Leah Remini and Kirstie Alley's Feud Through the Years
Not your average celebrity feud. Leah Remini and Kirstie Alley’s tumultuous relationship started making headlines after the King of Queens alum left Scientology in 2013 — and things never really slowed down.
The former Cheers star made it clear she wasn’t thrilled with Remini when she walked away from the church. One year later, Dancing With the Stars’ Maksim Chmerkovskiy got dragged into the drama after Alley, his season 12 partner, seemingly cut ties with him upon his friendship with Remini and bestie Jennifer Lopez.
“She stopped getting along with me,” Chmerkovskiy said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2014. ”I think the world of her. I’m not judging people by their religion. … I’m Jewish, and you know, I don’t really believe in science fiction, but whatever. We had a great relationship.”
Two years later, he told Us Weekly exclusively that he wasn’t “allowed” to be friends with the It Takes Two star.
“Scientology happened. You can thank Leah Remini for that. A note was sent to a friend telling me I was ‘disconnected,’ as in, I am no longer allowed to be Kirstie’s friend,” he said in 2016. “I find it ridiculous for an adult human being to ‘disconnect’ from someone. But everyone is entitled to their own insanity.”
The dancer was at the center of their discussion surrounding Remini and Alley again in February 2022 when Chmerkovskiy revealed he was in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion. Alley made waves when she tweeted that she didn’t know “what’s real or what is fake in this war.”
Chmerkovskiy fired back via Instagram Stories at the time: “Dear Kirstie, We haven’t spoken in a while, but I clearly remember being right next to you while you were organizing trucks of aid during Hurricane Sandy and I remember all that you were saying to me about situations where innocent [people] are suffering. That same energy is needed right now. No one needs your prayer if you don’t know what’s real or fake.”
Remini then stepped in.
“1. So @kirstiealley can comment on things she knows nothing about like mental health, psychiatric drugs, and virology, but she won’t comment on Putin who is an evil tyrant? No comment about Russia invading Ukraine? The killing of innocent people? The displacement of Ukrainians?” the Saved by the Bell alum tweeted. “2. She has no comment on these crimes against humanity? But she’s going to pray? Scientology, her ‘religion’, says Christ is a pedophile and a lie. Scientologists aren’t allowed to believe in anything else other than Scientology. So who is she praying to?”
Us Weekly reached out to Alley and Scientology for comment regarding Remini’s February 2022 tweets.
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However, in December 2022, the It Takes Two actress died after a short battle with cancer. She was 71.
Scroll through for a complete breakdown of Remini and Alley’s feud:
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