Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (2016) s02e11 Episode Script
Aftermath of the Aftermath
I'm not gonna change the church policy, but I'm certainly going to let the world know what this church is doing to families.
My name is Mary Kahn.
I was a Scientologist for 40 years.
I never felt like I would ever be declared an evil person.
I know that this broke our son's heart to have to disconnect.
My name is Aaron Smith-Levin, and I was a Scientologist for about 29 years.
They call Heather in.
They say, "You've gotta divorce your husband, or you're gonna be declared".
Just as a matter of fact.
You gotta divorce your husband, or She says? "That's not going to work out for me.
- We have three kids together".
- Okay.
And within two weeks, my kids had been kicked out of their school, and Heather had lost her job.
My name is Marc Headley, and I was a Scientologist for 25 years.
I would try to tell people that think, "Oh, I can save Scientology," Like it's not worth saving.
Just walk away.
My name is Claire Headley, and I was a Scientologist for 30 years.
I absolutely swore that I would never have an abortion.
Then next thing I know, I missed a period.
So I have to go see the medical officer.
And she said, "Well, you're gonna need to get an abortion".
This is like the aftermath of the aftermath.
Because we've told stories about people who were in Scientology, the abuse that happened to them in Scientology.
But what is very, very unique to Scientology is that they don't stop.
So somebody speaks out against Scientology, about something that happened last year, yesterday, or 15 years ago, they continue to go after our contributors.
It doesn't end.
It just doesn't end.
It doesn't end with Scientology.
I am the writer of the textbooks of Scientology.
The aim and goal is to put man in a mental condition, uh, where he him can solve his own problems.
Without any Scientology organization things are not gonna change on this planet.
After years of slowly questioning Scientology Leah Remini and her very public break with Scientology Stop lying to people that they hold their eternity in their hands.
Stop telling parents that it doesn't matter what you do this lifetime other than Scientology.
If your religion is so amazing and doing all these amazing things for the world, then it should stand up to some questioning.
I would repeat this line, "I want to die.
I want to die".
That was my first idea of: I want to end my own life.
You gave me up at 13 years old.
How could you think that this was okay for me? These people are doing extreme things, and they need to be held accountable.
For us to do more of this, we wanted to do something that could help these people.
We need to do more than simply document stuff.
You got this.
People will continue to speak.
People will continue to fight.
So here we all are.
Thank you for coming once again and contributing.
Not only do we love you and you're valuable to us, we wanted to talk about what's been happening since season one and into season two.
I know there's some fear sometimes when people leave Scientology or the Sea Org, and they have these horrific stories and they come to us.
And we always tell them you know, once your show airs, you're gonna be shocked by the amount of support and love you receive from people who don't know you.
Did that shock you at all? I wanted to ask you about that.
I was very surprised by the outpouring of support.
Um, you're not used to being recognized.
And now I'm being recognized, like, "Hey, I saw you on the show!" I mean people coming up to you and shaking your hand and saying, "Keep doing what you're doing".
Yeah, it's true.
The outpouring of support we did not expect at all.
And that it continues.
The show aired almost a year ago.
It's not a normal thing.
- Yeah.
- It's extraordinary.
Yeah.
Well, when you've seen so much injustice and abuse and nothing happen, and then all of the sudden these people "I'm so proud of you.
Please go on.
"I'm telling my children about this.
I don't want this to ever happen to anybody I know".
This is where the power is.
- Yes.
- And it's a really good thing.
And I would also say that growing up in Scientology, being born into Scientology, it's incredibly isolating to leave everybody you've ever known.
I mean, I don't think that's very easy for people on the outside to understand.
And that's why for the new people who are coming forward and telling their stories on season two, I'm so grateful, because part of what Scientology claims is "Oh, it's the same people telling these stories".
No, this is not! This is widespread abuse.
And all it requires is somebody to have the guts to tell the story, and that's what this show is giving a voice to.
When you guys left, you actually had a lawsuit - That's exactly correct.
- Yes.
Against the Church of Scientology, and you lost that case.
What people need to understand is that it brought about huge changes in what you're talking about, whereas there was this many abortions, since you brought your lawsuit and "lost," for the Church, you actually saved Yeah, which is not a lose in our minds.
Before, you were being pressured to have an abortion Separated from your husband.
- All that whole pressure system.
- All those things.
None of that happens anymore.
This is from we've heard from the people who have been leaving.
And now there's a whole new generation of people that worked at the International Base that have kids, that have a family, and they're leaving, and they're saying, "None of the stuff you guys say is true, this never happened".
But now there's kids that are alive now because we exposed that.
Of course, there were so many of us working there that wanted that more than anything.
And as part of our lawsuit, I had compiled a list of the many women that I knew, and at the time, it was up to around 50.
That was actually filed in the court documents.
Well, now we have a list currently that's 20, 30 children that were born, that, you know, have a life because - we exposed that abuse.
- In the last few years.
- Right.
Right.
- Yeah.
And they say, "Oh, the Headleys who lost their lawsuit and were ordered to pay $46,000 in fees" Yeah, great.
Is that how much it cost to save a whole bunch of kids? Good.
I'll do it again.
Well, I love their story about you.
How the Church offered to pay your - Yes.
Yes.
- That's true.
So after our lawsuit, unbeknownst to us, our lawyers started negotiations with the Scientology lawyers, which we found out after the fact was common practice, to say, "Look, our clients, Marc and Claire Headley, "will not pursue any further claim.
They'll drop it.
And in response to that, you will waive the bill".
Scientology's response to that was, "We will waive the bill if Marc and Claire "turn over the rights to Marc's book, "turn over all information of any e-mails, correspondence, "conversations they've ever had with Marty Rathbun, "Mike Rinder, and any ex-Scientology friends that we've communicated to".
And to basically rat on other people.
- Right.
- And finally, that we never, ever speak about our experiences in Scientology - ever again.
- For $46,000.
Wow.
And you said no.
Our response was to write them a check for $46,000.
Good for you guys.
Yeah.
That was awesome.
Which also, I should mention, that a good friend of mine, Jason Beghe said, um, "You shouldn't have to pay a penny of that".
He said, "I want you to do a fundraiser, and I want you to ask people to pay that $46,000".
500 donations and two weeks later, that money that we paid had been paid back in full.
- Wow.
- It was unbelievable.
Yeah.
In two weeks we were made whole and And you have your integrity.
And we never made any agreements.
Never.
Yeah.
We didn't make any sign any deals with the devil.
- We were good to go.
- Yeah.
Good for you guys.
I would add too, that during the course of our lawsuit, the Scientology lawyers actually admitted Marc's book - into evidence.
- As fact for their case! - They did? - Not us.
They did that.
And then what did the judge say in your case? So in the final ruling, he said had we pursued other courses of action, and two examples were assault and battery and false imprisonment, we may have fared differently.
And the final ruling actually documented many of the abuses that we'd been deposed in regards too.
So even though we lost technically, by not pursuing the right course of action It's public record that the abuses we suffered happened, and that Scientology claims it was their right to abuse us, because we were members of their religion.
What you did was quite courageous, quite admirable.
I mean I've always wanted to publicly say that about you two.
Thank you.
