Leah Remini: Tom Cruise had me ask CBS exec to kill ‘60 Minutes’ story on Scientology

Leah Remini, an ex-Scientologist who now denounces her former religion as a money-making scam that brainwashes its adherents and bullies its detractors, told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview that action-movie star Tom Cruise once enlisted her to lobby a CBS executive to kill a critical “60 Minutes” story.

Ms. Remini was co-star of the popular network sitcom “King of Queens” at the time, and church officials apparently thought the actress might have some pull with Les Moonves, the network president, she told THR.

“So I called Les Moonves, even though I was really uncomfortable with it,” Ms. Remini explained, noting that Mr. Cruise was listening in on the telephone conversation.

But for his part, Mr. Moonves was unequivocal in rejecting the idea. “I have no right to interject my opinion of what I like or don’t like with the news organization of CBS, and I will absolutely not engage this conversation,” Mr. Moonves said, according to Ms. Remini.

The Church of Scientology now dismisses Ms. Remini as a bitter apostate looking to cash in.

“Leah Remini is in it for the money and now tries to pretend otherwise,” an unnamed Church of Scientology representative said in statement, THR reported. Ms. Remini’s charge regarding the “60 Minutes” report was neither confirmed or denied in the statement.

Ms. Remini’s THR interview was published Tuesday morning in advance of the premiere of the documentary series, “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath,” on the A&E network. Ms. Remini has previously penned a memoir of her experiences with the Church of Scientology, titled “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.”

The 46-year-old actress has since re-embraced the Catholic faith of her youth, having her daughter Sophia baptized last year. 

“Nobody is asking me for money. Nobody is demanding that I come,” Ms. Remini told People magazine in a November 2015 cover story. “I light a candle. I sit, and I listen.”