Leah Remini Shares How Much She’s Made Discussing Scientology: ‘It’s a Lot of F–king Work for a Small Amount of Money’
Leah Remini is a big-time celebrity. For a long time, she was best known for her starring role on King of Queens with Kevin James. But most recently, if someone mentions Leah Remini, it’s probably to talk about all the work she’s done to speak out against the Church of Scientology.
Though she once used to be part of the church, Remini is now vocally anti-Scientology. She wrote a book in 2015 called Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology and then went into even more detail about what she knew on a TV series called Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
Leah Remini isn’t scared of the Church of Scientology
One of the reasons Leah isn’t scared of the Church of Scientology is that she has a lot of money and a public platform … so she knows she has a way to speak out that other people don’t. Her net worth is $25 million so if the church tries to use its money to silence her, they can’t really get past the kind of lawyers she can hire. Plus, being backed by TV networks means she continues to get away with saying what she wants about the church … including taking some other famous people down in the process.
For instance, she used her TV show as a way to allow numerous women who accused Scientologist and That ’70s Show alum Danny Masterson of sexual assault speak out. Masterson has now been arrested and charged, so you have to think her show made an impact in preventing the church from being able to cover things up, as Remini alleges they could have (and would have) otherwise.
Remini also dropped a lot of other bombs on her TV show, like how members of the Church of Scientology were sometimes beaten or forced to have abortions and how famous faces of the religion, like Tom Cruise, are often purposely surrounded by church-approved personal staff so that they are kept isolated from the public.
Leah Remini cleared up the pay question on the first episode of her new podcast
In the very first episode (#0) of Leah Remini and Mike Rinder’s Scientology: Fair Game podcast, they address just how little money they’ve actually made from speaking out against Scientology. Specifically, they note that documentary filmmaking, in general, is not exactly a moneymaker.
“Documentary filmmaking is not the most lucrative business,” Remini explains on the podcast, adding “By the way, when you do make money, it’s a lot of f*cking work for a small amount of money. I can make more money in one f*cking day doing acting, selling douches or tampons, then in the whole f*cking three seasons of The Aftermath.” She has a point — if she wanted to make money, she’s proven she can do that with her acting chops!
Rinder backs up Remini’s sentiments: “That’s what Scientology does. They say that everybody is doing it because they have an ax to grind. Because they want to make money [and] because they want their 15 minutes of fame, like, they’ve got reasons for everything except they’re abusing people. That never comes up.” Sounds like no one is mincing words on this new podcast!
The podcast relies on Remini’s and co-host Mike Rinder’s extensive history with Scientology
Scientology: Fair Game delves deep into a specific church policy called Fair Game and how it has been used to harm many people over the years. Resisting the harm the church does is precisely why both are doing what they’re doing for so little pay.
The main reason Remini is so passionate about this topic is that she, like co-host Mike Rinder, was once a member of the Church of Scientology. Her mother had been involved in the church as she was growing up and Remini stayed involved throughout the start of her career. She finally publicly broke with the church in 2013. Rinder was also raised in Scientology and was a higher-up in the organization until he escaped back in 2009 at age 52.