So Aaron, your wife when we came to your house in Florida did not want to film with us.
She had hoped that by not appearing on the show that her parents would eventually stay connected to you guys, but more importantly, their grandchildren, your children.
They owned the two properties across the street from the house where we live in.
And they had to sell those properties because that would put them in too close of proximity to us.
It made them connected to us.
And did they do so? Aaron, if you start me crying I swear to God, Aaron.
No, no.
Hold on.
I'll try to make it through.
The only way that our kids could see their grandparents, is when they would come over to do maintenance on the property or whatever.
And we would send the kids over.
We would say, "Go say hi".
We wouldn't go over there.
We'd say, "Go say hi".
- Out of respect for them.
- That's right.
And we said, look, we're not the Scientologists.
We don't recognize the disconnection policy.
And we don't recognize that it should have any power over them or our family.
And we would send them over.
And they've both the properties are sold now.
And there's no reason to believe that our kids will ever see their grandparents again.
And you know for Heather just to comment on it I know in her heart she would love to reconnect with her parents.
And how are your daughters doing not being able to see their grandparents at all? I think it's more upsetting for us than it is for them.
They're not sitting there going, "We hate our grandparents 'cause our grandparents won't see us".
No, no.
They're sitting there going, "We hate Scientology because we know that's why our grandparents can't see us".
My kids are the same.
I think it's important for me to make it clear that in my in-laws' case, they have two other children who are in Scientology, and married to Scientologists.
And they also have grandchildren So I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to vilify them for not "siding" with us.
The problem is no matter what decision they made, they were going to lose children and grandchildren because of Scientology.
There was no right decision.
We don't hold it against them personally.
They're good people.
It's a Sophie's choice when you're in Scientology.
You're gonna ruin a family part of your family, no matter which way you go.
This is why, regardless of what you think about Scientology, independent Scientology, whatever, this organization will destroy your family.
When we have a contributor come on the program, within seconds they have a hate website posted up about them.
But what's crazier is that Scientology doesn't stop after that.
They continue their abuse, and now they've taken their abuse to a level that is fucking sick.
So right after the show, there was the hate website put up on me.
And they had my son make a video You could even say that the fact of me not being in my mom's life is really her choice because I really made it very, very clear that from the first conversation, you know, like, if this is a field you're gonna go down, and you're gonna actively oppose something that really makes me happy and that I'm a really big part of I really like this and you know all my friends are Scientologists and this is something that I really agree with, and if you're gonna go against something that's a goal in my life just like any other goal, you know? If she's gonna actively oppose that, then I'm not gonna be a part of it.
And by the way, I do support him.
Right, because all you want to do is have a connection.
If you want to be a Scientologist, - that's fine with me - Right.
- I just don't want to do it.
- That was right.
- Exactly right.
- It's actually your son and all Scientologists who can't be connected to the one who doesn't want to be in Scientology and speaking out - Right.
- Against the abuses, and the things that they feel are harmful to their lives.
Right.
After that video came out, my husband's boyhood friend twists the word disconnection, and says I'm the one that disconnected from Sammy.
I disconnected from my first husband.
And then he says I disconnected from a child I had with that husband.
He told my son Sammy.
This really upsets me because my Sammy didn't know.
Not because I was really withholding it.
He will never forget that dinner where he found out not from his mother, but from his parent's one time best friends that she was married, had a child, had a divorce in that marriage, and gave up custody of that child.
This was when I was 20 years old.
Pre-Scientology.
And in fact, the fact that I felt like I didn't have my emotional wherewithal together to raise a child is what prompted me to allow this child to be adopted by my ex-husband and his new wife, because I thought it was I'm sorry, the best thing for him.
And you don't even need to explain yourself further, Mary I know, but see they do find your buttons.
And they found it.
I'm sorry.
They found it.
No, no, no.
I understand.
But I don't want you to feel like you have to explain yourself.
- Yeah.
- 'Cause you don't have to - explain shit to anybody.
- Right.
And right, I was 20! It doesn't matter.
Scientology But can I give you an irony here? Please.
It is so ironic that I don't have the emotional wherewithal to raise a child and I get in the church to try to find myself and be a better person.
40 years later, this church is using that against me.
It says everything you need to know.
Everything you need to know about this church.
Do not get in it.
Do not.
Right.
The fact that they used that against you so it was not a problem you were giving them - millions of dollars - Right, for 40 years.
And then they're claiming that you're doing something by appearing on this show is breaking up your family, but then they further break up your family by giving up one of your confessions.
One of the things you gave up and got into Scientology for, was something that was deeply affecting your heart and they go, "Hey, we have something on her".
Let's further destroy her".
That's their intention.
You said it perfectly.
You said it perfectly.
It's a policy.
The policy is to utterly annihilate.
The thing that really surprised me the most was that I got a call from my niece, saying that she had heard from the church.
And she had never been a Scientologist.
- No.
Never.
- Okay.
She saw a note on her door, a note on her mailbox, so she called them.
They said to her, "Thank you for reaching out to us".
She said, "I didn't reach out to you".
They were reversing it on her.
Trying to make it seem like she was doing something.
Like she wanted to speak out.
She said no, and she said within 15 minutes, two people showed up at her door.
They said, "Well, have you heard of the Kahns?" And that's when she freaked out.
And what did she say? She said, I don't She said, "No, leave.
This is a secure building.
What are you doing here? Leave!" And they left a typewritten note to her: "Thank you for meeting with us.
Thank you for reaching out to us".
They wanted her to make a video that they were willing to pay her for.
To speak out against Me, I think.
It's real cryptic.
Wait.
They were willing to pay her? - Yep.
It's in the note.
- It's in the note.
This is the typewritten one.
"The church is willing to pay you fair compensation "for the audio/visual material mentioned "during the phone call.
You would not be identified in any use of the material".
She had no idea what they were talking about.
I had no idea what they were talking about.
But then a little what, a month ago? Maybe three weeks ago, this weird video came out that they posted on their site an anonymous person saying she was there at the shoot.
I thought, that's what they were doing! They wanted to set up a video.
They wanted my niece to be part of it or something.
And she wanted nothing to do with them.
But the video says that you stopped production to have us all dramatize, that you scripted it, that I admitted to this person that we were being paid.
I wasn't paid.
The whole thing is a lie.
Here's what you can know about Scientology, whatever they accuse anyone speaking out against them of they are doing themselves.
They offered Mary Kahn's niece money, and they presented in the story that they're telling that the niece had said these things, which she didn't.
The hypocrisy of that is insane.
You know what, Mary? They didn't fucking destroy you.
No.
They didn't destroy anybody here.
No.
They're not destroying anybody who's gonna come out, because there's a support system now - that hasn't been there before.
- Right.
That's exactly correct.
And you're right, they did not destroy me.
I just have to say that.
I am actually so happy that I'm out, and I'm doing better than ever.
But I have a hole in my heart.
And they found it.
Since the shows have aired, I think for pretty much every single show, season one and season two, I at least have 16 people that have appeared on the show that have hate websites that have been put up on them.
Leah had 88 web domains registered against you.
Mike Rinder has 25.
I myself have ten.
My wife has ten.
Aaron has seven.
And Ron Miscavige, Sr.
has 522.
