Actress Leah Remini claims the Church of Scientology subjected her to decades of psychological manipulation while with the organization then hunted and harassed her once she left, according to a new court filing.
The former “King of Queens” star said he paid the band more than $5 million for “thousands” of hours of practice sessions before his 2013 exit.
“Defendants have waged a campaign to silence, damage and destroy my life, career, reputation and livelihood as directed by them,” alleges the filing, which was first reported by Tony Ortega of The Underground Bunker.
The organization has opposed Remini’s claims, calling her legal attack “pure madness” aimed at reviving her acting career.
Remini said, he started getting involved with the group when he was 13 years old after his mother became a member of Science.
As part of her training to advance in Scientology, she said older male members of the organization subjected her to “cow baiting” sessions where she was verbally abused, according to the filing.
Remini claims she was subjected to manipulation by the group. Instagram
An unnamed man “screamed profanities at me, made sexually suggestive remarks at me, and verbally abused me for hours in an attempt to oblige me not to respond to the abuse,” Remini’s filing alleges.
Remini stated that he had been a representative of the group because of his career success, and he willingly sang its praises to attract new recruits.
“I have been praised by David Miscavige, Tom Cruise, and by people who later attacked me in Scientology-produced videos,” the filing said.
The 33-page declaration was submitted as part of Remini’s opposition to a legal push by the church to have the defamation suit he filed against them thrown out.
Remini first became a Scientologist in her teens after her mother joined. FilmMagic
Scientology lawyers have accused Remini of trying to undermine their defense.
“This lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt by (Remini) to prevent (the Church of Scientology’s International Technology and Religious Center from responding to his hateful attacks with truthful speech,” they said in court papers.
Remini left the church in 2013 and became one of its most prominent critics, even producing the TV show “Scientology and the Aftermath” that aimed to expose the inner workings of the secretive organization, founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
After beginning his journey to expose Scientology, he claims the church responded to him in several ways.
Remini insisted the group also asked her father to make accusations against her after she left.
In a taped interview, the late George Remini and his wife Dana accused the actor of being a liar and, according to his filing, “that I just want my name in the news, that I’m not going to help pay for his cancer treatment, that I turned my back on my half-sister when she was in the hospital, that I ransacked my dying grandmother’s apartment, and I had no morals.”
Remini has denied all the accusations, insisting the church took advantage of his estrangement from his father to cast him in a negative light.
Remini starred in “The Kind of Queens” for nearly a decade. Getty Images
The latest filing also asserts the organization falsely accused Remini and the producers of his documentary series, which airs on the A&E network, of inciting the killing of Taiwanese gang members.
In an August statement about its initial lawsuit, the group accused Remini of waging an anti-Scientology crusade for his own financial gain.
“The Church is undaunted by Remini’s latest act of blatantly harassing and trying to stifle honest freedom of expression,” the statement said. “If Remini doesn’t believe in free speech, then he should consider immigrating to Russia.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
