The Remarkable Transformation of Leah Remini Through the Years

Leah Remini was born in Brooklyn in 1970. By the time she was 7, her parents had divorced and she struggled to fit in with her peers. “I always felt like I was kind of an outsider because I didn’t have the right things,” she said on “20/20.” 

Remini became a Scientologist at age 9 after being introduced to the religion by her mom, and the future star and her family later moved from New York to Florida for the church. “We went from a middle-class lifestyle [in Brooklyn] to living in a roach-infested motel with six other girls off a freeway in Clearwater, [Florida],” she told BuzzFeed. The actor said her education halted when she reached the 8th grade and she started doing manual labor within Scientology. “We were separated from our mother. We had to sign billion-year contracts we didn’t understand … We were working from morning until night with barely any schooling,” she said. In her interview with “20/20,” Remini added that she “could go from working in a laundry room to working industrial sanders.”

Remini also spoke about her early life with the church on “Grounded with Louis Theroux,” explaining how being involved with the religion from a young age affected her personality. “Growing up like that and feeling if someone didn’t get me or I was having trouble in my life, it was because they were not Scientologists. It always excused away any issues I might have had … It was never my fault,” she said.

Around age 13, Leah Remini moved to Los Angeles with her family but, unlike many actors moving to the west coast to pursue their dreams, Remini settling in the City of Angels was more of a coincidence than a plan. “Oddly, moving to LA had nothing to do with me wanting to be an actress,” she told BuzzFeed, sharing she and her family had grown tired of their basic accommodation in Florida. “My mother had a friend who was willing to take us in for a month until we could get on our feet,” she said. Remini enrolled in public school, but dropped out at age 14.

The aspiring actor then began auditioning around LA. “Commercials, movies, TV movies — whatever,” she told Parade of the gigs she went for earlier in her career, sharing she got her first agent at age 16. Writing on Facebook, Remini explained she wanted to be a famous actress to help her family. “I saw a successful acting career as a salvation. It would help me get my family out of poverty and give me a higher standing in Scientology which I truly believed was helping to save mankind,” she wrote. As an up-and-coming star, Remini appeared in a slew of notable shows early in her career, including “Who’s The Boss?” in 1989, as well as multiple episodes of “Saved By The Bell” and “Cheers” in the early ’90s.

As Leah Remini’s star power grew, she began receiving bigger opportunities. “They wanted me to audition for ‘Will & Grace’ … I read that and I read ‘Friends.’ I said, ‘These two shows are going to be hits, but I’m not those characters. I don’t think this is meant for me,'” she told TV Insider. Though she didn’t become part of the main “Friends” cast, or a ’90s trend style icon like Jennifer Aniston, she still appeared in one episode of the beloved sitcom. She later landed a main role on the short-lived show “Fired Up.”

Remini’s most iconic role came knocking in 1998, when she was cast as the confident Carrie Heffernan in “The King of Queens.” “I had been to hundreds of auditions, was cast in many pilots and some short-lived series,” Remini recalled on X. “As soon as production started on Season 1, I knew I was home,” she added.

Remini signed up for “The King of Queens” without knowing too much about the script, because she knew she’d appear alongside Kevin James, who she’d met and had chemistry with. The two would go on to play husband and wife, and Remini recalled on “Today,” “Immediately I was like I don’t even care what the script is, I just love this guy so much and I was like yes.”

In 2003, Leah Remini celebrated a huge life milestone when she married Angelo Pagán. The two met in a club Pagán was singing in seven years earlier, and she recalled their first interaction on “RuPaul.” “[It was] everything you should not do as a girl, ask a guy when he gets off, hit it real quick,” she joked. Remini also shared that things weren’t so easy at the start of their romance. “We did have a hard time in the beginning. We didn’t meet under the best circumstances. We got counseling and it was not an easy road,” she shared, joining the ranks of celebrity pairs normalizing couples therapy. 

But the two worked through their issues and a relationship truly blossomed from their less-than-ideal meeting, as Remini and Pagán tied the knot in front of 125 guests in an outdoor Las Vegas ceremony. “The King of Queens” producer Rob Schiller attended their big day and told People of their vows, “The words were very funny, very heart-felt. It brought tears to everybody’s eyes.”

Soon afterwards, Remini experienced a career shift when she became a reality star, as the loved-up couple invited the cameras into their home. Their wedding preparations were recorded for a VH1 special entitled “Inside Out: Leah Remini.”

Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán expanded their family in 2004, welcoming their first and only child together, daughter Sofia, in June. They documented the birth in the VH1 reality special “Inside Out: Leah Remini — The Baby Special.” “That was interesting,” Remini joked on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” The couple decided not to introduce Sofia to Scientology, despite “The King of Queens” star being so heavily involved at the time. “My daughter was never a member,” Remini later told E! News. “I never did indoctrinate her … I didn’t want this for her.”

But while Remini was riding high in her professional and personal life, she was dealt a blow when “The King of Queens” ended after nine seasons. “Kevin [James] loved the show, but his film career was taking off and he didn’t want it to end up being the show that trickled off,” she told BuzzFeed, admitting she found the news hard to swallow. “I understood his position, and looking back, he was right, but I’m still mourning that loss,” she added, sharing it still felt too raw for her to watch reruns.

At the time, Remini told Zap2It she planned to replace working on the show with family time. “I’ll probably just fill my time with my family and my daughter. She’s starting to say, ‘Don’t go to work.’ It’s the right age to give it a break. She’s going to be 3,” she said.