That's David Miscavige's father.
Scientology today continues its abuse towards any contributor on this show, A&E, the producers, to any journalist who's ever told a story that Scientology didn't want told.
It just continues, and continues.
With what's going on the world that you can get passionate about, Scientology is spending its time creating these websites that cost money, getting all of this energy of hate and ridiculousness if they put that energy into something good, we wouldn't have this program.
There'd be no need for it.
The worst offense of it all is to hide behind religious freedom and religious bigotry banners with their STAND League.
It's super, super sly.
They've got Well, it isn't that sly, Marc.
You went on the Internet, you saw them.
You found all of these fake accounts.
On Twitter, they have these STAND League bloggers - that have accounts - Okay.
And multiple STAND League accounts are fake accounts.
They've Photoshopped stock photos and made those their profile pics of these people.
So there's a guy and they took that stock shot and they made that this profile picture for this guy, and he's a STAND account blogger.
And you also see hundreds of STAND accounts are tweeting the exact same thing simultaneously 24 hours a day.
And you've got some 13-year-old boy in India, I think - India? - Yep.
And what's he doing? He started a Change petition demands cancellation of the A&E TV Leah Remini hate show, "Scientology: The Aftermath".
And this boy's claiming in his petition that it's a hate show and I think his petition is to the United Nations to have your show cancelled.
I'm not sure how that works, but I didn't know the UN had the power to cancel a show on cable TV.
Another thing indicative of how many actual Scientologists there are is this campaign's been running for several weeks now, and I think they have under 10,000 supporters of their campaign.
Even though there's 22 million some odd Scientologists out there.
I wanted to talk about the support.
Because I know you guys have helped people who have come out, and we don't actually hear about those things, and the positive things that have happened because of it.
The show itself is penetrating the Scientology wall.
I get messages all the time from children who are in Scientology, who are the children of staff members, who are the children of Sea Org members, who are the children of OT aides, who say, "I'm still in, "but I'm not doing anything anymore.
"I'm not with that, I just don't want to lose my family.
But I'm watching the show".
Yeah, and not even children.
I've had people that have written me saying, "I just saw the show, and I'm not going back to course tomorrow".
- Like the dude was on course.
- That's huge.
The dude was on course in a Scientology organization the day before.
The other thing that we've heard from people that have recently left is that we've been talking about and exposing things that have been happening at the International Headquarters.
And as we've been talking about those things, and things that have been shown on this show, they're changing the way they treat people there.
And suddenly they're now being able to visit family.
Suddenly they're eating better.
Suddenly, now if a girl finds out she's pregnant, she's immediately given a place to live, a place to go, money, and her and the husband leave to go have the child.
You know there's the "Supporters of Leah Remini: Scientology & the Aftermath" Facebook group.
And when I said earlier one of the ways to constantly get out this message that there is a support network, there is a support network, is to get the message out to the thousands and thousands of people who watch this show who are part of that group.
A lot of the people that are saying if any of these total strangers, if anybody needs anything, I've watched the show, you can come work for my company, I'll put you up, I have apartment buildings - That's right.
- I have whatever.
- Thousands.
- Yeah, so much.
There are thousands of people that are saying, "I don't care "if you have a high school diploma, you can come work for me".
- Yeah.
- Oh, that's beautiful.
- I didn't even have any idea.
- Oh, it's amazing.
One thing that's always been shocking, or surprising, or whatever to me, and I think it comes from growing up in an environment where compassion just did not exist to have so much compassion expressed by so many people that I never even knew! - Yeah.
- Yes.
It's amazing! Let me explain a relationship to you with people who are in Scientology, maybe not in the Sea Org, but still in Scientology, and their sons and daughters and friends who are not in Scientology at all.
Your relationships are tenuous, right? So it's okay for you not to be a Scientologist, kind of, but if you speak out against Scientology, then my decision's made.
So Ramina might've had somewhat of a relationship with her daughters and her grandkids, but it was always kind of predicated on the fact of if you speak out, then there is zero relationship.
I'm Ramina Nunnelee, and I was a Scientologist for 42 years, and I was in the Sea Organization for 26 years.
I brought my two little girls at the age of four and five into Scientology, and then later on into the Sea Organization.
And now here I am.
I just walked away from Scientology after seeing Leah's show.
That was Two and a half weeks ago.
- Hello.
- Hi.
Hi, beautiful.
- Hi, honey.
- Look at you.
Hi.
Oh! - Oh, Mike.
- Ramina! Hello, sweetheart! Hi, honey.
Are these tears of sadness? Tears of joy and a little bit of sadness.
It's a little bit of, you know, "Oh my God! How did we get to this point?" Ramina, I think it's absolutely amazing that we are sitting here with you today.
You realize that you are the first person who has seen the show and decided that you were going to take that step of standing up and saying, "You know what? I'm done with this, and I am going to make that known to the world".
And I want to thank you for that.
You're welcome.
I really I understand what it takes to do something like this, and - It's for my babies.
- I know.
And the babies out there that don't have their family members.
Like most of us, you believed that Scientology is the only thing saving mankind.
- Right.
- And you were not raised in Scientology to value family.
Chantal, you were not raised in Scientology to value family.
Neither was I.
The destruction of it is generational.
And I hope that stops.
People ask me, "How could you have left your children at such a young age?" And I'll go, "You'll never understand it, even if I explained it to you".
Well, you shouldn't understand it.
It's insane.
You know when my daughter was just growing up and learning how to walk, I was on my OT VI course from 9:00 in the morning till midnight.
Scientology eventually makes you lose yourself.
You're losing your empathy, you're losing your compassion, and ultimately you lose all sense of reality of what's going on in Scientology, and in the real world.
Even though I'm talking to you right now, I'm saying to you that I'm done, even as I was saying all the things I was saying, when I went in there in the back, and one of the staff said, "Thank you so much.
"It's been horrific hearing "all of these horrible stories.
You know, the damage that it's caused".
You know what my response was in a corner of my mind? Ramina, oh, my God, what have you done? You're preventing people from getting on the Bridge.
And I went, whoa, wait a minute.
Wait a minute! What am I thinking? Why am I even thinking this? It's programmed in you, you know? I haven't been considering myself to be a Scientologist for ten years.
And still I know that there are things and the way that I might look at something, or talk about it, or address it still I catch myself and go, "Wait.
"Is that really what I think? Or is that how I have been taught to think?" It's a testament to the power of the brainwashing and the mind control of Scientology that it is so difficult to shake it.
Last time we spoke, I didn't have a relationship with my mom and my stepfather.
Because of I didn't feel that closeness.
My parents wanted me to be involved and practicing Scientology, and wanted to be involved in my children.
That became a huge point of contention between us, because I wanted them to have a relationship with my parents.
But the reason I left Scientology is 'cause I didn't want to raise my children in the church.
My daughter specifically is very headstrong and found out about my upbringing, which I actually hid from the children.
- From "Going Clear," right? - Right.
So they saw "Going Clear," and it started to dawn on them I know something about Scientology, and I know my mom had something to do with Scientology, and I know my grandparents do, but to what extent? And so they started asking me questions, and I've always hid it from them because I didn't want them to be angry at them.
My daughter was upset because of the effects that it created on me.
