No need to break out the E-Meters—Leah Remini is clear that leaving the Church of Scientology was a good decision for her.
Since defecting from the controversial organization last summer, the actress and her family have learned "new ways to...reconnect with each other," or as she explains it on Wednesday's The Ellen DeGeneres Show, leaving Scientology "really has brought us closer together."
"I think, you know, we're stronger," says the former King of Queens star, "and we're having so much fun together."
The Dancing With the Stars alum, 43, is letting the rest of us in on her new, Xenu-free life through her family's TLC reality show, premiering this summer. The series has been "a beautiful thing" for Leah's family—which includes her husband Angelo Pagán, 9-year-old daughter Sofia, mom Vicki, stepdad George, sister and brother-in-law.
"At first I was a little bit like, 'I don't need 25 people in my house everyday,'" she admits, but ultimately, filming the show "is something that the family loves to do."
And while Leah's relatives seem to be A-OK with her decision to Scientology, she told Ellen this past September she and hubby Angelo "lost friends who can no longer talk to us who are still in the organization."
"But we have other friends,who are not in the church, who have stood by us," she said, "and that's all we can ask for."