She starts by saying that the Church of Scientology demands large sums of money in exchange for attaining the highest levels within the church.
She talks about her upbringing in New York, and her Jewish mother's Italian boyfriend, who guided her into the Church of Scientology. She wrote of how she and her older sister Nic followed their mother into the church, which led them to Florida, and then Los Angeles.
The following chapters discuss different facets of her life - the birth of her daughter and motherhood, her acting career and run on King of Queens, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' wedding, and her post King of Queens shows, The Talk and Dancing With The Stars. Throughout these chapters, she interweaves her falling out with the Church of Scientology.
The end of the book is great, where she talks about not being angry at the church and extracting the positive things from it, and improving and humbling herself. It makes me happy to hear how she is on a voyage of self discovery, kind of like how I am - and because I related well to this and to her message of critical thinking, I really felt a personal connection to this book.
Plus, like me, she swears like a sailor.
"Belief and faith are great, but very few people have been led astray by thinking for themselves. In the end, change is never easy. Living with a core set of beliefs that completely unravel is unsettling to say the least. We all have do decide - do we want to live in regret, suffer pain and demonize ourselves for believing in and carrying out the tenets of the church, or do we want to look at what we gained. The bad had to happen. If it didn't, we would still be walking around with blinders on, not seeing the world at large. We wouldn't have been given the gift to explore new ideas, new ways of being, thinking, open to the possibilities that there are other beliefs, different paths that can bring us closer to others. We would not be able to be more solid than ever in our belief that what is true for you is true because you yourself have observed it to be true. We all have a newfound strength in that we will never again believe, just because. For most of my childhood and adult life, I thought I had the answers and most of the world was just lost. As I've grown, I've learned that I know almost nothing. And so, in that, I feel reborn in a sense. I'm reading, I go to therapy, I do things that bring me joy. Learning to love the one person I didn't like very much - myself. I am a combative, inquisitive, argumentative person, and I will never allow anyone to change that. I still have anger, but I'm okay with that because it fuels me to continue to right any wrongs I may see. And it's because of that, and the support of my true friends and my family, that I was able to fight my way out of Scientology and see the world for the first time. Without judgement or pressure not to think the way I do or to have a different faith. Our lives have begun, lessons are being learned and we are healing. It's never too late to begin again, better, stronger, more evolved. And to all my fellow troublemakers I say, carry on."
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