And she was just kind of dominoed, and just was like well, if they're saying this is true, and you're telling me this is true, how are they not responsible for that? And I said, "Well, they kind of are".
And she's like, "Well, why won't they say that? That's all I want them to do is say that".
And I'm like, "They're not at that point".
And she just decided, well, if it is their policy to disconnect, you know, then I'm going to disconnect from them until they start looking at it.
I did.
I watched it, but I still thought that it was bullshit.
These guys were the enemy.
They were lying about Scientology.
I don't know how to explain it.
You can't say anything bad about Scientology.
You can't question it, even.
- No, you can't! - Yeah.
Right.
Even though you're supposed to think for yourself, even though you're supposed to have your own self-determinism Oh, no! God help you if you choose to think some other way.
But "Going Clear" didn't actually do it.
"Going Clear" started the process.
It was this show that clinched it.
Mirriam.
Oh, my God.
Part of the reason my mom even watched that episode was because I let her know that I was going to be in season two.
And my sister made it pretty clear to her "Look, I think you need to watch the show, "because I don't want you guys to be shocked.
You know, you need to see what's going on".
I know Mirriam's mom because I was in marketing up at Gold.
And we had been working together for quite a few years.
And I thought "this is crazy".
And then I find out about all these other kids.
And that's when I decided that's it enough is enough.
I'm not a Scientologist anymore.
Literally that next day, I got a text from my mom that said, "I watched Leah's show.
"And I need to talk to you, and I need to talk to Caitlyn, and I need to fix things".
And I forwarded you both the texts and I was like, whoa! This is kind of crazy for me.
Well, she says that, but what she wrote was, - "This is amazing.
I'm crying".
- Right.
No, of course I told them I'm bawling, and I can't believe I got this text from my mom.
This is to Chantal and her sister From her mother.
"Hi, girls.
Richard and I started to watch Leah's show.
"And will continue to watch the whole series.
"It's an eye-opener to say the least.
"We are both confronting things we never did before, "and started to come to grips with the lies "we've lived for so many years.
"It's hard.
Very, very hard, but we're gonna continue.
"So you know the first show in the series "with the two girls who were molested? "Well, we worked with Mirriam Francis' mother for many years "And she was a dear friend of mine.
"Richard and I were shocked by what we saw in that show.
"Anyway, I want you both to know that I am personally "totally done with Scientology "and Richard is really seeing things he hadn't seen before.
"Be patient with us, please.
"We are really struggling with all of this.
"We also know what grave mistakes we've made "being part of it.
I love you both and would love to get together soon".
That's so huge! I mean when I got that text, I was like I just I got chills! I was teary-eyed, and I just didn't have the words.
The next day she called me and said, "I want to do the show".
And I said, "Why, Mom?" And she said, "Because I need the children out there to know "that there's hope.
To not give up on them.
"And I need the parents out there to know that their children are still there.
That it's not too late".
And my whole world changed.
You know that feeling, Leah? That comfort? I always envied the relationship with you and your mom because I was so enamored by the fact that she left to a certain degree for you guys.
That she wasn't gonna put you guys in that situation.
And I missed my mom so much.
I even told you I've told you and Sherri so many times how much I miss my mom! And when she called me, something inside of me was like, "Oh, God.
I never thought I'd have my mom back".
I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry.
- I know you are.
I told you when you were in my womb that I would protect you and love you forever.
And I betrayed you and your sister.
And it kills me every day when I think about it.
I'm just so glad I have you back.
I have to do this.
I absolutely have to do this.
I don't give a damn if nothing comes out of this except for maybe one other parent will listen to me.
Please, I beg of you, I beg of you, save your children.
Go back to your children.
Don't put your church, your group, or anything ahead of your children.
I caused horrible things to my children to happen.
That's what it did to me! That's what this fucking church did to me.
It made me think that nothing else mattered but my group.
Nothing else! Well, guess what? No church is a church if they condone, advocate that family members split up and disavow each other.
No church has no decent church would do that.
How could they be considered a church? Ramina, when Chantal sent me that text that you had sent, it was it was so emotional for me, because I have to deal with someone whose family has been destroyed like my family was destroyed.
To have someone recover their family, that's all I do this show for.
That's it.
That's why I do this.
Who knows who now is gonna look at Ramina's show - and go - Thank you, thank you.
- I can't do it anymore.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
That is why we do this.
I'm hoping that before this airs, because once this airs, you have no chance of connecting - with let's say Mirriam's mom.
- Yeah.
And you try to contact our other friend's parents.
And implore them to look, I'm doing this.
I took my family back.
You should.
This is your only chance.
Take the causative road.
When I see you and Chantal back together Nothing beats that.
Nothing.
- So thank you.
- Yes, absolutely.
You're very welcome.
Thank you guys for giving us the opportunity.
And I'm so happy for my friend.
To have a mom of Scientology to say publicly and admit to, publicly, that she was willing to give up her children because of her ideology, is so powerful.
Not only did Ramina leave Scientology by watching our show, but she is willing to accept now what's coming her way, for speaking publicly, so she left Scientology, wanting to speak publicly, and willing to receive the attack that is coming her way from Scientology, that says a lot.
That says a lot about what we're doing.
This is like a snowball effect, right? People are starting to get braver, and braver, and braver.
And that's leading to a story, that's leading to another story.
This one saw that, that one saw this.
And then they connecting up with somebody else, and it's getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger.
And then what's happened of people coming forward, and us being contacted by the authorities and other lawyers, and other people coming forward, and the media.
The media, when it comes to Scientology, they're actually saying it from them.
They're saying these abuses are going on.
They're going a little further.
They're now telling the story of these victims of Scientology.
That's a huge change, but when we were nominated for an Emmy It was like, you know, Hollywood had accepted, you know, what was really going on.
Mary Kahn, Mike, and his wife, Christie, and Marc and Claire, and Aaron Smith-Levin, they all came in and I was just thinking oh, man, you know, I want this for them.
For what they had gone through.
And what they continue to go through.
And so that was a big thing.
That was a big thing for us.
And if we can just do this, like if people can just start to think in these terms, you don't need to agree with a way of thinking, it doesn't matter if it's this cult or another cult, you just need to break free.
Take back your life, and if one person leads to two people, which leads to more and more, then maybe we can stop a lot of this hurt.
Aaron, we get this question a lot.
And I feel like it should finally be answered.
It's very, very, very important.
What's happened to the dog? Well, last we spoke about this, he had not been disconnected from, so the dog has now been disconnected from.
- Officially? - Officially.
It's the first Suppressive Dog.
Really? So your dog's not allowed to play with the Scientology neighbor's dog? Right, right, and the neighbor, she had to build a six-foot wooden fence between the properties, so that you couldn't visually see from property to property, and the dog couldn't see the dog.
- Aaron! - I'm not kidding! - He's not kidding! - I'm not kidding.
- I'm not kidding.
- A fence has been built.
Because you can't have your SP dog looking at her non-SP dog.
That's right.
That's right.
I'm sorry.
Please apologize to your dog.
I will.
He's the most famous dog in Clearwater now, though.
- Yeah.
Oh, he is? - Oh, absolutely.
