When promoting the interview on Oct. 30 on Good Morning America, Dan Harris teased that viewers are “also going to hear from Katie Holmes, the former wife of Tom Cruise. [And] what she is now saying about Leah.”
However, Katie’s rep almost immediately released a statement:
“In response to an email sent from the producers or fact-checkers from 20/20 asking a plethora of questions, we supplied no answers and instead gave only a one-sentence statement in response,” her rep told People. “Katie is not making an appearance on the special, nor is she discussing Scientology, or her former marriage, and this quote was provided through her publicist. For any outlet to suggest otherwise is misleading; I would think Leah and the book stand on their own, and don’t need to trade off Katie Holmes for people to tune in.”
The statement that Katie did provide was: “I regret having upset Leah in the past and I wish her only the best in the future.”
Leah spoke on Katie and Tom in the interview clip that we saw, saying that she was “written up” after telling Tom and Katie to “get a freakin’ room'” for “forcibly kissing.” “The decision to leave [scientology] is…you’re giving up everything you’ve worked for your whole life,” Leah said. “I feel that people need to understand…this has been my whole life. And I want them to understand how it happens. And so, as time goes on, you start to lose touch with the real world.”
Watch the 20/20 interview at 10PM on Oct. 30 on ABC, and preorder Leah’s book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology.
— Emily Longeretta
Follow @emilylongeretta
