‘Love & Hip Hop’ Star Mimi Faust Tells Leah Remini Mom Abandoned Her For Scientology
VH1 reports Faust has long been open about the “complicated” relationship she once shared with her now deceased mom, but during her appearance on Remini’s Scientology & The Aftermath show she expressed it was the church that ultimately ripped them apart.
Faust recalled her mom first joined the church when she was just 9 years of age, resulting in her transferring from a school in Atlanta to one in Los Angeles, where she claims she was immediately bullied by other Scientologist students.
By age 13, she said church members were relentlessly pressuring her about signing the so-called billion-year Sea Org that forever binds you to the religion. When she refused, she claims fellow church members “forced her onto streets” while her mother stayed behind.
“They didn’t give me one red cent, not even $1.50 to take the bus, or a blanket,” she told Remini in one clip. “My mother did not utter one word. She watched me walk out of that building and said nothing. The feeling of abandonment right in your face like that is terrible. It was terrible.”
Faust said she didn’t see her mom again for at least four years, adding that even that visit was interrupted by the church.
“They’re all surrounding me at the door, and they’re chanting again,” she said. “I just lost it. And after about a good ten minutes of me going ape s**t, they let me out.”
Remini, who is also a former Scientology member, has been a constant critic of the church ever since she left its ranks just a few years ago. Among her many claims is that the church routinely brainwashes members and seeks to separate them from other non-church members.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported Scientology members are now asking advertisers to boycott Remini’s Emmy-winning documentary.
Aftermath is now in its second season, and Scientology members insists since credits for the show start rolling, it has done little more than incite threats and acts of violence against members of the church
“Leah Remini’s hate campaign of religious bigotry in its first season alone generated more than 400 incidents of harassment, threats of violence and vandalism against our churches and members,” reads one letter dated from August and addressed to Geico’s assistant vice president of marketing Bill Brower. “The threat level has again risen, precisely coincident with A&E’s promotion and airing of the second season of this show, now spawning even more threats—bombings, murder and acts of physical violence.”
Remini and A&E officials have brushed aside the criticisms and continue to defend the show as a platform to give a voice to those that have been victimized by the religion.
Aftermath made its premiere in November, 2016, posting the strongest ratings on the channel in two years. As recently as in September, the show averaged nearly 3 million total viewers per episode, including 1.6 million viewers in the 25-to-54 demographic.
Faust’s mom has now passed away from pancreatic cancer, but her anger for the church still lingers.
“If you can’t keep a mother and child together, how are you supposed to unite the planet?” she said.
[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]
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