Okay, so he's gotten he has support? - He has a fan club.
- Okay, that's good.
Okay.
My name is Mary Kahn.
I was a Scientologist for 40 years.
I never felt like I would ever be declared an evil person.
I know that this broke our son's heart to have to disconnect.
My name is Aaron Smith-Levin, and I was a Scientologist for about 29 years.
They call Heather in.
They say, "You've gotta divorce your husband, or you're gonna be declared".
Just as a matter of fact.
You gotta divorce your husband, or She says? "That's not going to work out for me.
- We have three kids together".
- Okay.
And within two weeks, my kids had been kicked out of their school, and Heather had lost her job.
My name is Marc Headley, and I was a Scientologist for 25 years.
I would try to tell people that think, "Oh, I can save Scientology," Like it's not worth saving.
Just walk away.
My name is Claire Headley, and I was a Scientologist for 30 years.
I absolutely swore that I would never have an abortion.
Then next thing I know, I missed a period.
So I have to go see the medical officer.
And she said, "Well, you're gonna need to get an abortion".
This is like the aftermath of the aftermath.
Because we've told stories about people who were in Scientology, the abuse that happened to them in Scientology.
But what is very, very unique to Scientology is that they don't stop.
So somebody speaks out against Scientology, about something that happened last year, yesterday, or 15 years ago, they continue to go after our contributors.
It doesn't end.
It just doesn't end.
It doesn't end with Scientology.
I am the writer of the textbooks of Scientology.
The aim and goal is to put man in a mental condition, uh, where he him can solve his own problems.
Without any Scientology organization things are not gonna change on this planet.
After years of slowly questioning Scientology Leah Remini and her very public break with Scientology Stop lying to people that they hold their eternity in their hands.
Stop telling parents that it doesn't matter what you do this lifetime other than Scientology.
If your religion is so amazing and doing all these amazing things for the world, then it should stand up to some questioning.
I would repeat this line, "I want to die.
I want to die".
That was my first idea of: I want to end my own life.
You gave me up at 13 years old.
How could you think that this was okay for me? These people are doing extreme things, and they need to be held accountable.
For us to do more of this, we wanted to do something that could help these people.
We need to do more than simply document stuff.
You got this.
People will continue to speak.
People will continue to fight.
So here we all are.
Thank you for coming once again and contributing.
Not only do we love you and you're valuable to us, we wanted to talk about what's been happening since season one and into season two.
I know there's some fear sometimes when people leave Scientology or the Sea Org, and they have these horrific stories and they come to us.
And we always tell them you know, once your show airs, you're gonna be shocked by the amount of support and love you receive from people who don't know you.
Did that shock you at all? I wanted to ask you about that.
I was very surprised by the outpouring of support.
Um, you're not used to being recognized.
And now I'm being recognized, like, "Hey, I saw you on the show!" I mean people coming up to you and shaking your hand and saying, "Keep doing what you're doing".
Yeah, it's true.
The outpouring of support we did not expect at all.
And that it continues.
The show aired almost a year ago.
It's not a normal thing.
- Yeah.
- It's extraordinary.
Yeah.
Well, when you've seen so much injustice and abuse and nothing happen, and then all of the sudden these people "I'm so proud of you.
Please go on.
"I'm telling my children about this.
I don't want this to ever happen to anybody I know".
This is where the power is.
- Yes.
- And it's a really good thing.
And I would also say that growing up in Scientology, being born into Scientology, it's incredibly isolating to leave everybody you've ever known.
I mean, I don't think that's very easy for people on the outside to understand.
And that's why for the new people who are coming forward and telling their stories on season two, I'm so grateful, because part of what Scientology claims is "Oh, it's the same people telling these stories".
No, this is not! This is widespread abuse.
And all it requires is somebody to have the guts to tell the story, and that's what this show is giving a voice to.
When you guys left, you actually had a lawsuit - That's exactly correct.
- Yes.
Against the Church of Scientology, and you lost that case.
What people need to understand is that it brought about huge changes in what you're talking about, whereas there was this many abortions, since you brought your lawsuit and "lost," for the Church, you actually saved Yeah, which is not a lose in our minds.
Before, you were being pressured to have an abortion Separated from your husband.
- All that whole pressure system.
- All those things.
None of that happens anymore.
This is from we've heard from the people who have been leaving.
And now there's a whole new generation of people that worked at the International Base that have kids, that have a family, and they're leaving, and they're saying, "None of the stuff you guys say is true, this never happened".
But now there's kids that are alive now because we exposed that.
Of course, there were so many of us working there that wanted that more than anything.
And as part of our lawsuit, I had compiled a list of the many women that I knew, and at the time, it was up to around 50.
That was actually filed in the court documents.
Well, now we have a list currently that's 20, 30 children that were born, that, you know, have a life because - we exposed that abuse.
- In the last few years.
- Right.
Right.
- Yeah.
And they say, "Oh, the Headleys who lost their lawsuit and were ordered to pay $46,000 in fees" Yeah, great.
Is that how much it cost to save a whole bunch of kids? Good.
I'll do it again.
Well, I love their story about you.
How the Church offered to pay your - Yes.
Yes.
- That's true.
So after our lawsuit, unbeknownst to us, our lawyers started negotiations with the Scientology lawyers, which we found out after the fact was common practice, to say, "Look, our clients, Marc and Claire Headley, "will not pursue any further claim.
They'll drop it.
And in response to that, you will waive the bill".
Scientology's response to that was, "We will waive the bill if Marc and Claire "turn over the rights to Marc's book, "turn over all information of any e-mails, correspondence, "conversations they've ever had with Marty Rathbun, "Mike Rinder, and any ex-Scientology friends that we've communicated to".
And to basically rat on other people.
- Right.
- And finally, that we never, ever speak about our experiences in Scientology - ever again.
- For $46,000.
Wow.
And you said no.
Our response was to write them a check for $46,000.
Good for you guys.
Yeah.
That was awesome.
Which also, I should mention, that a good friend of mine, Jason Beghe said, um, "You shouldn't have to pay a penny of that".
He said, "I want you to do a fundraiser, and I want you to ask people to pay that $46,000".
500 donations and two weeks later, that money that we paid had been paid back in full.
- Wow.
- It was unbelievable.
Yeah.
In two weeks we were made whole and And you have your integrity.
And we never made any agreements.
Never.
Yeah.
We didn't make any sign any deals with the devil.
- We were good to go.
- Yeah.
Good for you guys.
I would add too, that during the course of our lawsuit, the Scientology lawyers actually admitted Marc's book - into evidence.
- As fact for their case! - They did? - Not us.
They did that.
And then what did the judge say in your case? So in the final ruling, he said had we pursued other courses of action, and two examples were assault and battery and false imprisonment, we may have fared differently.
And the final ruling actually documented many of the abuses that we'd been deposed in regards too.
So even though we lost technically, by not pursuing the right course of action It's public record that the abuses we suffered happened, and that Scientology claims it was their right to abuse us, because we were members of their religion.
What you did was quite courageous, quite admirable.
I mean I've always wanted to publicly say that about you two.
Thank you.
So Aaron, your wife when we came to your house in Florida did not want to film with us.
