If you don't care about somebody, you don't even bother to fight with them.
— Leah Remini
I'm a very by-the-book person.
There's things you can say about me, but here's what you can't say about me: that I'm not being genuine.
I believe that people should value family and value friendships and hold those things sacrosanct.
I have always been spiritual.
This is what I love about people! You meet people outside of the business, they'll tell you the truth.
Because Scientologists view children as spiritual beings, you're not treated as a kid, so you're given a lot of responsibility. Your ego becomes extremely inflated.
There shouldn't be any kind of judgment towards somebody who has a belief system that is not yours.
What Scientology offers is a bigger game. You're part of an elite group saving the planet.
I envision Hollywood as a race, and some people simply drop off before their turn comes around. It's all about stamina - your ability to get back up and keep going even though everything is pointing at the odds not being in your favor.
You have to learn to believe you deserve love. And I'm getting there. I'm starting to believe it.
In my house, it's family first - but I was spending most of my time at the church. So, I was saying 'family first,' but I wasn't showing that. I didn't like the message that sent my daughter.
My actions and the things I say and do, I wonder if they have an effect on my daughter and the way she's going to be as a person. I just want her to be a good person.
I'm not a neat freak. I don't mind things being messy but I mind them being dirty. I just can't relax in a dirty environment. I like things organized.
I try to be a good person. I know what my downfalls are, so that's a good thing.
There's a lot involved in going to the bathroom for women.
But inside, I'm going, 'Oh my God, is my zipper up? Do I have a booger in my nose?' That's my inner monologue.
I loved 'King of Queens'... You can't spend that amount of time somewhere and not pick that as your favorite.
I would do another talk show if it was the way that I wanted to do it. Like, you can't tell me what we're talking about, and I want to hear real stuff.
Nicole Kidman was an inspiration to me at the time I left the church. Knowing that she went on to have a successful and happy life, both personally and professionally, helped to give me confidence.
I believe that people should be able to question things.
My grandmother lived on Elizabeth Street in Little Italy, and she used to go to church every day. She'd go in, light a candle, she'd pray, and as a child, that was comforting to me.
My family is not so different from the rest of America. I think people love to see that, 'Oh, just because she's on television and in Hollywood, I can still relate to her.'
Scientologists view children as spiritual beings.
My mother was in Scientology my whole life. Most people don't know that we were raised in it - I didn't decide to get into it. I was brought into it by my mom.
There's a lot of things that are good in Scientology, because I wouldn't have been in it. And that's the thing: a lot of people trivialize this thing, like, 'Oh, it's Xenu, and it's a volcano, and it's jumping on couches and acting crazy.' These people are victims. We've been victimized. We believed in something because it starts out very normal.
Oddly, moving to L.A. had nothing to do with me wanting to be an actress. My mother had a friend who was willing to take us in for a month until we could get on our feet. So we lived on her floor. It was pretty traumatic, but I found my strength through my mother in that time because she never once made us feel like we wouldn't be OK.
I've really come to realize you have to love yourself before you can expect someone else to.
I'm blessed to have a voice, and I'm going to use it.
I used to do skits for my mom... and I was always entertaining as a kid.
I love a man in a suit. Men should stay clothed, even if they have nice bodies.
I applaud my mother now for getting me through that time and making me believe in myself.
Men stop trying after a while and get lazy.
I've always had a show that went seven episodes or 13 episodes or whatever. And I've never had a show that's gone past a first season. It really is a lot of work.
When you get your show - that's what 'King of Queens' was for me. That was my part; that was my show - I was meant to have that part.
I have a big mouth, and I have a temper, so that's not good for people. That's not good for executives.
No one is going to tell me how I need to think. No one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to.
I was always religious. I was baptized as a Catholic. I got my daughter baptized as a Catholic.
I don't want to be doing a show that's negative, that's filled with drama.
Being critical of Tom Cruise is being critical of Scientology itself. You are evil.
I always felt like I was kind of an outsider because I didn't have the right things. I didn't have a Cadillac. I didn't have, you know, plastic on my furniture. That was the right way to be if you were Italian.
I didn't want to raise my daughter in the church because from what I experienced and what I saw, the church becomes everything - your mother, your father, your everything. You are dependent on the church.
As a kid, I remember wondering why we lived in an apartment, not in a brownstone, and why we drove an LTD, not a Cadillac. Even now, I'm like that. If I'm on the 5th floor, I will wonder why I'm not on the 6th floor. But that was my drive. I was obsessed with my family having a better life.
I don't want to be known as this bitter, ex-Scientologist. I'm not trying to bash anybody, and I'm not trying to be controversial. I just want people to know the truth.
When it mattered the most, my mother was there for me. It was the moment that erased all those days she wasn't there.
There was always pressure to make a Scientologist out of the people you were working with.
I always was trying to make people laugh as a kid. I was a big fan of Carol Burnett and Gilda Radner. I watched them and I remember feeling as a child, when I heard the laughter they got, a little jealous that they made someone laugh like that.
Men have just come up to me and asked for my number right away. That doesn't work. You have to know somebody and have a conversation.
The guy has to kill the spider and get the dead mouse outta the pool.
I love men who know when to put their foot down and when not to.
