Leah Remini Calls For Federal Investigation Of Scientology With ‘Aftermath’ Season 2

Leah Remini has been trying to take down the Church of Scientology ever since she managed to leave the community, and is now hopes for a federal investigation of the group.

LEAH REMINI WANTS FEDERAL INVESTIGATION OF SCIENTOLOGY

Since leaving the church in 2013, Remini has put her effort into exposing the truth behind Scientology, including its abusive practices. She released a tell-all book in 2015 called Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, which quickly shot to number one on the New York Times best-seller list.

After the success of her book, several ex-Scientologists reached out to share their story. Remini filmed the interviews, and took the footage to producers Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman, who turned it into a new A&E show called Aftermath. The first season earned Remini an Emmy nomination for best informational series or special, and she is happy with the response from former Scientology members.

“We’ve heard from people who were inside Scientology, who told me, ‘I watched your show. I went on the internet. I decided to leave. I am fighting for my children after watching your show,'” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “We get tons of those. And it’s those moments that you go, ‘OK — we’re doing something.'”

This type of positive response led Remini to focus more on “all of the abusive practices of Scientology” for the second season. She wants to become more of an activist for those stuck in the religion with no way out. In reality, she hopes to bring enough evidence to warrant a federal investigation. “I’m talking about the FBI, the police, the Department of Justice, the IRS,” she explains. “If the FBI ever wanted to get anywhere, all they would need to do is do a raid. Everybody who’s ever gone to Scientology has folders, and anything you’ve ever said is contained in those folders.”

Describing some of the abusive practices she mentioned, she tells that Scientologists believe that children are just adults in smaller bodies. “They believe a 7-year-old girl should not shudder at being passionately kissed. That in Dianetics,” she says, referring to the 1950 L. Ron Hubbard book that established the religion. “If a child is molested, that child and/or parent cannot go to the police, because it’s against policy. They handle it in Scientology. They will usually bring the molester in and give them spiritual ‘auditing,’ or counseling. The victim gets punished for ‘pulling it in,’ which is a Scientology term that means you did something that you’re not telling the church about — and that’s why you received the abuse. The child is usually made to do some kind of amends, to make up for what happened to them.” She goes on to explain that “there are no victims in Scientology. Anything that happens to you in Scientology happens to you because you made it happen.”

Aftermath returns for its second season on A&E on Aug. 15 at 9 p.m.