Leah Remini claims that Bella Cruise, Tom Cruise’s daughter with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, called her mother a “SP” or “Suppressive Person,” according to an advance copy of Remini’s new tell-all obtained by the New York Daily News.
Remini’s book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, includes several claims about Cruise’s 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes – including Bella’s comment – according to material quoted by the Daily News.
Remini claims in the book that before the ceremony itself, Cruise waited at the altar for 20 minutes before Holmes arrived, long enough for Remini’s longtime friend Jennifer Lopez to ask her, “Do you think Katie is coming?”
Remini claimed in a 20/20 interview on Friday that Scientology asked her to invite her friend Lopez and her then-husband, Marc Anthony, on “Tom’s behalf,” then tried to separate the friends during the festivities.
“They were trying to extract me,” Remini said of the wedding on 20/20. “I can only assume because they wanted to make Jennifer a Scientologist. Maybe I was barring that road for them.”
In a statement, the Church of Scientology – which termed all of Remini’s claims about the wedding “not only untrue, but ridiculous and stupid” – responded: “The Church does not single out anyone for its services, while its doors are open to all to make the able more able. The Church has not cared that Ms. She claims in the book that after the wedding, she shared a ride with Kidman’s children with Cruise, Bella and Connor, and asked them if they’d had contact with their mom, according to the Daily News.
“Not if I have a choice,” Remini claims in the book that Bella, who was then 13, said, according to the Daily News. “Our mom is a f---ing SP.”
In its statement, the Church of Scientology says: “We have never heard Ms. Remini’s claim and do not believe it. The Church and Ms. Kidman have responded in the past to false claims that there was anything wrong with Ms. Cruise’s relationship with her mother.”
(Someone can be declared a Suppressive Person “in instances of serious offenses against the Scientology faith and can also occur when an individual is found to be actively working to suppress the well-being of others,” according to the church’s website, which adds that “publicly renouncing the faith” is considered a “Suppressive Act.”)
Holmes said in a statement provided to PEOPLE by her publicist, “I regret having upset Leah in the past, and wish her only the best in the future.” Reps for Kidman and Lopez declined to comment about Remini’s claims.
The Church of Scientology, which released a response to Remini on its website, stated of her claims about the wedding: “Every claim Ms. Remini has made is not only untrue, but ridiculous and stupid. She is just trying to latch onto a prominent celebrity for her own publicity. As a note, every guest but Ms. Remini respected the couple’s privacy by not speaking about it afterward. That in itself describes what kind of person Ms. Remini is: self-absorbed, rude and embarrassing, all traits she displayed as a guest of this event according to parishioners who attended.”
Remini, a former King of Queens star, publicly split with Scientology in 2013.
“The decision to leave is your giving up everything you’ve worked for your whole life,” Remini said on 20/20. “I feel that people need to understand this has been my whole life.”
Of these claims, the Church of Scientology responded: “The Church declines to comment on Ms. Remini’s childish gossip. We keep communications between parishioners and the Church private.We will state that Ms. Remini continues to exaggerate and embellish events while spinning numerous tales that are provably false.”
