Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology

by Leah Remini

The big mistake I made, however, was in trying to change the system instead of just changing myself. I didn’t need to fight the machine, make it wrong in order to prove myself right. If Scientologists are happy in the church, I say God bless.

Although none of the people that night at the book signing had been involved in Scientology, many of them expressed a common refrain, a personal connection to my story. While signing their books I heard about their abusive relationships, drug problems, failed career dreams, and more. Many of them had similar heartbreaking tales of being turned away and shunned. All because they left something or someone they knew to be toxic. And they left not because they had an ax to grind, as the church or other controlling organizations or individuals would have their members believe, but because they eventually saw the truth. There was something in my book that not only resonated with these people, but also gave them strength. If a woman could leave a cult she’d been in her entire life, they said, maybe they could make a change too.