Surviving Hollywood and Scientology
An actress’s struggle with fame, family and scientology.
| Publisher: | New York, Ballantine Books,, [2015] |
| Edition: | First |
| ISBN: | 9781101886960 110188696X |
| Characteristics: | xiv, 234 pages, 24 unnumbered plates : illustrations (chiefly colour), portraits (chiefly colour) ; 25 cm. |
| Additional Contributors: |
I got interested in reading this book after watching the excellent series Scientology And The Aftermath, where Leah interviews many victims of Scientology, the pseudo-religion that promises to rid the world of all evil. It is well known that it is an evil cult designed to separate members from their cash and if they leave, from their family.
The book precedes the series Scientology And The Aftermath, and you get much detail on Leah’s background.
The author gives the reader an insight into the contrasting difficult life that makes up the background of a successful artist now leading a glamourous life. As an outsider you don’t realise that for every success in television is a lifetime of honing one’s skills and the persistence needed in getting work. And there’s all the rejection actors need to tolerate.
Celebrity Divas
Leah uses the difficult journey celebrities have done to reach their high position to justify Sharon Osbourne’s diva behaviour on a TV talk show. I don’t agree; as being disrespectful is never acceptable no matter how rich or powerful you are. I guess some celebrities see the hard yards they have put in allows them some payback on society through kicking their sub-ordinates. Of course it’s not just celebrities that behave this way.
Scientology
There is a lot of information about Leah’s experience with Scientology, most of the controversial activities have now been exposed and are well covered. The TV show includes other Scientologist’s interviews which are not in the book. I feel that another edition or book should be made to cover the additional evidence revealed in the TV show.
Conclusion
Troublemaker is an excellent easy to read book. It is interesting to learn about how actors make their careers and learning about how Scientology works to destroy its members lives and families is distressing but it needs to be told, and to be read about.
