Leah Remini and Kirstie Alley Feud: Inside Their Ups and Downs Over Scientology, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and More

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Leah Remini and Kirstie Alley Feud: Inside Their Ups and Downs Over Scientology, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and More

Not your average celebrity feud. Leah Remini and Kirstie Alley’s tumultuous relationship started making headlines after the King of Queens alum left Scientology in 2013 — and things never really slowed down. The former Cheers star made it clear she wasn’t thrilled with Remini when she walked away from the church. One year later, Dancing With the Stars’ Maksim Chmerkovskiy got dragged into the drama after Alley, his season 12 partner, seemingly cut ties with him upon his friendship with Remini and bestie Jennifer Lopez. “She stopped getting along with me," Chmerkovskiy said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2014. ”I think the world of her. I'm not judging people by their religion. … I’m Jewish, and you know, I don't really believe in science fiction, but whatever. We had a great relationship." Two years later, he told Us Weekly exclusively that he wasn’t “allowed” to be friends with the It Takes Two star. “Scientology happened. You can thank Leah Remini for that. A note was sent to a friend telling me I was ‘disconnected,’ as in, I am no longer allowed to be Kirstie’s friend,” he said in 2016. “I find it ridiculous for an adult human being to ‘disconnect’ from someone. But everyone is entitled to their own insanity.” [jwplayer EwDtX3Tb-zhNYySv2] The dancer was at the center of their discussion surrounding Remini and Alley again in February 2022 when Chmerkovskiy revealed he was in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion. Alley made waves when she tweeted that she didn’t know “what’s real or what is fake in this war.” Chmerkovskiy fired back via Instagram Stories at the time: “Dear Kirstie, We haven’t spoken in a while, but I clearly remember being right next to you while you were organizing trucks of aid during Hurricane Sandy and I remember all that you were saying to me about situations where innocent [people] are suffering. That same energy is needed right now. No one needs your prayer if you don’t know what’s real or fake.” Remini then stepped in. “1. So @kirstiealley can comment on things she knows nothing about like mental health, psychiatric drugs, and virology, but she won’t comment on Putin who is an evil tyrant? No comment about Russia invading Ukraine? The killing of innocent people? The displacement of Ukrainians?” the Saved by the Bell alum tweeted. “2. She has no comment on these crimes against humanity? But she’s going to pray? Scientology, her ‘religion’, says Christ is a pedophile and a lie. Scientologists aren’t allowed to believe in anything else other than Scientology. So who is she praying to?” Us Weekly reached out to Alley and Scientology for comment regarding Remini’s February 2022 tweets. However, in December 2022, the It Takes Two actress died after a short battle with cancer. She was 71. Scroll through for a complete breakdown of Remini and Alley’s feud:

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2013

After Remini left the church in 2013, she told Ellen DeGeneres that her family has “lost friends” because of their choice. Alley slammed her remarks to Howard Stern at the time, calling Remini a “bigot.”

“First of all, I just want to everyone to know I have hundreds of friends and people that I know that have come into Scientology and left Scientology,” Alley said at the time. “It is not true that you cannot [leave] … You’re not shunned, you’re not chased. All that stuff’s bulls—t.”

The Kirstie alum added: “When you are generalizing, and when your goal is to malign and to say things about an entire group — there are tens of millions of Scientologists in the world — when you decide to blanket statement that 'Scientology is evil,' you are my enemy. … The truth is, I don't think I've seen Leah for seven or eight years, not for any reason other than I'm acting, and she's acting. I didn't care if she was in or out."

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2015

Two years later, the Drop Dead Gorgeous actress spoke to Stern again, telling the host in December 2015: “She left the religion and she was very critical. That’s just sort of water under the bridge. There’s nothing going on and there was nothing going on for years. I didn’t shun her, but if a lot of people are rejecting you, at some point you gotta ask, ‘What am I doing?’ I mean, that’s what I would have asked myself.”

Remini, for her part, told Stern in November 2015 that she “understood” Alley’s remarks. “I know the policy. I understand that hiding behind, you know, religious bigotry is the route to go,” she said. “I know why she thinks she’s angry with me, and I know, again, hiding behind that veil is something that is per policy. They see me as an enemy.”

When asked what she would say to Alley if she saw her, Remini replied, “If I did [see Kirstie] I wouldn’t say anything because I know she couldn’t talk to me. I’m shunned. She couldn’t talk to me.”

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2020

Former Scientologist Tony Ortega opened up exclusively to Us about the tension between the women in December 2020 after Alley responded to a social media user who brought up Remini’s 2013 claim that church leader David Miscavige’s wife, Shelly Miscavige, was missing. (Scientology and lawyers for Shelly have long denied anything was wrong, while Alley alleged that Remini’s missing person's report was a publicity stunt.)

“Kirstie tries to discredit Leah at every opportunity,” the Underground Bunker blogger told Us. “Leah is a very big problem for the church and for Kirstie. She just isn’t going away. Kirstie has been given permission to attack [Leah’s claims].”

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2022

Remini and Alley didn’t hold back after the latter made headlines for her post about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I don’t care what the punk ass twats say,” Alley tweeted. “I will continue to pray for the people of the Ukraine. Putin is a c_t [SIC] and a coward and I’ll pray his own soldiers refused to do this dirty work. PS, I pray to the same God you do. So get over your nasty selves.”

The Troublemaker author fired back in a thread: “1. Whoa… looks who’s talking now. So tough. So opinionated. I got your ‘punk ass twat’ right here and I will raise you one. That’s to you and the rest of you p--y ass Scientology bitches (men & women) who are very brave on social media but can’t handle any real confrontation. 2. Anytime. Anyplace. Stop with the fake tough talk and bring it. You all have been invited to the table many times to handle this face-to-face. But you can’t handle it. 3. By the way, none of this is very Christian of you of you @kirstiealley. Your friend Maks is in a war zone and innocent people are dying. Pretending you pray to any God is sad. I wish you did. Stand by your own belief system which tells you there is no God.”