Leah Remini rose to fame as a no-nonsense, straight talking character on the terrible CBS sitcom King of Queens.
And, based on her latest comments about Tom Cruise, it doesn’t sound as though this woman was a stretch for Remini to portray.
The actress, who will reunite with Kevin James this fall as a series regular on Kevin Can Wait, sat down this week for a Reddit AMA.
Asked at one point whether Cruise is a good person, Remini did not hold any opinion back.
“No! Just going to get straight to it, no!” she replied, expounding as follows:
“There is a public persona of the guy who looks at you directly in the eye and shakes your hand and hugs you and is an attentive person to you and there’s the person behind the mask who is a completely different person.”
In what way, exactly?
Remini tried to explain.
“Someone could say we all have that – what we are to the public and who we are behind the scenes,” she said.
“But the people who are around Tom and work for Tom, not even people who are Scientologists, they will say he is diaboloical [sic].”
Remini, of course, has become as famous at this point for her connection to the Church of Scientology as she is for her career.
An ex member of that religious organization (for which Cruise is essentially a spokesman), Remini has broken free from the alleged cult and spoken out against it.
Frequently and passionately.
She said late last year, for example, that Scientology is full of rape and forced abortions.
The star made these stunning accusations as part of the A&E series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
In this AMA, Remini noted that some folks she has worked with in the past might say she “can be an asshole,” yet claimed it’s a different story for Cruise who is one of the most high-profile members of the Church of Scientology.
Probably the most high profile.
“He’s very similar to David Miscavige, they could be twins,” she wrote, referencing the organization’s leader.
A new season of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath is on the way, one in which the host will once again delve into the dangers of her former religion.
She’s talked previously about the child abuse and sexual harassment that takes place within in.
“Tom and most Scientologists, all Scientologists, are taught to believe that people like me are literally the devil, that we mean them harm,” she told Larry King in December 2016 prior to claiming that the church is “defrauding people out of their lives.”
In regard to her assessment of Cruise, the Church of Scientology said via statement to Us Weekly:
“Leah Remini has been obsessed with the leader of the Scientology religion and with Mr. Cruise for years, ever since she made a scene at Mr. Cruise’s wedding when she couldn’t get the seat she wanted.
“Remini is only commenting on these two prominent individuals to generate media coverage for herself and her hate campaign.
“Remini is bent on inciting hate and bigotry against a worldwide religion and its parishioners and she will stop at nothing to grab attention.”