She had hoped that by not appearing on the show that her parents would eventually stay connected to you guys, but more importantly, their grandchildren, your children.
They owned the two properties across the street from the house where we live in.
And they had to sell those properties because that would put them in too close of proximity to us.
It made them connected to us.
And did they do so? Aaron, if you start me crying I swear to God, Aaron.
No, no.
Hold on.
I'll try to make it through.
The only way that our kids could see their grandparents, is when they would come over to do maintenance on the property or whatever.
And we would send the kids over.
We would say, "Go say hi".
We wouldn't go over there.
We'd say, "Go say hi".
- Out of respect for them.
- That's right.
And we said, look, we're not the Scientologists.
We don't recognize the disconnection policy.
And we don't recognize that it should have any power over them or our family.
And we would send them over.
And they've both the properties are sold now.
And there's no reason to believe that our kids will ever see their grandparents again.
And you know for Heather just to comment on it I know in her heart she would love to reconnect with her parents.
And how are your daughters doing not being able to see their grandparents at all? I think it's more upsetting for us than it is for them.
They're not sitting there going, "We hate our grandparents 'cause our grandparents won't see us".
No, no.
They're sitting there going, "We hate Scientology because we know that's why our grandparents can't see us".
My kids are the same.
I think it's important for me to make it clear that in my in-laws' case, they have two other children who are in Scientology, and married to Scientologists.
And they also have grandchildren So I want to make it clear that I'm not trying to vilify them for not "siding" with us.
The problem is no matter what decision they made, they were going to lose children and grandchildren because of Scientology.
There was no right decision.
We don't hold it against them personally.
They're good people.
It's a Sophie's choice when you're in Scientology.
You're gonna ruin a family part of your family, no matter which way you go.
This is why, regardless of what you think about Scientology, independent Scientology, whatever, this organization will destroy your family.
When we have a contributor come on the program, within seconds they have a hate website posted up about them.
But what's crazier is that Scientology doesn't stop after that.
They continue their abuse, and now they've taken their abuse to a level that is fucking sick.
So right after the show, there was the hate website put up on me.
And they had my son make a video You could even say that the fact of me not being in my mom's life is really her choice because I really made it very, very clear that from the first conversation, you know, like, if this is a field you're gonna go down, and you're gonna actively oppose something that really makes me happy and that I'm a really big part of I really like this and you know all my friends are Scientologists and this is something that I really agree with, and if you're gonna go against something that's a goal in my life just like any other goal, you know? If she's gonna actively oppose that, then I'm not gonna be a part of it.
And by the way, I do support him.
Right, because all you want to do is have a connection.
If you want to be a Scientologist, - that's fine with me - Right.
- I just don't want to do it.
- That was right.
- Exactly right.
- It's actually your son and all Scientologists who can't be connected to the one who doesn't want to be in Scientology and speaking out - Right.
- Against the abuses, and the things that they feel are harmful to their lives.
Right.
After that video came out, my husband's boyhood friend twists the word disconnection, and says I'm the one that disconnected from Sammy.
I disconnected from my first husband.
And then he says I disconnected from a child I had with that husband.
He told my son Sammy.
This really upsets me because my Sammy didn't know.
Not because I was really withholding it.
He will never forget that dinner where he found out not from his mother, but from his parent's one time best friends that she was married, had a child, had a divorce in that marriage, and gave up custody of that child.
This was when I was 20 years old.
Pre-Scientology.
And in fact, the fact that I felt like I didn't have my emotional wherewithal together to raise a child is what prompted me to allow this child to be adopted by my ex-husband and his new wife, because I thought it was I'm sorry, the best thing for him.
And you don't even need to explain yourself further, Mary I know, but see they do find your buttons.
And they found it.
I'm sorry.
They found it.
No, no, no.
I understand.
But I don't want you to feel like you have to explain yourself.
- Yeah.
- 'Cause you don't have to - explain shit to anybody.
- Right.
And right, I was 20! It doesn't matter.
Scientology But can I give you an irony here? Please.
It is so ironic that I don't have the emotional wherewithal to raise a child and I get in the church to try to find myself and be a better person.
40 years later, this church is using that against me.
It says everything you need to know.
Everything you need to know about this church.
Do not get in it.
Do not.
Right.
The fact that they used that against you so it was not a problem you were giving them - millions of dollars - Right, for 40 years.
And then they're claiming that you're doing something by appearing on this show is breaking up your family, but then they further break up your family by giving up one of your confessions.
One of the things you gave up and got into Scientology for, was something that was deeply affecting your heart and they go, "Hey, we have something on her".
Let's further destroy her".
That's their intention.
You said it perfectly.
You said it perfectly.
It's a policy.
The policy is to utterly annihilate.
The thing that really surprised me the most was that I got a call from my niece, saying that she had heard from the church.
And she had never been a Scientologist.
- No.
Never.
- Okay.
She saw a note on her door, a note on her mailbox, so she called them.
They said to her, "Thank you for reaching out to us".
She said, "I didn't reach out to you".
They were reversing it on her.
Trying to make it seem like she was doing something.
Like she wanted to speak out.
She said no, and she said within 15 minutes, two people showed up at her door.
They said, "Well, have you heard of the Kahns?" And that's when she freaked out.
And what did she say? She said, I don't She said, "No, leave.
This is a secure building.
What are you doing here? Leave!" And they left a typewritten note to her: "Thank you for meeting with us.
Thank you for reaching out to us".
They wanted her to make a video that they were willing to pay her for.
To speak out against Me, I think.
It's real cryptic.
Wait.
They were willing to pay her? - Yep.
It's in the note.
- It's in the note.
This is the typewritten one.
"The church is willing to pay you fair compensation "for the audio/visual material mentioned "during the phone call.
You would not be identified in any use of the material".
She had no idea what they were talking about.
I had no idea what they were talking about.
But then a little what, a month ago? Maybe three weeks ago, this weird video came out that they posted on their site an anonymous person saying she was there at the shoot.
I thought, that's what they were doing! They wanted to set up a video.
They wanted my niece to be part of it or something.
And she wanted nothing to do with them.
But the video says that you stopped production to have us all dramatize, that you scripted it, that I admitted to this person that we were being paid.
I wasn't paid.
The whole thing is a lie.
Here's what you can know about Scientology, whatever they accuse anyone speaking out against them of they are doing themselves.
They offered Mary Kahn's niece money, and they presented in the story that they're telling that the niece had said these things, which she didn't.
The hypocrisy of that is insane.
You know what, Mary? They didn't fucking destroy you.
No.
They didn't destroy anybody here.
No.
They're not destroying anybody who's gonna come out, because there's a support system now - that hasn't been there before.
- Right.
That's exactly correct.
And you're right, they did not destroy me.
I just have to say that.
I am actually so happy that I'm out, and I'm doing better than ever.
But I have a hole in my heart.
And they found it.
Since the shows have aired, I think for pretty much every single show, season one and season two, I at least have 16 people that have appeared on the show that have hate websites that have been put up on them.
Leah had 88 web domains registered against you.
Mike Rinder has 25.
I myself have ten.
My wife has ten.
Aaron has seven.
And Ron Miscavige, Sr.
has 522.
That's David Miscavige's father.
