Embracing Catholicism, supporting social justice,
and leaving the nest — Leah Remini's daughter, Sofia, is all grown up.
Actor and former host of The Talk, Leah Remini has achieved many things in her life,
but the accomplishment she may be most proud of is raising her daughter,
Sofia Bella Pagán. Remini and her husband, fellow actor Angelo Pagán, welcomed Sofia on June 16,
2004. And with that, Remini entered a new chapter. She told People three years later,
"It just changes your whole life. It just changes everything about
you. It changes the way you think about things, the person you thought you were."
And by all accounts, she loves those changes. She wrote in an Instagram post to her husband in 2022,
"We've raised a wonderful young woman, and I couldn't be prouder of her and
us. We've done well, and our daughter is the most special proof of that."
Growing up, Sofia was not on board with her mom's desire to
expand their family. Leah Remini told the New York Post in 2011,
"I would love to adopt. As Sofia gets older, I have broached the subject with her a few
times. And she keeps saying, 'No, I don't want a brother. I don't want a sister.' I will say,
'But Sofia, it would be really good of you to give a child a home. Mommy and Daddy
have enough love for you and the other baby.' And she just says, 'Nope. Don't do it, Mom.'"
While Sofia is technically Remini and Angelo's only child, she is not totally
an only child. She has three stepbrothers from Angelo's previous marriage: Nicholas,
Alex, and Angelo Pagan Jr. They sure seem to be a happy blended family. On Father's Day 2021,
Remini shared a few pics of the brood on Instagram and wrote,
"Happy Father's Day honey [...] thank you for being the best daddy to our
little girl and for blessing me with my amazing bonus sons."
Leah Remini is one of the most outspoken former members of the Church of Scientology. From talking
about the church in interviews to acting as host and executive producer of the A&E docuseries,
Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath to releasing the
no-holds-barred memoir Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology,
she's continued to use her platform to shed light on her story and other former members' stories.
"I don't know other churches that demand to destroy people's lives
if they leave and speak out publicly against it."
After spending 30 years in the church, Remini announced her exit in 2013. And Sofia played a
major role in this move. Speaking in the premiere of Leah Remini: It's All Relative, she said,
"I decided I didn't want to raise my daughter in the church, because from
what I've experienced and what I saw, the church becomes your everything. It becomes your mother,
your father, your everything. You are dependent on the church."
When Sofia was around 9 years old, Remini felt it was time to break
away from the church once and for all. She told BuzzFeed in a 2014 interview,
"She was getting to the age where the acclimation into the Church would have to start."
On an episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Leah Remini shared that she learns a lot from Sofia.
"She sends me things that I should be posting on social media about systemic racism—"
Clearly, Sofia understands that the TV star can use her social media as a platform for
change and to spread awareness; after all, she has 4 million followers on Instagram alone.
"It makes me so proud to know that she's somebody who cares about what's happening in the world."
Leah Remini has made no secret that she put the Church of Scientology behind her,
but that is not to say she shut the door on all religions. Faith has played a role in how she and
Angelo Pagán raised their daughter. Sofia Bella Pagán was baptized in the Catholic Church two
years after Remini left the Church of Scientology. Remini shared the moment with fans. In 2015, the
sitcom star shared a picture of herself, Angelo, and Sofia in a white dress on Instagram, writing,
"A very special day for our little girl and her Godparents."
That same year, Remini discussed Catholicism in an interview with People, saying,
"Nobody is asking me for money. Nobody is
demanding that I come. I light a candle. I sit and I listen."
"I was baptized a Catholic."
After high school, Sofia headed to college. Understandably,
this was a big adjustment for her mom, who wrote in an Instagram post,
"It's the last day of high school for our baby girl. It feels like we dropped off our little
nugget at kindergarten just yesterday. Her dad and I are a mess, as one could imagine."
She also commented on how she was, quote, "scared and sad" to think of the future
with her daughter out of the house. And she urged other parents to give her advice on how to cope.
Angelo Pagán also commented on his daughter's
educational milestone with an Instagram post, writing,
"I can't even say how I'm feeling because I'm really so overwhelmed with emotion."
Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán raised their daughter to believe that anything is possible.
In an interview with People in 2022, the actor referred to Sofia as, quote, "the strong-minded
kid, who, hopefully, is going to make some positive change in the world." She went on,
"I'm always saying to her and her friends, 'I hope you are going to take all this
genius and get your asses into Congress.' That's how you're going to change things."
Her daughter's life and the opportunities given to her are vastly different from
Remini's childhood.The TV star shared on Instagram in 2022 that she'd started working
when she was still a kid and dropped out of school around age 13, writing,
"I had been living the life of an adult for years even though I was just a kid."
Even if Sofia doesn't choose a career in politics or incite change,
she has forever changed her mama. Remini wrote in a September 2021 Instagram post,
"My Bella, you are the one thing I got right. Thank you for making me a mom to a strong,
smart, loving, compassionate, insightful, funny, beautiful, sassy (heavy on the sass),
and outspoken, daughter. I couldn't be prouder of the person you are."