Leah Remini 'wasn't authentic'

3 November 2018

Leah Remini had to present herself as a "perfect person" to try and persuade her friends to join the church of Scientology.

Leah Remini

The 48-year-old actress was raised in the controversial religion but left and became an outspoken critic in 2013 and she has admitted she could never be truly "authentic" with people because of the image she had to present.

Speaking to Jada Pinkett Smith on an upcoming episode of 'Red Table Talk', she said: "Regardless of what was being presented to you, from me as a friend, you were seeing a side of me that wasn't 100 percent authentic because my job was to always be a perfect person in front of you, or any celebrity, to solely get you into Scientology, fully indoctrinated, fully on board and deserting any other beliefs."

Leah's appearance on the show came after she and Jada ended a feud which began when she claimed the 'Girl's Trip' actress was a Scientologist last September.

The 47-year-old actress admitted she was grateful that the 'Old School' actress was the bigger person and "reached out" to resolve their differences.

She said: "It was really beautiful and she reached out to me. She was much more bigger than me in that way. It was nice to reconnect and release ourselves from all that nonsense that doesn't matter...

"What was really emotional about it was realising that there was two broken little girls in us that were abandoned by their fathers and turned into fighters who clashed."

And Jada - who has 20-year-old son Jaden and 17-year-old daughter Willow with husband Will Smith - learned a lot from Leah after sitting down with her to learn her story.

She said: "You have to treat people with kindness because you don't know what they're going through.

"When she told me her story, I had so much more compassion and it reiterated the necessity to just be gentle and kind because we're all f***ing devastated."

The 'Bad Moms' star rubbished claims she was a Scientologist on Twitter last year after Leah alleged she had seen her at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles on many occasions.