Scientology today continues its abuse towards any contributor on this show, A&E, the producers, to any journalist who's ever told a story that Scientology didn't want told.
It just continues, and continues.
With what's going on the world that you can get passionate about, Scientology is spending its time creating these websites that cost money, getting all of this energy of hate and ridiculousness if they put that energy into something good, we wouldn't have this program.
There'd be no need for it.
The worst offense of it all is to hide behind religious freedom and religious bigotry banners with their STAND League.
It's super, super sly.
They've got Well, it isn't that sly, Marc.
You went on the Internet, you saw them.
You found all of these fake accounts.
On Twitter, they have these STAND League bloggers - that have accounts - Okay.
And multiple STAND League accounts are fake accounts.
They've Photoshopped stock photos and made those their profile pics of these people.
So there's a guy and they took that stock shot and they made that this profile picture for this guy, and he's a STAND account blogger.
And you also see hundreds of STAND accounts are tweeting the exact same thing simultaneously 24 hours a day.
And you've got some 13-year-old boy in India, I think - India? - Yep.
And what's he doing? He started a Change petition demands cancellation of the A&E TV Leah Remini hate show, "Scientology: The Aftermath".
And this boy's claiming in his petition that it's a hate show and I think his petition is to the United Nations to have your show cancelled.
I'm not sure how that works, but I didn't know the UN had the power to cancel a show on cable TV.
Another thing indicative of how many actual Scientologists there are is this campaign's been running for several weeks now, and I think they have under 10,000 supporters of their campaign.
Even though there's 22 million some odd Scientologists out there.
I wanted to talk about the support.
Because I know you guys have helped people who have come out, and we don't actually hear about those things, and the positive things that have happened because of it.
The show itself is penetrating the Scientology wall.
I get messages all the time from children who are in Scientology, who are the children of staff members, who are the children of Sea Org members, who are the children of OT aides, who say, "I'm still in, "but I'm not doing anything anymore.
"I'm not with that, I just don't want to lose my family.
But I'm watching the show".
Yeah, and not even children.
I've had people that have written me saying, "I just saw the show, and I'm not going back to course tomorrow".
- Like the dude was on course.
- That's huge.
The dude was on course in a Scientology organization the day before.
The other thing that we've heard from people that have recently left is that we've been talking about and exposing things that have been happening at the International Headquarters.
And as we've been talking about those things, and things that have been shown on this show, they're changing the way they treat people there.
And suddenly they're now being able to visit family.
Suddenly they're eating better.
Suddenly, now if a girl finds out she's pregnant, she's immediately given a place to live, a place to go, money, and her and the husband leave to go have the child.
You know there's the "Supporters of Leah Remini: Scientology & the Aftermath" Facebook group.
And when I said earlier one of the ways to constantly get out this message that there is a support network, there is a support network, is to get the message out to the thousands and thousands of people who watch this show who are part of that group.
A lot of the people that are saying if any of these total strangers, if anybody needs anything, I've watched the show, you can come work for my company, I'll put you up, I have apartment buildings - That's right.
- I have whatever.
- Thousands.
- Yeah, so much.
There are thousands of people that are saying, "I don't care "if you have a high school diploma, you can come work for me".
- Yeah.
- Oh, that's beautiful.
- I didn't even have any idea.
- Oh, it's amazing.
One thing that's always been shocking, or surprising, or whatever to me, and I think it comes from growing up in an environment where compassion just did not exist to have so much compassion expressed by so many people that I never even knew! - Yeah.
- Yes.
It's amazing! Let me explain a relationship to you with people who are in Scientology, maybe not in the Sea Org, but still in Scientology, and their sons and daughters and friends who are not in Scientology at all.
Your relationships are tenuous, right? So it's okay for you not to be a Scientologist, kind of, but if you speak out against Scientology, then my decision's made.
So Ramina might've had somewhat of a relationship with her daughters and her grandkids, but it was always kind of predicated on the fact of if you speak out, then there is zero relationship.
I'm Ramina Nunnelee, and I was a Scientologist for 42 years, and I was in the Sea Organization for 26 years.
I brought my two little girls at the age of four and five into Scientology, and then later on into the Sea Organization.
And now here I am.
I just walked away from Scientology after seeing Leah's show.
That was Two and a half weeks ago.
- Hello.
- Hi.
Hi, beautiful.
- Hi, honey.
- Look at you.
Hi.
Oh! - Oh, Mike.
- Ramina! Hello, sweetheart! Hi, honey.
Are these tears of sadness? Tears of joy and a little bit of sadness.
It's a little bit of, you know, "Oh my God! How did we get to this point?" Ramina, I think it's absolutely amazing that we are sitting here with you today.
You realize that you are the first person who has seen the show and decided that you were going to take that step of standing up and saying, "You know what? I'm done with this, and I am going to make that known to the world".
And I want to thank you for that.
You're welcome.
I really I understand what it takes to do something like this, and - It's for my babies.
- I know.
And the babies out there that don't have their family members.
Like most of us, you believed that Scientology is the only thing saving mankind.
- Right.
- And you were not raised in Scientology to value family.
Chantal, you were not raised in Scientology to value family.
Neither was I.
The destruction of it is generational.
And I hope that stops.
People ask me, "How could you have left your children at such a young age?" And I'll go, "You'll never understand it, even if I explained it to you".
Well, you shouldn't understand it.
It's insane.
You know when my daughter was just growing up and learning how to walk, I was on my OT VI course from 9:00 in the morning till midnight.
Scientology eventually makes you lose yourself.
You're losing your empathy, you're losing your compassion, and ultimately you lose all sense of reality of what's going on in Scientology, and in the real world.
Even though I'm talking to you right now, I'm saying to you that I'm done, even as I was saying all the things I was saying, when I went in there in the back, and one of the staff said, "Thank you so much.
"It's been horrific hearing "all of these horrible stories.
You know, the damage that it's caused".
You know what my response was in a corner of my mind? Ramina, oh, my God, what have you done? You're preventing people from getting on the Bridge.
And I went, whoa, wait a minute.
Wait a minute! What am I thinking? Why am I even thinking this? It's programmed in you, you know? I haven't been considering myself to be a Scientologist for ten years.
And still I know that there are things and the way that I might look at something, or talk about it, or address it still I catch myself and go, "Wait.
"Is that really what I think? Or is that how I have been taught to think?" It's a testament to the power of the brainwashing and the mind control of Scientology that it is so difficult to shake it.
Last time we spoke, I didn't have a relationship with my mom and my stepfather.
Because of I didn't feel that closeness.
My parents wanted me to be involved and practicing Scientology, and wanted to be involved in my children.
That became a huge point of contention between us, because I wanted them to have a relationship with my parents.
But the reason I left Scientology is 'cause I didn't want to raise my children in the church.
My daughter specifically is very headstrong and found out about my upbringing, which I actually hid from the children.
- From "Going Clear," right? - Right.
So they saw "Going Clear," and it started to dawn on them I know something about Scientology, and I know my mom had something to do with Scientology, and I know my grandparents do, but to what extent? And so they started asking me questions, and I've always hid it from them because I didn't want them to be angry at them.
My daughter was upset because of the effects that it created on me.
