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It’s never too late! I am often guilty of thinking it’s too late to make significant changes in my life, so this post from Leah Remini was a welcome, joyous kick in the pants for me. It’s been 10 years since Leah broke from Scientology, and she did not go quietly. Through memoir, Emmy-winning television and even filing a missing persons report, Leah has forced a conversation on the cult that Hollywood has tried to pretend away. Then in fall 2021, for her own personal fulfillment, Leah enrolled at New York University (since higher education was not kosher to Dianetics). Now in a new post on Instagram, Leah is celebrating having completed two years at NYU:
Leah Remini is making up for lost time.
The Emmy winner, who famously exited the Church of Scientology in 2013, revealed last week on Instagram that she officially finished her second year at New York University.
“Two years ago, I had an 8th-grade education thanks to spending 35 years in a cult,” Remini wrote. “And now, at age 52, I’ve successfully finished my second year at NYU. Undertaking this educational journey has been one of the most difficult experiences of my life.”
The former “King of Queens” star previously told BuzzFeed her mother joined Scientology shortly before Remini’s 10th birthday. She said she received “barely any schooling” and endured constant physical labor with “heavy repercussions for refusing to work.”
The actor left the church at age 42 and went on to write the tell-all memoir “Troublemaker” in 2015, followed by an A&E documentary series about the church that earned her the first Emmy of her career.
“L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, had a deep disdain for conventional education and since everything in Scientology is guided directly by his principles, with no room for interpretation, my education was interrupted,” Remini tweeted last year.
Remini added it “took a lot” for her to apply to a conventional school after years of being told she wasn’t “smart” or “worthy enough” for an education outside the church. While she added “a very special person” gave her the final push, Remini is doing the rest.
“There have been days where I’ve thought about giving up,” she wrote in her post last week. “While I’m still not finished, I’m so glad I decided to dive in. If you have the desire and capacity, please remember that it’s never too late to start again.”
So I’m a nerd and looked up what Leah is studying at NYU as part of her associate’s program in liberal arts, and I can see why she chose this program. The overview says it teaches students “to write effectively and think analytically” and often acts as a gateway to a BA in Humanities or Social Sciences. While I don’t know if she has plans to pursue a BA, the focus on critical thinking and writing will serve Leah in whatever she wants to do (like taking down Scientology). It’s a smart foundation for someone who’s tackling college after having missed a good chunk of her education.
Then I fell down a rabbit hole of picking classes for me and classes for Leah (nerd here, remember?) and gosh, after decades in Hubbard-land I hope she’s taking Intro to Psychology or Intro to Sociology. I’m developing a fantasy of Leah preparing some kind of visual-media thesis project and screening it by booking every IMAX theater in North America the week a new Mission Impossible is out.
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