Leah Remini says Katie Holmes had "some balls" to leave Tom Cruise and his religion, Scientology, and adds that "all is forgiven" between her and the actress following past turmoil.
The 45-year-old King of Queens alum was raised in the church and left it in 2013. Remini details her experiences, including some involving the former couple, in a new memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology. She been opening up about her past in recent interviews.
Remini attended the 2006 wedding of Cruise, the most famous celebrity Scientologist, and Holmes. They divorced in 2012. She seemingly cut all ties to the religion, left Los Angeles and moved with their daughter Suri Cruise, now 9, to New York.
"When she left and the manner that Katie left, I was like, 'Wow, the girl has some balls, she has some chutzpah,'" Remini told E! News exclusively. "Looking back on it now, I wish we...had been closer because I had no idea. Imagine what I had gone through, but she was really, in, in it."
Remini has said she left Scientology for the sake of her and husband Anthony Pagan's 11-year-old daughter, Sofia Pagan.
"I'm just guessing that this was a very hard decision, but not hard when it comes to your child, and that's where now we are connected and I understand and admire her strength," Remini told E! News about Holmes. "I'm probably the only person who can understand what she's experienced and a few others."
Cruise has remained mum about Remini's comments on his personal life and Scientology. The church has denied claims she has made about the organization, which also includes John Travolta and Kirstie Alley among its celebrity members.
The actress recently said that at one point during Cruise and Holmes' marriage, she and the actress were "fighting." Holmes had said in a statement last week, "I regret having upset Leah in the past and I wish her only the best in the future."
"I would never want to put Katie in a position where she felt she had to speak to me," Remini told E! News. "Of course, I would speak to her, of course I would embrace her with an open heart."
"All is forgiven, as far as I'm concerned, because again, it's only because we are out that we are able to experience this type of grace towards each other because in my mentality, and the people that I knew, we were very militant about the way we conducted ourselves," the actress said.
Remini had told 20/20 she was reprimanded by a Scientology official for telling Cruise and Holmes to "get a frickin' room" after they engaged in some PDA. Submitting "Knowledge Reports" about fellow church members is common, according to Remini.
Remini told E! News she has been going to therapy. The Church of Scientology opposes psychiatry, which it dubs "psychiatric abuse." In a 2005 Today show, Cruise called psychiatry a "pseudo-science."
Remini told E! News she is "opening her heart to the world."
"I'm trying to embrace people for who they are as opposed to secretly judging them for not being Scientologists and being lost," she said.
To hear more from Leah Remini about Scientology and Tom Cruise, watch E! News on E! at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.