Leah Remini was a member of the Church of Scientology, the controversial “religion” and started by L. Ron Hubbard, for over thirty years. But Remini had little choice in the matter, as she told Oprah in this Where Are They Now? video below.

“My mother was in Scientology my whole life. Most people don’t know that we were raised in it — I didn’t decide to get into it.I was brought into it by my mom.

I don’t think people know the amount of dedication it takes to be in this organization. I mean, it was every day, three-and-a-half hours minimum, seven days a week.

I’m working most of my time, and then the other time was spent at the church. So, minimal time is really spent with your family.

I was on course one day. I was at one of these hotels in Florida, and I saw my daughter swimming for the first time, while I’m… reading this thing. A tear came down my face, I was like, ‘What am I doing?’ The moment hit me that I was now doing the same thing to my daughter that my mother [had conveyed] to me, that what she was doing was more important.”

In July of 2013, Remini and her family left Scientology:

“It’s not just something you get over. It’s people and a lifestyle you’ve known all your life. It formed who I am, good and bad; it formed the way I think, good and bad. So, there’s a lot of pain connected to it… It’s still coming to me.

I saw my goddaughter in the street and my instinct was to run to her. Her mom turned her back to me.

I’m learning there’s a new world out here. There shouldn’t be any kind of judgment towards somebody who has a belief system that is not yours.”

OK, no judgement but we’ve seen what Scientology does and there’s obviously more to Leah’s story. She’s gotta be careful, as we learned in the HBO doc, Going Clear, because Scientology does retaliate against ex-members speaking out. But she has some powerful Hollywood pals like BFF JLo, so we’ll just see if they come for her. (Photo, Pacific Coast News; via Huffington Post)