Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology

Leah Remini · Rebecca Paley

Nov 2015 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An eye-opening, no-holds-barred memoir about life in the Church of Scientology, now with a new afterword by the author—the outspoken actress and star of the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath

Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost.

That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices.

Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology’s causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she’d worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology’s most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.

But when she began to raise questions about some of the church’s actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a “Suppressive Person,” and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever.

Bold, brash, and bravely confessional, Troublemaker chronicles Leah Remini’s remarkable journey toward emotional and spiritual freedom, both for herself and for her family. This is a memoir designed to reveal the hard-won truths of a life lived honestly—from an author unafraid of the consequences.

Praise for Troublemaker

“An aggressively honest memoir . . . Troublemaker is the most raw and revealing Scientology memoir to date.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Leah’s story is a juicy, inside-Hollywood read, but it’s more than that. It’s a moving story about the value of questioning authority and how one woman survived a profound crisis of faith.”—People

Ratings and reviews

This was a good read. I like Leah Remini as an actress, and it was very interesting and sad to read about her life in scientology. My first thought, like many other people, was 'why didn't she just leave? How can she not see the bad happening right before her eyes?' When a person is being brainwashed or have gaslighting done to them, it is very hard to see how someone else is controlling your own thoughts and actions. Gaslighting and brainwashing are powerful things to have done to a person. You believe that what the 'leader' is doing or saying is the right thing to do, and any other way would be horrible.

Not to say that the people Leah hates in her work, is Jesus Christ or God, but everyone here, who agrees with her, since she is well known, everyone who loves her work, sounds exactly just like the priests and Romans did on the time they all tortured and crucified Jesus Christ from the films Son of God Passion of the Christ. She probably thinks everyone who agrees with her, is blind, & deaf, to their own honesty. Nobody ever questioned her by finding out for themselves how the real truth could really make their lives happier & better, by studying the data from the real thing she despises so much, to see if it was actually true to only them and no one else. There is always two sides to every story. How would anyone like it, if they were treated so badly for believing in Jesus, & they get murdered for that belief today? Why not go to the real source and find out the real truth for only you? Seriously, Leah & her friends, they all use fake news to promote fake news, which got a man killed

I'll never understand Scientology as a 'religion.' To me, the principles and tenets behind it seem more like a self-help cult like business enterprise of sorts. It's not something that I could subscribe to, but I believe every word she says. It takes someone with a whole lotta moxie to come out and tell the world the truth about a very controversial religion. This was a great book, and I came away with a newfound respect for Leah....She definitely has a huge heart, an honest soul and a huge set of ba**s.

About the author

Leah Remini is an actor, producer, and writer. A fixture on television since the age of eighteen, Remini is best known for her beloved role of Carrie on the nine-season hit The King of Queens. Remini went on to produce and star in one of the earliest and most successful comedic web series, In the Motherhood, and appeared in the movie Old School alongside Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn. In 2010, Remini helped launch and co-hosted the first season of the CBS daytime hit show The Talk, and in 2013 she was seen on the dance floor in Dancing with the Stars. She currently co-stars in the TV Land comedy The Exes and TLC’s reality show Leah Remini: It’s All Relative, which she also created and executive produces. Remini finds great joy in her philanthropic work with numerous and diverse military, women’s, and children’s charities. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.