Leah Remini. Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock
Leah Remini is proudly furthering her training after leaving the Church of Scientology in 2013.
“Two years in the past, I had an eighth-grade training due to spending 35 years in a cult,” the King of Queens alum wrote by way of Instagram on Friday, June 2. “And now, at age 52, I’ve efficiently completed my second yr at NYU.”
Remini — who has lengthy been outspoken towards the church and its controversial teachings — added: “Enterprise this academic journey has been one of the vital troublesome experiences of my life. There have been days the place I’ve considered giving up. Whereas I’m nonetheless not completed, I’m so glad I made a decision to dive in.”
She concluded the put up with a hopeful message to her 3.6 million followers: “In case you have the will and the capability, please do not forget that it’s by no means too late to begin once more.”
The 2-time Emmy winner’s celeb buddies have been fast to congratulate her within the feedback.
“Love you, babycakes,” Chelsea Handler wrote. “Pleased with u all the time,” shared Rosie O’Donnell.
The previous Scientology and the Aftermath host beforehand claimed the church stifled her training after eighth grade.
“Scientologists are taught that children are not any totally different from adults. So from a really younger age I used to be held accountable like an grownup and repeatedly informed that something unhealthy that occurred in my life, even issues that I wasn’t answerable for, was my fault,” Remini wrote in a prolonged Twitter thread she shared in January 2022. “Regardless that I used to be simply 16 on the time, I hadn’t acquired any type of formal training for years. As a substitute, I had been working for years in order that I may assist myself and my household. For the final 38 years of my life, I’ve been residing and dealing with an eighth grade training.”
The Exes alum continued: “L. Ron Hubbard, the founding father of Scientology, had a deep disdain for standard training and since all the pieces in Scientology is guided immediately by his insurance policies, with no room for interpretation, my training was interrupted.”
Although Remini was a teen on the time, she broke into appearing with the intention to assist save her household from monetary smash — and to be appeared upon favorably within the Scientology group.
“I noticed a profitable appearing profession as a salvation. It could assist me get my household out of poverty and provides me a better standing in Scientology which I actually believed was serving to to avoid wasting mankind,” she tweeted. “On the time, we have been residing in squalor with no furnishings. Each spare cent we had went to Scientology for obligatory programs, periods, and coverings. I used to be decided to get my household into higher circumstances.”
Reflecting on her resolution to enroll at New York College in her 50s, Remini wrote, “Had you informed me then that I’d be a pupil at NYU at age 51, I wouldn’t have believed it. I had huge goals again then however after I look again they have been rooted in my need to outlive … I couldn’t have imagined a world through which I’d be a college pupil at my age.”
Because the New York native continues her personal training, her 18-year-old daughter, Sofia, is in school as nicely.
“Lengthy story … however, one of many issues I’ve realized in life is that there’s all the time time to course appropriate. There’s no sense in sticking to one thing that doesn’t be just right for you. In any state of affairs. At any level in your life,” Remini, who shares Sofia with husband Angelo Pagan, wrote by way of Instagram in February about their daughter’s academic journey. “In August, our daughter Sofia enrolled in a university she thought was meant for her. I moved her right into a dorm room and got here residence heartbroken to a quiet home.”
When Sofia’s first-choice college “didn’t make sense for her,” the teenager left and moved again residence together with her dad and mom earlier than transferring colleges. Whereas Remini had already gone via transferring her solely baby out of the home — and was happy with her for pursuing her academic pursuits — she didn’t count on the second go of it to hit her so exhausting.
“Crying, not realizing what to do with ourselves now aside from footage and movies and crying some extra,” the Kevin Can Wait alum shared in her Instagram put up.
