Leah Remini Says Scientology Was 'A Lie'; DWTS Star Was Saving Her Daughter, Like Katie Holmes; Scientology Chief Responds

Leah Remini  left Scientology last year amid great fanfare. Now the "Dancing With the Stars" star is  breaking her silence about why she left the Church of Scientology. Remini is writing on a book on Scientology days.

Leah Remini says it wasn't easy deciding to leave the Church of Scientology. Remini did it for her 9-year-old daughter, Sofia. There was speculation that Katie Holmes left Tom Cruise to protect her daughter, Suri, 7, from Scientology.

In an interview with BuzzFeed, Leah Remini says left Scientology over "dozens of influencing factors." Remini's 9-year-old daughter, Sofia, was getting to the age when auditing, Scientology's question process, was going to be required.

Remini said "[Sofia] was getting to the age where the acclimation into the Church would have to start," Remini, who also starred on the sitcom "King of Queens" grew up in the Church of Scientology. Remini's mother, Vicki, move to a Scientology compound in Clearwater, Fla., before Remini was 10.

Remini remembered her own days saying "We were working from morning until night with barely any schooling. There was no saying no. There was no being tired. There was no, 'I'm a little girl who just lost her father and everything I've ever known.' There was only, 'Get it done.' ... "If the church needed a ballroom wall knocked down, you made it happen because there were heavy repercussions if you didn't. And although that was horrendous for a child to deal with, at the same time, it gave me my work ethic."

The Church of Scientology responded to Leah Remini's comments. A representative told Us Weekly "It comes as no surprise that someone as self-absorbed as Leah Remini with an insatiable craving for attention would exploit her former faith as a publicity stunt by rewriting her history with it, including omitting that she was participating in a program to remain a Scientologist by her own choice, as she was on the verge of being expelled for her ethical lapses."