Updated 02:38 AM EDT, Fri, Mar 29, 2024

Leah Remini Reveals Church of Scientology Attempted to Recruit Jennifer Lopez

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Leah Remini revealed that the Church of Scientology tried to recruit Jennifer Lopez.

In a sit-down interview with ABC News' "20/20" that aired on Friday night, the "Kings of Queens" actress and former Scientologist claimed that the church asked her to bring her close friend, Jennifer Lopez, and her then-husband, Marc Anthony, to the $2 million wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in 2006, E! News reported. Cruise is Scientology's most famous member.

"The Church was really the one who invited them," Remini said, as quoted by E! News. "On Tom's behalf."

The 45-year-old comedian, who wrote a memoir called "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology," also said that church officials had her and Lopez travel in separate vehicles and sit at different tables during the three-day celebration, the news outlet further reported.

Remini continued, "They were always trying to extract me. I could only assume because they wanted to make Jennifer a Scientologist and maybe I was barring that road for them."

Lopez, who was raised Roman Catholic, didn't comment on Remini's claims.

Remini was raised in the religion and left it in 2013, E! News noted. She told "20/20" that she was worried that church leader David Miscavige, Cruise's best man, attended the celebration without his wife, Shelly. Remini then left the wedding on a mission to save Scientology and submitted a "Knowledge Report" to the organization to complain about church members at the event.

She recounted that her then-fellow Scientologists "had also filed reports complaining about her behavior during the festivities, accusing her of being loud, late and rude, upgrading her hotel room and switching seats at the reception," E! News wrote. According to Remini, these members are trying to get her to "recant" her statement and "to apologize for ruining the wedding of the century," the news outlet added.

A Church of Scientology International spokesperson said that, pertaining to the wedding, Remini's claims are not just false, but also "ridiculous and stupid," E! News quoted.

Remini added that she was sent to Florida "for reprogramming for three or four months" after the wedding, according to Fox News Latino.

In her "20/20" interview, Remini said she had once witnessed an intimate moment between Cruise and Holmes and had commented about the matter loudly, resulting to Scientology officials scolding her, E! News wrote.

A short statement from Holmes was aired by ABC following Remini's appearance at the talk show, which reads, "I regret having upset Leah in the past, and wish her only the best in the future," Vanity Fair quoted.

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