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2015-05-26 13:04:33

-by Laura Tucker, Staff Writer; Image: Leah Remini (Image Source: YouTube Screenshot)

In the wake of the success of the scathing HBO documentary on Scientology that showed some of the secrets behind the faith, one of its former followers is still struggling.

Leah Remini reports that she is still adjusting to life without Scientology two years after she left.

"Our decision to leave the organization – it's not just something you get over," the 44-year-old said on Oprah Winfrey's Where Are They Now? show on OWN. "It's people and a lifestyle you've know all your life."

While maybe not all her life, Remini was involved with Scientology at least all of her adult life. She was brought into the faith by her mom and was a practitioner for more than 30 years.

"It formed who I am, good and bad," the actress said. "It formed the way I think, good and bad. And so there's a lot of pain connected to it, there's a lot of healing."

Remini reports that her decision to leave Scientology came one afternoon while she was watching her daughter swim.

"I was at one of these hotels in Florida, and I saw my daughter swimming for the first time while I'm reading this thing," she explains. "And a tear came down my face. And I was like, 'What am I doing?'"

Despite being a busy actress, Remini says she was busy with church commitments seven days a week. She realized that was passing on the same message that her mom had taught her, that Scientology is "more important" than family.

It comes as no surprise that the church had an eager response to Remini's thoughts on Oprah's show. They issued the following statement: "Given Leah Remini's insatiable desire for attention, it comes as no surprise that for two years she has been incapable of moving on with her life and remains obsessed with shamelessly exploiting her former religion in a pathetic attempt to get publicity."