‘She will call Tom Cruise as a witness’

Leah Remini is on a one-woman crusade to force the Church of Scientology to its knees—and she is set to drag Tom Cruise along with her.

The “King of Queens” star wants to force a real accounting for the church she fled in 2013, and filed a lawsuit Wednesday which reveals extraordinary allegations of a harassment campaign against her and other “survivors.”

Remini, 53, who named Cruise’s BFF, Scientology leader David Miscavige, as a defendant in the suit, has former church leaders backing her—and they tell The Post they’re ready to tell their truth about its “regime of abuse.”

Remini, who has labeled Hollywood icon Cruise as “essentially second in command” in the church, alleged that she was held at a Scientology facility for 4 months and “psychologically punished” after asking where Miscavige’s wife, Shelly Miscavige, was at Cruise’s 2006 Italian wedding to his ex-wife Katie Holmes.

One highly-placed source told The Post: “I think that Leah will call Tom to be a witness. She claims that she was abused after his wedding, so why wouldn’t she call him? He’s a part of this.”

The Post has reached out to Cruise for comment.

The church grew out of the writings of British science fiction author, L. Ron Hubbard, who came to believe that human bodies are a temporary home for immortal spirits known as “thetans.”

Its followers—estimated at 30,000 or more—have given the church a fortune widely estimated to run up to $3 billion.

But its secrecy and practices including encouraging members to sign billion-year pledges of servitude have long seen it being called a “cult” by critics.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court Wednesday, the Church of Scientology “stalked, surveilled, harassed, threatened, intimidated” Remini after she quit the church in 2013.

She accuses it of spreading lies about her on hundreds of social media accounts it controls. Family members, friends and colleagues have also allegedly been “incessantly harassed, threatened, intimidated, and embarrassed.” 

The hate campaign has cost her work, she claims.

Critics say Scientology has a policy known internally as “Fair Game,” which lets it use scorched earth tactics against its enemies—especially people who leave.

Two senior leaders who quit Scientology told The Post that Cruise was a key part of the church’s leadership.

Claire Headley left the church with her husband Mark in 2006 and was an expert witness on Scientology for the prosecution in the Danny Masterton rape trial this year.

She told The Post that Cruise’s seniority meant that he would have “personal knowledge” of “abuses” within Scientology and knowledge of “Fair Game” so it would make sense for Leah to call him as a witness.

“Leah’s the absolute opposite of Tom Cruise, she’s one of a kind and she’s leading the charge.”

Last summer, when Cruise, 60, who has been a member of the church since the mid-1980s, was feted for saving Hollywood with his “Top Gun” sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick,” Headley wrote in a Facebook post: “Glad all you Top Gun fans are enjoying the new movie.

“Personally, recent posts about this movie only serve to remind me of Tom Cruise and his crimes against humanity.”

Three years after she and her husband fled the church in 2006, they filed a suit against Scientology, alleging that the organization violated human trafficking laws and people’s human rights. 

She accused the church of forcing her to have two abortions when she was a member.

But their case was dismissed and they had to pay the church’s $43,000 legal fees; the church said her case’s claims were meritless.

After leaving the church and suing it, she told The Post she was harassed and targeted by it.

“The church had a picture of my son when he was one day old, alleging he was sickly so that meant we were jealous of Tom Cruise as the ‘reason’ we were exposing Scientology abuses – the most vile b——t.
“They had special trash collections on us, got our phone records, placed false friends into our lives who rifled through our belongings, gathering intel on us.” 

In 2015, Remini published a memoir, “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology,” and in 2017 won a Television Critics Association award for her series “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.”

Headley said: “She’s an amazing advocate for victims, which is why Scientology is squealing. This type of approach and action has been needed for decades.

“Leah’s standing up for herself as well as hitting back at the thousands of Scientology policies that for decades were used against me, my family, and many, many other people.

“The fact they use tax-exempt dollars to get away with this in 2023 is absolutely stunning.”

The Headleys now live with their three sons, aged 17, 15, and 10, in Colorado and run an online accountancy business, as well as helping people leave Scientology.

Headley says they are still targeted by the church, with Scientology-run websites peddling lies about them —and people even reaching out to their clients to attack them.

The church released a lengthy statement calling Remini’s lawsuit “ludicrous” and her allegations “lunacy.”

“Remini spreads hate and falsehoods for a decade and is now offended when people exercise their right to free speech, exposing her for what she is—an anti-free speech bigot,” the statement added.

.Headley suggested the response showed Scientology is troubled by the case, and said: “What’s probably most shocking, except not shocking to me, is that a billion dollar organization doesn’t even have a name to sign the response, it’s from nobody.”

Former Scientologist Amy Scobee, 60, who was in charge of its Celebrity Centre, is prepared to give evidence for Remini.

She became a member of the church when she was 14, and alleges she was sexually abused by her 35-year-old superior.

She told The Post: “Many times I’ve said we should sue, because Scientology’s criminal harassment and stalking of whistleblowers was so extreme, but I didn’t know if it would ever come to fruition.

“It’s not a little thing to go up against Scientology in the legal arena; if you thought your harassment was bad before, it’s going to get a whole world worse.

“A couple of months ago, I spoke to Leah’s lawyers and spent quite some time telling them all about my decades of experience at the highest management echelon of Scientology and with David Miscavige.

“If the suit does go to trial, I told them that I’m totally willing to get up on the stand and testify. I have so much evidence and 18 years of experience with their ‘Fair Game’ and attack tactics.”

 The church claims Scobee is a liar and says she was dismissed for ethics breaches.

“There could well be a class action by former Scientologists in light of Remini’s case,” Headley said.”There is certainly a class there, there’s no shortage of people Scientology has lied about and tried to destroy.”

“Plenty have been victims of bullying and evil tactics, so you never know. My real hesitation in a legal battle with them is knowing how vicious, how litigious they are, how many law firms are in their employ. It’s not an easy road.”

Headley said she hoped the suit would shed light on the enduring mystery of the disappearance of Shelly Miscavige, the wife of leader David. But she said: “The bottom line – more than where is Shelly, is why are law enforcement and government agencies standing by, how is this possible in this day in age?”

Now, former members say, they hope the suit will create the reckoning for Scientology that Remini wants.

“Nothing about this is easy… the church has been getting their way for decades and Leah is very bravely calling them to task,” said Headley.