Leah Remini Talks Scientology on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

[xhurlyburly]

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Notes:
[By notes, I mean a paragraph of bulletpoints because I can not condense]- Scientology and the Aftermath is nominated for two Emmys. This is the first time Leah has ever been nominated for an Emmy.
- Season 2 starts on August 15th at A&E
- Church is obviously not cool with Leah Remini doing the documentary
- Leah Remini is impressed with how familiar Stephen is with the terminology as he guides the interview. Stephen credits it to finding Scientology and their use of terminologies fascinating..
- Goes over Leah's history as a former scientologist
- Scientology teaches basic skills that helps you when you first get into it, but becomes damaging to both yourself and your relationship with friends and family as you become further indoctrinated into it
- Leah says that Scientology is not a religion when Stephen asked if it's a religion
- When asked why, Leah explains that Scientology is a business rather than a religion because you need to pay money to both get into the religion and climb up the OT levels
- Admits to still struggling to transition from calling Scientology a religion and slipping up at times
- Leah Remini is not actively seeking a new religion
- Has a Catholic background and both Leah and her daughter are baptized, but fell out of Catholicism due to Scientology's rules (Publically, you can be part of another religion while be in Scientology, but you are expected to drop out of the other religion once you hit the confidential OT levels as you're taught that God/gods are a lie)
- Jokingly ends the topic of whether Scientology is a religion or not by asking Stephen Colbert if 1984 mirrors a religion or not
- Emphasizes how the point of the show is to give a voice to former members and share their narratives, and applauds their bravery for them to participate despite knowing that they will be attacked by Scientology within hours after the show airs
- Jokingly talks about whether Stephen will be an enemy of the church (Leah says that he's basically towing the line as he's having her on his show but asked neutral questions rather than making straightforward negative statements
- Stephen asks what kind of statements can he say to cross the line as a joke
- Short PR for Kevin can Wait
- Stephen asks if Leah was afraid that she will no longer be able to work in Hollywood after leaving Scientology since there are multiple members in the industry. Leah says she feels the opposite as she felt isolated from members of Hollywood when she was a scientologist, but wasn't able to understand why she felt like people were isolating her until she left
- People used to ask Leah how could she be in Scientology if she's not "cultish". Says that people need to understand that when you're a second generation brought into the church at a young age, so they had no choice in whether they want to be Scientologists

- Says that Hollywood and the general public have been supportive towards her and embracing her post-Scientology, and she expresses her gratittude for that support

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