she’s filed a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige, following “17 years of harassment, intimidation, surveillance and defamation.”
According to a press release, Leah filed the suit in “an attempt to end what she alleges are mob-style operations and attacks on her and other alleged victims and survivors of the Church of Scientology and their advocates.”
“The lawsuit seeks to require Scientology, and any entity it controls and funds, to cease and desist its alleged practice of harassment, defamation, and other unlawful conduct against anyone who Scientology has labeled as an ‘enemy’,” the press release states.
Per USA Today, Leah alleges in the complaint that while she was in New York promoting her memoir in 2015, she was followed by private investigators hired by the church, which caused her to “fear for her physical safety.”
She also claims that individuals sent by the church damaged her personal property and made false, public claims about her, which impacted her business opportunities and led to “significant and ongoing economic harm.”
The filing alleges that she was “stalked, surveilled, harassed, threatened, intimidated, and, moreover, has been the victim of intentional malicious and fraudulent rumors via hundreds of Scientology-controlled and -coordinated social media accounts that exist solely to intimidate and spread misinformation.”
In a statement announcing the legal action, Leah claimed that she is one of “thousands” of people who’ve been targeted by the church, and now hopes to put this to an end.
“While advocating for victims of Scientology has significantly impacted my life and career, Scientology’s final objective of silencing me has not been achieved,” she wrote.
“While this lawsuit is about what Scientology has done to me, I am one of thousands of targets of Scientology over the past seven decades,” she continued. “People who share what they’ve experienced in Scientology, and those who tell their stories and advocate for them, should be free to do so without fearing retaliation from a cult with tax exemption and billions in assets.”
The Church of Scientology has not responded to the lawsuit, though it has previously condemned Leah’s criticism of the religion since her departure.
“It is Remini who is the attacker. Her whole anti-Scientology shtick was scripted and choreographed by her, casting herself in her drama as the ‘victim’ so she could cash in on her false narrative while savaging her friends and those who helped her most of her life,” a spokesperson told People in 2017.
Leah is reportedly seeking compensatory and punitive damages “for the enormous economic and psychological harm” that the church has caused her, and for the aforementioned “disruption of contractual relationships and lost business opportunities.”
“With this lawsuit, I hope to protect the rights afforded to them and me by the Constitution of the United States to speak the truth and report the facts about Scientology without fear of vicious and vindictive retribution, of which most have no way to fight back,” she wrote.
