Leah Remini Talks NYU Milestone After 'Spending 35 Years in a Cult'

Leah Remini’s two years into her education at New York University and she’s taking a step back to admire her progress despite, she says, “spending 35 years in a cult.”

The 52-year-old actress took to Instagram on Friday to share that she recently completed her second year at the prestigious university. She was in tears just two years ago after announcing her admission into an associate’s program in liberal arts. Fast forward to now, the King of Queens star is adamant that it’s “never too late to start again.”

“Two years ago, I had an 8th-grade education thanks to spending 35 years in a cult,” she began her post. “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. There have been days where I’ve thought about giving up. While I’m still not finished, I’m so glad I decided to dive in.”

Remini, who has been actively outspoken against Scientology since disavowing the church, added, “If you have the desire and capacity, please remember that it’s never too late to start again.”

In a January 2022 thread she posted on Twitter, Remini claimed that by the time she was 16 she “hadn’t received any sort of formal education for years” and instead “had been working for years so that I could support myself and my family. For the last 38 years of my life, I have been living and working with an 8th grade education.”

The actress famously left the Church of Scientology in 2013, and has since sought to expose the religion’s controversial inner-workings. In 2016, she shined a light on the Church of Scientology in the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.

She executive produced the eight-episode miniseries, which aimed to give a voice to others who have fled the church and had allegedly been victims of harassment.