Leah Remini was devoted to the Church of Scientology. Then she attended Tom Cruise's wedding.

Leah Remini is a woman whose fame as an actress, starring in the sitcom The King of Queens, has been somewhat eclipsed by her becoming an outspoken opponent of the Church of Scientology. 

Since leaving the church in 2013, Remini has released a tell-all book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, and done countless interviews to share her experiences with the controversial religion. 

When speaking about her negative brushes with the church led by David Miscavige, there was one pivotal moment that altered the actor's perception of the church: its most famous member's wedding.

Yep, we're talking about the 2006 nuptials of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. 

In Remini's 2015 book, she wrote about how she was invited to their Italian wedding but was asked to invite her longtime friend Jennifer Lopez and her then-husband Marc Anthony. At the wedding, Remini noticed that she was seeing Scientology members exhibit behaviour that didn't align with the church's strict rules. 

Listen to The Spill's host recap which celebrities have had feuds with Tom Cruise. Post continues after video.

For instance, she claims the man who officiated it, Norman Starkey, had gotten "handsy" with Brooke Shields. 

She also expressed her confusion over why Katie and Tom's daughter Suri Cruise was left crying on the bathroom floor during the Rome wedding. "Katie didn't seem to notice," she wrote. 

"I headed to the bathroom to offer some help. When I opened the door, I found three women, including Tom's sister and his assistant, standing over the baby, who was lying on the tile floor. I didn't know if they were changing her diaper or what, but the three women were looking at her like they thought she was L. Ron Hubbard incarnate. Rather than talking to her in a soothing voice, they kept saying, 'Suri! Suri!' in a tone that sounded like they were telling an adult to get her shit together," Leah recalled.

Leah claims she told the women "What are you guys doing? She's a baby. Pick her up!"

But the most disturbing part of the event was Remini's claims that the Scientology handlers kept trying to separate her from Lopez, despite the singer only attending to support her friend. For the rehearsal dinner, the team tried to separate them but Lopez had insisted "she's with us," so they finally gave it a rest.

Remini says she was put on notice for hanging out with Lopez too much at the wedding.

After leaving church, Remini filed a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology in 2023 which made several disturbing allegations about what unfolded after the wedding. 

She said that her status within the church changed after the 2006 nuptials. In particular, she said that her asking questions about the whereabouts of Miscavige's wife Shelly was a big no-no. 

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' wedding on November 18, 2006. Image: Getty. 

"When Ms. Remini asked a group of Scientology executives and Tom Cruise’s personal handlers ... 'Where is Shelly?' she was immediately admonished by the group, despite the fact that she and Ms. Miscavige were good friends," the lawsuit claimed.

"Ms. Remini witnessed other behavior at the wedding that set off red flags for her, including unethical contacts between various Scientology executives and others at the wedding which she understood to be forbidden by Scientology teachings." 

After Remini submitted her concerns for the group's 'Knowledge Report' — a filing she was encouraged to do — she says this didn't go over well. "Ms. Remini had been brainwashed into believing that by filing reports like this, she was helping Scientology and saving her religion," she wrote.

Remini alleges she was then ordered to go to a Scientology base, called the Flag Land Base building (known as FLAG), where the actress claims she had to endure a process she describes as "one of her life's worst nightmares." 

Jennifer Lopez and Leah Remini have been friends for decades. Image: Getty.

"Upon arrival, Ms. Remini was presented with dozens of internal reports from Scientologists complaining about her behavior at the wedding. It was clear to Ms. Remini that she was being punished for asking where Shelly Miscavige was and for filing reports on David Miscavige and others. Ms. Remini was held at FLAG for four months while she was put through a process that cost her hundreds of thousands of dollars and nearly led her to have a psychotic breakdown," the lawsuit alleges.

“After months of psychological torture, Ms. Remini was nearing the point of psychotic breakdown. She finally gave in, rescinded all of her reports, and admitted that she was the problem in this situation (despite it not being true)."

Remini eventually left FLAG and returned to her home in LA, but she claims she had to make amends with Miscavige and Cruise. "She was forced to donate money to name a seat in a theatre after Suri Cruise and was to raise money for donation to Scientology causes led by Tom Cruise," the lawsuit claims. 

The actress claims that she spent millions of dollars during her 35 years as a Scientologist. 

Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise in June 2012. In the years since, their child Suri Cruise hasn't been seen with her father. You can read more about that here.

Feature image: Getty.