ExJW Quiet Activism: Star Treatment

Leah Remini has been acting most of her life.
She played Carla Tortelli's daughter
on the TV series Cheers, featuring many cast
members who were also Scientologists like Leah.

As recently reported on various media outlets, the actress Leah Remini may continue her series on the A&E cable TV channel exposing the Scientology belief system, and turn her attention to the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) and their teachings and beliefs.

Leah just won an Emmy Award for her A&E documentary series examining the Scientology religion and the aftermath, and living as an anti-Scientology activist and the struggles she has had since leaving the religious movement. She also profiled other persons who struggled with the Scientology movement and their life after leaving the organization.

So, will focusing on the JWs be a good thing? What will it accomplish? Well, I have to ask why the many celebrities who were raised as JWs and had since left, do not speak out about how they were raised, why they left, and how their lives might have turned out differently had they stayed a JW. Obviously, the first family that comes to mind are the Jacksons, with the [now deceased] superstar entertainer Michael being the most famous JW I suppose and one of his sisters and her family and Katherine Jackson [matriarch of the Jackson family] are believed to be the only ones still practicing and remain as JWs to this day.

Michael and his equally famous sister Janet Jackson have been vocal about what is was like being raised without having birthday parties or celebrating Christmas. Even their sister LaToya Jackson has spoken publicly about being raised within the strict edicts of the Watch Tower corporation.

LaToya Jackson
had no problem working for
the Playboy corporation after
leaving the JWs.

You might remember LaToya, she left the JWs when she married an unbeliever and led a pretty wild life, appearing in several issues of Playboy Magazine. After her husband's death, she basically came back to the fold, meaning of her family, not of the JWs. Her mother Katherine was quoted as saying that LaToya fell in with "bad association" which is a Bible term when a Christian falls in with the wrong crowd and does evil things. Of course, the JWs believe the entire Bible is about them, meaning not coming back to Christianity but not coming back to the JW organization. LaToya to my knowledge never returned to the JWs, but she came back and connected with her family and they forgave her wild years and speaking out against the JWs and about how she was raised having allegedly suffered physical and emotional abuse by her JW father when she was growing up. She also claimed her brother Michael suffered similar abuses by their father when growing up.

Geri "Ginger" Spice is the redhead, second from
the left, who was raised a JW.

Obviously, there are other stars who were raised as JWs, such as, the former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and the famous supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Also, former Metallica band member who formed Megadeth, Dave Mustaine, was raised as a JW. He once related a story that also happened to me. In elementary school they wanted to teach sex education and show an educational film but each child had to get written permission from their parent or guardian to view the film. Like Dave, I was NOT permitted to view the film since it was considered "worldly" and in my case, my parents thought it would teach me too much about sex, and I would immediately run out and get pregnant.

Yep, my parents really thought that of me. Gee, thanks mom and dad. A girl that was raised in a cage [bedroom] and every move was tracked with me being timed on how long it took me to leave school and walk back home or later, when I rode the bus, I was always timed and if I was late, dad would come after me in his car. One time I went home with a girlfriend whose dad was a teacher at our school. I got into big trouble for that even though we only lived a block away. I was very lonely, and loved going to a friends house to hang out, watch TV and experience a calm home life instead of always on a strict schedule of JW meetings, study, door-to-door ministry, never having down time or play time except if it included mom and dad which was always tedious. A kid wants to have friends their own age, not always around adults. But that is the life of a JW, around adults too much and that is how abuse happens. Adults paired off with kids is not a healthy environment and fosters blind trust in adults who may exploit the situation.

But JW children are probably the most sexually repressed kids on the planet, so nothing about sex could be seen or heard by any worldly entity. Any education in that area would come from the Watch Tower literature. However, all these famous people who did not stick with the JW organization and became very wealthy and famous, couldn't they lend something to Leah's potential show about the JWs? A&E has not yet committed to another season of Leah's show, so she is just throwing it out there that she may focus on the JWs.

So why did I skip over the super performer Prince? Well, reportedly he became very famous first, focusing completely on his musical career and only later in life when his mother was dying, did he promise to start studying to become a JW. He tried to clean up his music according to JW standards, attended some meetings and conventions and talked about Jehovah on various TV talk shows and even at music award shows. He died a faithful JW according to some sources, so I suppose he chose that life path for himself and what can you say. He was an adult and could choose what he wanted.

But many like myself, had no choice. We were raised with the strict and warped tenets of the Watch Tower corporation, we are basically damaged for life. Some can crawl out of the abyss and become a whole person and not only survive, but thrive in this life and those people are very strong minded and I admire them. I never could do that. I realize I am not like other people, but have to learn to adapt to this life being around mostly "normal" people and adapting to life here on this planet where I can now choose my own belief system. I do read a lot of different material and am researching the Buddhists teachings and enjoy exploring the spiritual community, not religious community where they worship a man who was most likely invented, that being Jesus Christ, to start an anti-Jewish religious system of the day. Who knows, I am just learning and exploring and enjoying my life now, in search of peace and contentment and I wish the same for you, dear reader.