Troublemaker

Title: Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
Author: Leah Remini, Rebecca Paley
Copyright: 2015 Hardback
Source: Library

published description: Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost.

That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices.

Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology’s causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she’d worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology’s most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.

But when she began to raise questions about some of the church’s actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a “Suppressive Person,” and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever.

Bold, brash, and bravely confessional, Troublemaker chronicles Leah Remini’s remarkable journey toward emotional and spiritual freedom, both for herself and for her family. This is a memoir designed to reveal the hard-won truths of a life lived honestly—from an author unafraid of the consequences.

Very interesting. Always liked her because even only seeing her in TV and interviews and such, she seemed like she was totally straightforward / in your face. So, I was pretty surprised when I found out how in to Scientology she was. We lived in Clearwater for a while and saw all the uniforms, etc. of the different levels. My husband was also in a job where he had to interact fairly frequently with members while working on their properties - he came home with incredible stories of teenagers being in charge of construction jobs, children and elderly having to do hard labor, etc. Very strange atmosphere - in that respect it was very cool to read confirmations of our suspicions from someone that was there. Also, good insights in to how someone could get caught up and still believe in the base of something, even though it was going way too far.