Leah Remini and her husband Angelo Pagan are divorcing after 21 years of marriage.
The couple announced their shock split via a joint statement on Instagram on Thursday and revealed “why” their relationship broke down.
The 53-year-old former Scientologist admitted that she and her husband “have both changed” and said their “roles no longer fit.”
The statement explained: “So the big question is: why? Simply put, we both changed, as people do, and got used to playing roles that no longer suited us.
“After much effort and reflection, we have decided to take this step, which reflects who we are today. Our bond is still strong, it has simply evolved into something different.”
Leah Remini and husband Angelo Pagan divorce after 21 years of marriage
The 53-year-old former Scientologist admitted that she and her husband “have both changed” and said their “roles no longer fit.”
Although they are both “sad” about the end of their marriage, the duo insisted they remain “best friends.”
Leah and Angelo consider their marriage a “success” and look forward to creating “beautiful memories” as exes.
We believe that a marriage that lasted so long and created so many beautiful memories, especially raising our amazing daughter, is something to celebrate.
“From our point of view, this wedding was a great success. And now, we look forward to creating even more unforgettable moments, but in a different way,” they wrote.
The couple wanted to be “transparent” as they have previously let fans in on their family life on their TLC reality series.
Included with the announcement were photos of Leah and Angelo side by side – one from when they first met and a more recent selfie.
The news comes just over a week after her best friend Jennifer Lopez, with whom she recently reconnected, called off her own marriage to Ben Affleck.
The couple met in 1996 while Angelo, an actor and singer, was performing at the Cuban nightclub El Floridita in Los Angeles.
This was before Leah found commercial success as Kevin James’s better half, Carrie, in the hit sitcom King Of Queens, which ran from 1998 to 2007.
Leah previously told Redbook that for her it was “love at first sight.”
Although they have a “beautiful love story,” Leah admitted in 2019 that the couple had “rough times at the beginning” of their relationship.
The couple announced their shock split via a joint statement on Instagram on Thursday and revealed “why” their relationship broke down.
The statement explained: “So the big question is: why? Simply put, we both changed, as people do, and got used to playing roles that no longer suited us.”
Included with their announcement were side-by-side photos of Leah and Angelo – one from when they first met and one more recently.
“We didn’t meet under the best of circumstances. We went through counseling and it wasn’t an easy road,” she told RuPaul on his talk show, which was later canceled.
Despite his rock star persona, Leah called Angelo her “rock.”
He proposed to Leah on Christmas Eve 2002 and they married seven months later in July 2003 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
When they married, Leah became stepmother to Angelo’s three sons: Angelo Jr., Alex and Nico, from a previous relationship.
For his part, Angelo became part of the Church of Scientology, a controversial religion that Leah and her family joined in 1979 when she was just a child.
The couple welcomed their first child, Sofia Belle, now 20, in June 2004.
The family had their own reality show, Leah Remini: It’s All Relative, in 2014, which aired on TLC for two seasons.
The show took cameras inside the Brooklyn native’s lavish Los Angeles home and also introduced the world to her mother Vicki, stepfather George and sister Shannon.
She followed Leah closely as she “juggled her busy career and crazy family” as well as life’s challenges.
Remini began filming the show following her shocking exit from Scientology after 35 years in the church. Angelo and Leah’s mother, Vicki, also left with her.
Leah became a fierce critic of the organization after leaving and published a best-selling memoir, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, in 2015.
He also appeared in three seasons of the A&E documentary series Scientology and the Aftermath.
The couple met in 1996 while Angelo, an actor and singer, was performing at the Los Angeles-based Cuban nightclub El Floridita; the pair were spotted together in 2001.
The couple welcomed their first child, Sofia Belle, now 20, in June 2004; Leah pictured with Angelo during her pregnancy.
She is currently suing Scientology leader David Miscavige for alleged “harassment, surveillance and defamation,” according to her 2023 lawsuit.
When she decided to leave the church, Leah feared she would lose her family forever.
“(I thought), ‘I’m ready to walk away from everyone I’ve ever known and cut ties with my own husband, my own mother,’ because you don’t know what they’re going to decide,” she told ABC News’ 20/20 in 2015.
But Angelo, as well as his mother Vicki, were fully supportive, which meant “everything” to Leah.
The news of the divorce comes at a time of significant change in Leah’s life.
In February, she revealed on Instagram that she has been struggling with permenopause, the transitional period before menopause.
She said her “body seemed to change overnight” and that she felt “very alone experiencing it.”
Leah also confessed to having dealt with depression and anxiety almost daily since leaving the Church of Scientology 11 years ago.
She explained that she is often “consumed by fear” when she leaves home and accused the religious group of relentlessly putting her, her loved ones and colleagues “in danger.”
Despite her health problems, Leah successfully completed college at the age of 53. In March, she announced that she had earned her associate’s degree from New York University.
While showing off her diploma on Instagram, Leah wrote: ‘Three years ago, I embarked on a terrifying journey: becoming a college student at the age of 50 after only completing the eighth grade and spending 35 years in a totalitarian cult.
‘After three years of hard work, long nights, tears, and wanting to give up so many times, I earned an associate’s degree from New York University.’
She told her fans that she would continue her higher education and planned to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Leah has also rekindled her friendship with her longtime BFF Jennifer Lopez, two years after their rumored feud.
A source told Page Six in May that the friends had “reconnected” amid Jennifer’s marital troubles with Ben Affleck, from whom she officially filed for divorce last week.
Leah and Jennifer reportedly had a discussion about her impending marriage to Affleck in 2022.
Leah also rekindled her friendship with her longtime BFF Jennifer Lopez two years after their rumored feud; seen in 2018
A Page Six source in May said the friends had “reconnected” amid Jennifer’s marital troubles with Ben Affleck, from whom she officially filed for divorce last week; Ben and Jen were spotted together in February.
Leah had expressed her concerns to Jennifer, but also reminded her of the reason for their first split years earlier: “Because he’s selfish and not fully committed as a couple.”
However, after the fight, the On The Floor hitmaker “was so angry” and decided to “cut all ties” with Leah.
In August 2022, Jennifer and Ben held a lavish wedding ceremony in Georgia, after saying “I do” in Las Vegas a month earlier.
Leah was noticeably absent from the nuptials; sources told TMZ she didn’t show up because she was spending time with her daughter, Sofia, who was about to head off to college.
In recent months, Leah has reportedly “grown closer” to the singer and a source told Page Six that they are on good terms.
The couple met in 2004 while attending a red carpet premiere when Jennifer was dating her third ex-husband Marc Anthony, with whom she shares 16-year-old twins.
During a joint appearance on The View in 2018, Leah described her relationship with Jennifer as “very close” and said they are “like sisters.”
Jennifer added that she and Leah are “close” because of their many similarities, both professional and personal.
“We understand each other. We have similar lives and careers, and we understand nuances that other people don’t understand, so that brought us together as well,” she told the show’s hosts.