Book Review: Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini

Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Release Date: November 3, 2015
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Leah Remini has never been the type to hold her tongue. That willingness to speak her mind, stand her ground, and rattle the occasional cage has enabled this tough-talking girl from Brooklyn to forge an enduring and successful career in Hollywood. But being a troublemaker has come at a cost.
 
That was never more evident than in 2013, when Remini loudly and publicly broke with the Church of Scientology. Now, in this frank, funny, poignant memoir, the former King of Queens star opens up about that experience for the first time, revealing the in-depth details of her painful split with the church and its controversial practices.
 
Indoctrinated into the church as a child while living with her mother and sister in New York, Remini eventually moved to Los Angeles, where her dreams of becoming an actress and advancing Scientology’s causes grew increasingly intertwined. As an adult, she found the success she’d worked so hard for, and with it a prominent place in the hierarchy of celebrity Scientologists alongside people such as Tom Cruise, Scientology’s most high-profile adherent. Remini spent time directly with Cruise and was included among the guests at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.
 
But when she began to raise questions about some of the church’s actions, she found herself a target. In the end, she was declared by the church to be a threat to their organization and therefore a “Suppressive Person,” and as a result, all of her fellow parishioners—including members of her own family—were told to disconnect from her. Forever.
 
Bold, brash, and bravely confessional, Troublemaker chronicles Leah Remini’s remarkable journey toward emotional and spiritual freedom, both for herself and for her family. This is a memoir designed to reveal the hard-won truths of a life lived honestly—from an author unafraid of the consequences.

Troublemaker is a combination of two of my reading loves – celebrity tell-all memoirs and books about religious cults. I know Leah primarily from King of Queens and before this book came out, I didn’t even realize she had been a Scientologist. Her story is unique because unlike most, if not all of the other celebrity Scientologists, she was raised in the church. Even Tom Cruise, poster boy for Scientology, is a convert. Leah’s childhood experiences in the church are horrifying but as a child she was helpless and couldn’t leave. As time went on, she became more and more indoctrinated.

Leah is as brash and outspoken as her character Carrie on King of Queens. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything and isn’t afraid to name names and tell it like it is. I loved getting the inside scoop on Tom Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes, among other things.

Troublemaker was highly satisfying as both a celebrity tell-all and former cult-member tell-all memoir.