And she was just kind of dominoed, and just was like well, if they're saying this is true, and you're telling me this is true, how are they not responsible for that? And I said, "Well, they kind of are".
And she's like, "Well, why won't they say that? That's all I want them to do is say that".
And I'm like, "They're not at that point".
And she just decided, well, if it is their policy to disconnect, you know, then I'm going to disconnect from them until they start looking at it.
I did.
I watched it, but I still thought that it was bullshit.
These guys were the enemy.
They were lying about Scientology.
I don't know how to explain it.
You can't say anything bad about Scientology.
You can't question it, even.
- No, you can't! - Yeah.
Right.
Even though you're supposed to think for yourself, even though you're supposed to have your own self-determinism Oh, no! God help you if you choose to think some other way.
But "Going Clear" didn't actually do it.
"Going Clear" started the process.
It was this show that clinched it.
Mirriam.
Oh, my God.
Part of the reason my mom even watched that episode was because I let her know that I was going to be in season two.
And my sister made it pretty clear to her "Look, I think you need to watch the show, "because I don't want you guys to be shocked.
You know, you need to see what's going on".
I know Mirriam's mom because I was in marketing up at Gold.
And we had been working together for quite a few years.
And I thought "this is crazy".
And then I find out about all these other kids.
And that's when I decided that's it enough is enough.
I'm not a Scientologist anymore.
Literally that next day, I got a text from my mom that said, "I watched Leah's show.
"And I need to talk to you, and I need to talk to Caitlyn, and I need to fix things".
And I forwarded you both the texts and I was like, whoa! This is kind of crazy for me.
Well, she says that, but what she wrote was, - "This is amazing.
I'm crying".
- Right.
No, of course I told them I'm bawling, and I can't believe I got this text from my mom.
This is to Chantal and her sister From her mother.
"Hi, girls.
Richard and I started to watch Leah's show.
"And will continue to watch the whole series.
"It's an eye-opener to say the least.
"We are both confronting things we never did before, "and started to come to grips with the lies "we've lived for so many years.
"It's hard.
Very, very hard, but we're gonna continue.
"So you know the first show in the series "with the two girls who were molested? "Well, we worked with Mirriam Francis' mother for many years "And she was a dear friend of mine.
"Richard and I were shocked by what we saw in that show.
"Anyway, I want you both to know that I am personally "totally done with Scientology "and Richard is really seeing things he hadn't seen before.
"Be patient with us, please.
"We are really struggling with all of this.
"We also know what grave mistakes we've made "being part of it.
I love you both and would love to get together soon".
That's so huge! I mean when I got that text, I was like I just I got chills! I was teary-eyed, and I just didn't have the words.
The next day she called me and said, "I want to do the show".
And I said, "Why, Mom?" And she said, "Because I need the children out there to know "that there's hope.
To not give up on them.
"And I need the parents out there to know that their children are still there.
That it's not too late".
And my whole world changed.
You know that feeling, Leah? That comfort? I always envied the relationship with you and your mom because I was so enamored by the fact that she left to a certain degree for you guys.
That she wasn't gonna put you guys in that situation.
And I missed my mom so much.
I even told you I've told you and Sherri so many times how much I miss my mom! And when she called me, something inside of me was like, "Oh, God.
I never thought I'd have my mom back".
I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry.
- I know you are.
I told you when you were in my womb that I would protect you and love you forever.
And I betrayed you and your sister.
And it kills me every day when I think about it.
I'm just so glad I have you back.
I have to do this.
I absolutely have to do this.
I don't give a damn if nothing comes out of this except for maybe one other parent will listen to me.
Please, I beg of you, I beg of you, save your children.
Go back to your children.
Don't put your church, your group, or anything ahead of your children.
I caused horrible things to my children to happen.
That's what it did to me! That's what this fucking church did to me.
It made me think that nothing else mattered but my group.
Nothing else! Well, guess what? No church is a church if they condone, advocate that family members split up and disavow each other.
No church has no decent church would do that.
How could they be considered a church? Ramina, when Chantal sent me that text that you had sent, it was it was so emotional for me, because I have to deal with someone whose family has been destroyed like my family was destroyed.
To have someone recover their family, that's all I do this show for.
That's it.
That's why I do this.
Who knows who now is gonna look at Ramina's show - and go - Thank you, thank you.
- I can't do it anymore.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
That is why we do this.
I'm hoping that before this airs, because once this airs, you have no chance of connecting - with let's say Mirriam's mom.
- Yeah.
And you try to contact our other friend's parents.
And implore them to look, I'm doing this.
I took my family back.
You should.
This is your only chance.
Take the causative road.
When I see you and Chantal back together Nothing beats that.
Nothing.
- So thank you.
- Yes, absolutely.
You're very welcome.
Thank you guys for giving us the opportunity.
And I'm so happy for my friend.
To have a mom of Scientology to say publicly and admit to, publicly, that she was willing to give up her children because of her ideology, is so powerful.
Not only did Ramina leave Scientology by watching our show, but she is willing to accept now what's coming her way, for speaking publicly, so she left Scientology, wanting to speak publicly, and willing to receive the attack that is coming her way from Scientology, that says a lot.
That says a lot about what we're doing.
This is like a snowball effect, right? People are starting to get braver, and braver, and braver.
And that's leading to a story, that's leading to another story.
This one saw that, that one saw this.
And then they connecting up with somebody else, and it's getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger.
And then what's happened of people coming forward, and us being contacted by the authorities and other lawyers, and other people coming forward, and the media.
The media, when it comes to Scientology, they're actually saying it from them.
They're saying these abuses are going on.
They're going a little further.
They're now telling the story of these victims of Scientology.
That's a huge change, but when we were nominated for an Emmy It was like, you know, Hollywood had accepted, you know, what was really going on.
Mary Kahn, Mike, and his wife, Christie, and Marc and Claire, and Aaron Smith-Levin, they all came in and I was just thinking oh, man, you know, I want this for them.
For what they had gone through.
And what they continue to go through.
And so that was a big thing.
That was a big thing for us.
And if we can just do this, like if people can just start to think in these terms, you don't need to agree with a way of thinking, it doesn't matter if it's this cult or another cult, you just need to break free.
Take back your life, and if one person leads to two people, which leads to more and more, then maybe we can stop a lot of this hurt.
Aaron, we get this question a lot.
And I feel like it should finally be answered.
It's very, very, very important.
What's happened to the dog? Well, last we spoke about this, he had not been disconnected from, so the dog has now been disconnected from.
- Officially? - Officially.
It's the first Suppressive Dog.
Really? So your dog's not allowed to play with the Scientology neighbor's dog? Right, right, and the neighbor, she had to build a six-foot wooden fence between the properties, so that you couldn't visually see from property to property, and the dog couldn't see the dog.
- Aaron! - I'm not kidding! - He's not kidding! - I'm not kidding.
- I'm not kidding.
- A fence has been built.
Because you can't have your SP dog looking at her non-SP dog.
That's right.
That's right.
I'm sorry.
Please apologize to your dog.
I will.
He's the most famous dog in Clearwater now, though.
- Yeah.
Oh, he is? - Oh, absolutely.
Okay, so he's gotten he has support? - He has a fan club.
- Okay, that's good.
Okay.