Earlier this week, Leah Remini opened up about why she left the Church of Scientology in the sort of scathing interview that’s now common amongst CoS defectors.
Today, new excerpts from Remini’s memoir were released, and they offer even more shocking details about the actress’ involvement with America’s most controversial religious organization.
In the book – entitled Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology – Remini recalls being forced to do hard labor starting at age 13.
She says she and dozens of other children would put in 12 hour days “pulling up tree roots with our bare hands, working heavy machinery [and] cleaning bathrooms and hotel rooms.”
Remini claims the children were barely fed and only received $ 15 a week for their work. She says she often got so hungry that she would steal food from the hotel rooms she was cleaning.
She adds that church officials thought nothing of making crude sexual remarks to the children, and that one high-ranking elder remarked to her 13-year-old sister, “You have big t-ts for such a young girl.”
Remini also says she was once forced to “physically act out the sexual policy” of the church by “rubbing together” items found in an office.
Even more shocking is Remini’s claim that infants with Scientologist parents are often abused and neglected by members of the church who are supposed to be looking after them:
“[One room] was filled with cribs of crying, neglected babies, flies, and the smell of dirty diapers,” she writes. “The only ventilation came from a huge fan by the window. The neglect was overwhelming.”
Remini has confirmed claims that Tom Cruise has been brainwashed by Scientology and that church members are forbidden to speak ill of the actor.
Though Cruise is the church’s most famous member, Remini says so many Hollywood bigwigs are devout Scientologists that she believed coming out against the faith would mean the end of her career.
