Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
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| Author | Leah Remini |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Church of Scientology |
| Publisher | Ballantine Books |
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Publication date
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November 3, 2015 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, paperback) |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | (Hardcover) |
Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology is a biographical memoir by the American actress, producer, author, and comedian Leah Remini. Published in November 2015, it chronicles her life, her acting career, her experiences as a member of the Church of Scientology from a young age, and her subsequent split from Scientology. It received favorable reviews and became a bestseller soon after publication, though the Church of Scientology was strongly critical of it.
Troublemaker is, as The Huffington Post puts it, "the first book to reveal the perspective of one of Scientology’s many celebrity members". Remini announced plans for the book soon after splitting from Scientology in 2013, when she told Us magazine that it would "include my experiences, everything that's taboo to talk about". It was published on November 3, 2015 by the Random House imprint Ballantine Books, which described it as "bold, brash, and bravely confessional".
The book describes Remini's more than 30 years in Scientology – which in hindsight she views as "often deeply strange" – joining as a child along with her parents. She became a popular child star and a successful adult actor, making her one of Scientology's top celebrities. Although she had a troubled time as a member of the elite Sea Org when she was a teenager, she was a committed and high-profile member who was on friendly terms with the church's leadership. She claims to have contributed millions of dollars to the Church Of Scientology for the innumerable training courses she completed and for the Church's Building Fund as well as for its various, ostensibly altruistic, outreach programs around the world. However, she grew disenchanted with the church and in particular its leader David Miscavige and fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise, getting herself into trouble for asking the wrong questions, especially about the unexplained disappearance of Miscavige's wife Shelly. She was subjected to retaliatory write-ups and punishments and eventually quit, but faced the loss of all her friends from Scientology, who "disconnected" from her. She concludes:
"I am a combative, inquisitive, argumentative person, and I will never allow anyone to change that. I still have anger, but I’m okay with that because it fuels me to continue to right any wrongs I may see. And it's because of that and the support of my true friends and family that I was able to fight my way out of Scientology and see the world for the first time."
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