American actress Leah Remini tells people to stop following the Church of Scientology

“For those in the dark, I want to say, ‘Stop it’. Stop giving up your families and your life, for something that is truly damaging,” she told the Seven network on Sunrise.

Remini, who was once a devoted follower of Scientology herself, is now an outspoken critic of the religion.

The 46 year old recently made an eight-part series called Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, which explores her experiences and that of other former members of the Church of Scientology.

“I did not want to find out everything I knew was a lie,” she told Sunrise.

“I was trying to hang on to my family for all of these years. Something inside of me was telling me to get them out of this thing.”

Remini accused the fellow Scientologists of trying to separate her family, adding: “when I saw that, I could not continue to be a part of it.”

Remini told Sunrise alarm bells had started ringing when she noticed Michele Miscavige, wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was missing from Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding in 2006.

“Where was she? I was told I did not have the rank to find out where she was,” she said.

“Nobody really wanted to really get involved in our fight — that showed me something about who we really were as a group, as an organisation ... we’re not supposed to be those people who turn the other way.

“The people that are there truly live in a bubble, like I did. I truly believed that we were really doing great things for the world.”

It comes after James Packer’s ex-fiance Tziporah Malkah, formerly Kate Fischer, said she was scared to speak out about Scientology because she “doesn’t want to get murdered”.

TZIPORAH MALKAH: ‘I’d rather not comment about Scientologists’ 
The I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! contestant is believed to have first been introduced to Scientology while she was dating the billionaire businessman.