After taking a step back from the spotlight, Leah Remini was ready for a career reset. She tried her hand at daytime TV in 2010 as a co-host of “The Talk,” alongside Holly Robinson Peete, Sharon Osbourne, Julie Chen, Marissa Jaret Winokur, and Sara Gilbert. Remini told BuzzFeed she wasn’t initially interested in the gig, but signed on the dotted line after executive Les Moonves purportedly told her it could lead to other things at the network.

“Les said that for every year I was on ‘The Talk,’ he’d let me develop shows for CBS, which sounded great,” she said. But things turned sour when Remini and Peete were dropped from the show and a messy friendship breakup followed. Remini accused Osbourne of being the reason she and Peete were let go, tweeting (via E! News), “Sharon thought me and Holly were ‘ghetto’ … we were not funny, awkward and didn’t know ourselves. She has the power that was given to her.” But the outspoken Brit hit back, denying she had anything to do with the co-host shakeup. 

“I had absolutely nothing to do with her departure from the show and have no idea why she continues to take to Twitter to spread this false gossip,” Osbourne wrote on X. “Leah knows that I have never been in the position to hire or fire anyone on the show,” she added. Remini later told BuzzFeed, “That experience really helped me understand the politics of this business.”

Following the fallout from “The Talk,” Leah Remini took a page from Candace Cameron Bure’s book when she appeared on “Dancing with the Stars.” The actor was partnered with pro Tony Dovolani and came in fifth place during Season 17, with the two forming a strong friendship. “I did my best. Tony really had his work cut out for him. They should give him a raise,” Remini joked on “Good Morning America” after being eliminated. “I mean, he’s my best friend, my therapist, and he’s not even getting anything for that.”

She also made a massive life change in 2013 when she left the Church of Scientology. In addition to growing disillusioned with the church’s practices, Remini said she cut ties because of her family. “I was spending most of my time at the church. So, I was saying ‘family first,’ but I wasn’t showing that. I didn’t like the message that sent my daughter,” she told BuzzFeed. Remini also spoke about her decision on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” explaining, “Over time, my eyes opened, and I could no longer be affiliated with the organization.”

In 2014, Remini returned to VH1 with a reality show centered around her family, “Leah Remini: It’s All Relative.” The warts and all show ran for two seasons, with Remini sharing a heartfelt message on Facebook to announce the series ending. “We will not be returning for season 3; it just didn’t work out,” she wrote, but teased, “You never know, we might be back in some way, somewhere else … “

The year after leaving the Church of Scientology, Leah Remini spoke in depth about her experiences. In her interview with BuzzFeed, she claimed she attempted to make changes as a member, but was turned down. “That showed me they didn’t actually care, which went against everything I thought we stood for,” she said. “They only cared that their lives would be disrupted if they stood with me.”

In 2015, Remini expanded on her experiences in her well-written celebrity memoir, “Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.” Then, in 2016, she released the first season of docuseries “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” which delved into the religion’s practices. In response, Scientologist leaders attempted to discredit Remini. In a statement to Entertainment Tonight, a spokesperson said in part, “[Remini is] 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.”

But while things got messy with the church, the native New Yorker was also focused on recreating “The King of Queens” magic. She reunited with Kevin James in 2017 as a guest star on Season 1 of his sitcom, “Kevin Can Wait.” For Season 2, she bagged a series regular position, but the show was canceled in 2018. “I laughed everyday, and I will miss that the most,” Remini wrote on Instagram. “You don’t always get a second chance at something that meant so much to you and I did, and I am so grateful for it. It came at a time when I needed to laugh.”

Leah Remini’s life changed again in 2022 when her daughter Sofia moved to college and she became an empty nester. “Angelo [Pagán] and I are very proud, but it’s like I’m having a job of 17 years that I’ve loved and cherished ripped away from me overnight,” Remini told People. “I’m devastated.” She added, “I have to now find ways to get out of the house. It’s scary, because I don’t know what the next thing is for me.”

But Remini used her newfound downtime wisely. She celebrated a hugely impressive milestone in 2023 when she earned an associate’s degree from New York University after three years of hard work. She shared a picture of her diploma on Instagram, explaining it was a big achievement for her because of her stunted education as a Scientology member. “I desperately wanted a higher education for many years but didn’t move forward because I feared I was not smart enough. Even though I had managed to leave Scientology, three decades of brainwashing still gripped my mind,” she wrote in part.

The star had also found a sweet spot in her career where she could be more selective about the jobs she accepted. “I like to work, and I’m very blessed that I’m able to say no, but I want to work on things that are fun,” she told People. Remini was still very much in demand, as she hosted “People Puzzler” and became a “So You Think You Can Dance” judge.

Leah Remini seemed to have it all in 2024, so fans were shocked when she and Angelo Pagán announced in August that they were divorcing. The two shared a throwback Instagram photo alongside a recent snap of them together with a lengthy caption about their relationship. 

“This decision came after a lot of thought and care, and as hard as divorce is, we are approaching this with a positive outlook because we know it’s what’s best for us,” they wrote. “Yes, we’re sad, and we’ve got some figuring out to do as we continue to move forward into our new normal — together still in many ways, and apart in some new ones.” The couple explained the reason for their split was because they’d both evolved over the nearly three decades since they met.

Remini and Pagán officially settled their divorce two months after the announcement, with the conditions of their split kept under wraps. TMZ reported that they became legally single in March 2025, after their divorce was signed off on by the judge. Despite going their separate ways, the duo remained amicable and friendly, giving us total ‘divorce goals’. In November, three months after announcing their breakup, Pagán shared an Instagram video of himself and Remini watching a football game together. “Some things never change. Still spending most Sundays watching my Cowboys with @leahremini #exesbelike,” he wrote. With such a supportive family behind her and an exciting new chapter in front of her, we can’t wait to see what’s next for a single Leah Remini.