‘Harassment, intimidation, surveillance and defamation’: Leah Remini files lawsuit against Church of Scientology and its leader

Leah Remini has filed a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader David Miscavige – accusing them of stalking, harassment and emotional distress.

The King of Queens actress, 53, announced on Twitter on Wednesday (Aug 2) she had submitted the action after 17 years of alleged “harassment, intimidation, surveillance, and defamation” by the institution, which she left in 2013 after decades of membership, and has spent the years since campaigning against it.

She said in a long statement on her social media account: “While advocating for victims of Scientology has significantly impacted my life and career, Scientology’s final objective of silencing me has not been achieved.

“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.”

The actress hosted a documentary series called Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath from 2016 to 2019, in which she highlighted the stories of those who left the church and were allegedly ostracised from their loved ones and harassed by the church as a result of quitting.

She added in her tweet people who “share what they’ve experienced in Scientology” and those who support them “should be free to do so without fearing retaliation from a cult with tax exemption and billions in assets”.

Leah added: “Children, mothers, fathers, aunts, and uncles have a right to request welfare checks on their family members without fear of an operation activated against them by Scientology for doing so.”

She concluded her post: “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.”

The lawsuit, filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court and obtained by Page Six, shows Leah says the Church of Scientology “stalked, surveilled, harassed, threatened, intimidated” her.

She adds in the papers it allegedly created “intentional malicious and fraudulent rumours” about her “via hundreds of Scientology-controlled and -coordinated social media accounts” that she said existed “solely to intimidate and spread misinformation”.

The actress added her family members, friends and colleagues allegedly have also been “incessantly harassed, threatened, intimidated, and embarrassed”.

Leah hated the fact Scientology followers were forced to “disconnect” from family members.

She said about her departure from it in 2013: “I believe that people should be able to question things. I believe that people should value family, and value friendships, and hold those things sacrosanct.

“That for me, that’s what I’m about. It wouldn’t matter what it was, simply because no one is going to tell me how I need to think, no one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to.”

In 2018, the actress alleged the church was sending her death threats because they “try to destroy our lives”.