PHOTOSLeah Remini Blasts Church Of Scientology After Learning Her Estranged Dad Died
Sep. 23 2019, Published 3:22 p.m. ET
Leah Remini is a mix of emotions after learning secondhand that her estranged father passed away weeks ago. The King Of Queens actress blasted the church of Scientology for ruining their relationship, and shared a series of old pictures of her family that included a picture of her dad holding her as a baby. The shocking news, though they hadn’t spoken in years, left Leah, 49, beside herself.
Leah dedicated an emotional tribute to her father on Instagram on September 22. “On Friday, I received a message from my sister Nicole, who had been contacted by a stranger passing on his condolences for the passing of our father, George Anthony Remini. We had no idea that he had died a month ago,” she wrote.
The Second Act actress continued, “We weren’t aware that he had been sick leading up to his death. A funeral came and went and none of us knew anything about it. We were not able to say goodbye. He was not able to redeem himself, to ask for forgiveness for his failures and hurts, to become a better man to those of us who couldn’t help but love him. If you read my book, you’ll know my father and I had a difficult relationship, but I always forgave him with a daughter’s painfully endless love and hope,” Leah said.
“Regardless of his neglect and abuse, I had hoped to one day have some closure. I hoped for him to acknowledge who he had been and what he had done to us as his children. That alone would have been healing in its own way,” She revealed. “We never got that, yet I can’t help but grieve,” she lamented.
Leah explained how she was angry at the impact Scientology had on their relationship. “I am angry at myself for crying for someone who didn’t ever cry for me," she typed. "I am angry that I still wanted this man’s love, I’m angry that the last chapter in our relationship was dictated by Scientology. Scientology took my dad in as a pawn against me and likely robbed him of any last ounce of heart that might have been left in him. I’m angry that Scientology found his personal weak spots and got him on board not with their beliefs but with their smear campaign against me."
Despite the pain Leah felt from her father’s actions, she still had unconditional love for him. “That was his last presence in my life. Knowing my father, after taking the offer from Scientology to betray me, he wouldn’t have thought that he could ever come back from that in our relationship. If he thought that, though, he would have been wrong. I would have forgiven him as I always did,” she wrote.
She concluded her emotional post and stated that she always wanted to hear her father apologize and to know he loved both her and Nicole. “The little girls inside of my sisters and me will never forgive Scientology for taking away our last chance to have the one thing we always wanted from our father... And that was for him to say ‘I’m sorry and I loved you.’”
Leah left the Church of Scientology in 2013, and as been critical of its beliefs since.
