Leah Remini has shared an emotional and heartfelt tribute to her “closest confidant” Mike Rinder, following his loss of life over the weekend.
“On Sunday, we lost a giant, and I lost a man who was more than a friend – he was family,” she wrote about her good friend and co-worker, who had joined her on a multi-year, multi-platform endeavour to reveal alleged abuses by the Church of Scientology.
“It’s impossible to imagine the last 13 years of my life without Mike Rinder,” Remini mentioned. “When I left Scientology, Mike was one of the first people I turned to.”
“Together, we embarked on an incredible journey that included The Aftermath and our podcast, Fair Game,” Remini continued. “But Mike was so much more than my partner in this fight – he was my brother, my father, and my best friend.”
Rinder and Remini teamed up after each leaving Scientology, collaborating on the A&E docuseries Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath and the podcast Fair Game.
“Mike saved my life and the life of my daughter and he stood by me through battles that felt insurmountable,” she wrote.
Leah Remini and Mike Rinder in a teaser for Season 2 of ‘Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.’.
A&E
“I haven’t come to terms with the reality that I can’t call him and hear his voice anymore. I am shattered in ways I never thought possible. I have cried endlessly and can’t seem to move from my bed since coming home.”
Rinder’s spouse, Christie Collbran, introduced his loss of life on Sunday, Jan. 5, through Instagram. Rinder was 69, and whereas his explanation for loss of life has not been confirmed, he had been identified with superior esophageal most cancers in 2023.
Before Rinder left the Church of Scientology in 2007 and have become one of many loudest whistleblowers, pulling again the curtain on its interior workings, he served in varied government roles throughout the church, together with the worldwide spokesperson, head of the Office of Special Affairs and a member of the board of administrators of the Church of Scientology International.
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After leaving Scientology behind on the age of 52, he turned a critic of the group.
After Rinder launched his memoir, A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life within the Highest Ranks of Scientology, in 2022, the Church of Scientology hit again, denying all of the allegations he’s made over time.
Remini beforehand shared that she was capable of spend a while with Rinder and his household over the Christmas holidays.
“Spreading a little holiday cheer in Florida with my @rindermike and his beautiful family,” she captioned a photograph of her and Rinder embracing in his mattress. “As many of you know, Mike has been courageously battling cancer, and your messages of love truly lift his spirits. Please keep Mike, Christie, and their two boys in your prayers. Surround them with all the love and strength they so deserve.”
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