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"Prior to Leah Remini&amp;apos;s break from Scientology this summer, Paul Haggis was arguably the most high-profile and outspoken celeb to resign from the organization. After 35 years as a Scientologist, Haggis left the church in 2009, after which he claims he was shunned by many of his &amp;quot;former friends.&amp;quot; Remini was &amp;quot;one of two Scientologists who had refused to &amp;apos;disconnect&amp;apos;&amp;quot; from him when he left, he writes in a new open letter for The Hollywood Reporter.\r\nThe letter addresses the King of Queens actress&amp;apos; recent departure from the Church of Scientology, which still counts Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, and other celebs among its members. In the letter, Haggis -- an Oscar-winning director and screenwriter -- pledges his support for Remini and praises her for being &amp;quot;a class act and a lovely human being.&amp;quot; (Asked for comment, a Scientologist spokesperson told THR that Haggis is a &amp;quot;status-obsessed screenwriter&amp;quot; whose &amp;quot;&amp;apos;open letter&amp;apos; is nothing more than a transparent promotional gimmick.&amp;quot;)\r\n&amp;quot;Leah and I were always friendly but never close friends,&amp;quot; the Million Dollar Baby filmmaker writes. &amp;quot;Despite this, she called me as soon as she heard about my letter of resignation. Unlike the rest of my former friends, she expressed real sadness that I was leaving and concern for me and my family.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nRegarding Remini&amp;apos;s own departure from the church, Haggis says he is &amp;quot;disturbed&amp;quot; by &amp;quot;the way Leah was being attacked by her celebrity &amp;apos;friends,&amp;apos; who were disparaging her character.&amp;quot;\r\n&amp;quot;Having witnessed Scientology&amp;apos;s smear tactics, I can imagine how this was being orchestrated, but I was still shocked to see how quickly those friends -- some of whom had known Leah for 20 or 30 years -- jumped on the &amp;apos;malign Leah&amp;apos; campaign, and with such apparent glee,&amp;quot; he writes.\r\nAlso surprising to him, he says, was &amp;quot;the report that Leah had run afoul of the church by challenging Scientology&amp;apos;s leader, David Miscavige, who is held to be infallible.&amp;quot; (Haggis recalls making &amp;quot;a similar mistake&amp;quot; before his resignation.)\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;According to what I read on Tony Ortega&amp;apos;s blog&amp;quot; -- The Underground Bunker, which was first to break news of Remini&amp;apos;s departure from the church -- &amp;quot;at the 2006 wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Leah asked questions about her longtime friend Shelly, David Miscavige&amp;apos;s wife, who had suddenly disappeared,&amp;quot; Haggis writes. (For the record, an attorney for Shelly Miscavige told Us Weekly last year: &amp;quot;She is not missing. Any reports that she is missing are false. Mrs. Miscavige has been working nonstop in the church, as she always has.&amp;quot;)\r\nHaggis&amp;apos; letter also addresses reports that Remini &amp;quot;got in trouble&amp;quot; for defending him after he left Scientology. &amp;quot;She had shouting matches with Tommy Davis, then the church spokesman, who had come to try and keep her quiet,&amp;quot; he writes. &amp;quot;The fact that she fought within the system so resolutely for so long, never making her feelings public, is a testament to how much she believed in the basic goodness of her friends and the institution.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I can&amp;apos;t express how much I admire Leah,&amp;quot; he continues. &amp;quot;Her parents, family and close friends were almost all Scientologists; the stakes for her were so much higher than for me. Her decision to leave was so much braver.&amp;quot;\r\nHaggis notes that he contacted Remini toward the end of July. &amp;quot;It was good to hear her voice and great to hear her laugh -- though it was easy to tell she had been terribly hurt and shaken by the events of the last weeks,&amp;quot; he writes. &amp;quot;Leah is an incredibly strong woman and will get through this with the help of her family and her true friends. She is kind and generous and loyal; she has always cared more about others than herself. She barely knew me, and yet she fought for me and my family, a battle she had to know in her gut she was never going to win. That takes an enormous amount of integrity and compassion...I will forever be grateful to her.&amp;quot;\r\n(Read the letter in its entirety at The Hollywood Reporter.)"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/paul-haggis-writes-open-letter-praising-leah-remini-after-scientology-break-2013317>