Leah Remini says she left scientology because of her daughter

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Leah Remini doesn't "want to be known as this bitter, ex-Scientologist." However, she opened up once again about her decision to leave the Church because she wants "people to know the truth."

The 43-year-old actress explained that her daughter's age -- Sofia is 9 years old -- was one of the most important factors in her resolve to leave the Church.

"She was getting to the age where the acclimation into the Church would have to start," she told Buzzfeed of the time children begin Scientology's "auditing" process.

"I started thinking of my own childhood and how I grew up resenting my mother because she was never home," Remini says. "But my mom thought she was doing something good; she thought she was helping the planet. That's what the Church tells you."

The former King of Queens star added that she didn't want her daughter to resent her the way she resented her mother after she relocated the family to a Scientology compound in Clearwater, Fla.

"In my house, it's family first -- but I was spending most of my time at the Church," she added. "So, I was saying 'family first,' but I wasn't showing that. I didn't like the message that sent my daughter."

Remini explained that before leaving she tried making some changes from within the church, but received no help from her fellow devotees.

"In the Church, you're taught that everybody is lost," she told Buzzfeed. "They say they're loving, caring, non-judgmental people, but secretly, they were judging the world for not believing what they believed. To me, that is not a spiritual person. That's a judgmental person and that is the person that I was. I was a hypocrite, and the worst thing you can be in this world is a hypocrite."

[Buzzfeed]