Leah Remini on Tuesday paid memorial to her ‘trusted partner’ and ‘closest confidant’ Mike Rinder following his death at 69 Sunday after a battle with advanced esophageal cancer.
‘On Sunday, we lost a giant, and I lost a man who was more than a friend – he was family,’ Remini, 54, said in the caption of an Instagram post, accompanied by a carousel of photo’s documenting Rinder’s holiday celebration.
Remini, who played the role of Carrie Heffernan on The King of Queens from 1998–2007, said Rinder was a ‘lifeline’ for her before and after her messy 2013 split with the church.
‘It’s impossible to imagine the last 13 years of my life without Mike Rinder,’ Remini said. When I left Scientology, Mike was one of the first people I turned to.’
Remini and Rinder had joined forces amid their respective defections from the Church of Scientology, as they collaborated on the A&E documentary show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath; and the podcast Fair Game. (They won the Emmy for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special the A&E show in 2020.)
‘Together, we embarked on an incredible journey that included The Aftermath and our podcast, Fair Game,’ Remini said. ‘But Mike was so much more than my partner in this fight – he was my brother, my father, and my best friend.
Leah Remini, 54, on Tuesday paid memorial to her ‘trusted partner’ and ‘closest confidant’ Mike Rinder following his death at 69 Sunday after a battle with advanced esophageal cancer
Remini said Rinder was a ‘lifeline’ for her before and after her messy 2013 split with the church
‘Mike saved my life and the life of my daughter and he stood by me through battles that felt insurmountable.’
Remini, who appears in the upcoming comedy The Mother, the Menacer, and Me opposite Lorraine Bracco, said she was dealing with the difficult aspects of the grieving process in the days since Rinder passed.
‘I haven’t come to terms with the reality that I can’t call him and hear his voice anymore,’ Remini said. ‘I am shattered in ways I never thought possible.
‘I have cried endlessly and can’t seem to move from my bed since coming home.’
Remini, said of Rinder, a former senior Scientologist who became one of the Church’s fiercest critics: ‘Mikey, I will miss you every day, and I just don’t know how to do it without you.’
Rinder died shortly after sharing a photo with his wife and two kids over Christmas.
In the snap, a smiling Rinder looked a far cry from the man seen next to wife Christie Collbran in photos shot just a few months ago, where the Australian-born defector still had a full head of hair and a healthy complexion.
In the photograph taken December 25, he was bald – seemingly losing his hair within just three months as he grappled with his diagnosis.
Mike Rinder, 69, passed a year-and-a-half removed from his advanced esophageal cancer diagnosis, and shortly after sharing a photo with his wife and two kids over Christmas. He is seen here with fellow Scientologist-turned-whistleblower Leah Remini in 2018
In a heartfelt post showing the family during better days, Collbran paid tribute to the father-of-two, who cohosted the Emmy-winning docuseries Scientology and the Aftermath with Leah Remini.
Penning it Sunday, she did not confirm whether it was cancer that took her beloved’s life and did disclose his day of death.
‘Rest in peace, my sweet, beautiful husband,’ the update began, before memorializing one of Scientologist’s most high-profile detractors.
He had been part of the agency’s secretive Sea Org for more than three decades, before realizing he had been brainwashed after seeing seeing – and ruminating on – investigative journalist John Sweeney’s film Scientology and Me in 2007.
‘Rest in peace, my sweet, beautiful husband,’ Collbran wrote, revealing the news to the world.
‘I speak for so many when I say the sadness and pain we feel mirror the depth of our unwavering love for you,’ she continued.
‘Your courage, bravery, and integrity are unmatched and will forever inspire us. You have been the pillar of stability in our lives, filling our days with your strength, wisdom, love, laughter, and devotion.
‘The world will remember you.’
In the snap, a smiling Rinder looks a far cry from the man seen next to wife Christie Collbran in photos shot just a few months ago, where the Australian-born defector still had a full head of hair and a healthy glow
Rinder and his wife of 12 years, Christie Collbran, is seen here during a date night in September. She memorialized her beloved in a heartfelt post Sunday
The post also contained Rinder’s last words, which Collbran proudly relayed to the public.
‘If you are reading this, I have shuffled off this mortal coil in accordance with the immutable law that there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes,” the final message read.
‘My blog site will remain as an archive of more than 4,000 posts and 300,000 comments.
‘It has been a labor of love and passion which has allowed me to speak my mind and offer my perspective with no outside filters.’
There, one will find Rinder’s well-known critiques of the religion, which he became wrapped up in as a child because of his parents.
‘My only real regret,’ he added, ‘is not having achieved what I said I wanted to—ending the abuses of Scientology… and seeing [my son] Jack into adulthood.’
Speaking out to other whistleblowers like Remini and the daughter of current head David Miscavige, he proclaimed: ‘If you are in any way fighting to end those abuses please keep the flag flying – never give up.’
He went on to reference his departure from the controversial organization, counting himself lucky for ‘living two lives in one lifetime.
Rinder and Remini are seen at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in 2017, after wrapping a docuseries that recalled their and other’s experiences in the Church
The two went on to start a podcast, which was cancelled in 2018 after two seasons. Ridner was diagnosed with cancer five years later
Rinder was part of the agency’s secretive Sea Org for decades, before defecting in 2007
‘The second one,’ he framed as ‘the most wonderful years anyone could wish for’, thanks to being spent ‘with all of you and my new family.’
Rinder and Collbran, a former member who also fled Sea Org at the time, married in 2013.
Then almost 60, he spent almost half of his life as Scientology’s international spokesperson and the head of its Office of Special Affairs, while also a member of the Board of Directors of Church of Scientology International.
At age 52, he renounced the religion – fleeing two years removed from the exit of perhaps the only defector more prominent than he.
Jenna Miscavige, David’s 40-year-old niece, fled the Sea Org in 2005, and today, like Rinder had done for the better part of a decade on his blog, posts regular rundowns of her life in – and after surviving – Scientology’s most powerful sect.
Today, she lives in California with her two children. Like Rinder and his wife, the pair met whiel in the Church, before leaving together in 2005.
He was converted after seeing journalist John Sweeney’s film Scientology and Me in 2007, and had been one of the religion’s fiercest critics
Like Jenna Miscavige (pictured), the 40-year-old niece of leader David Miscavige, he worked in Scientology’s Sea Org for several decades. Afterwards, both began posting and promoting content critical of the religion
The Church of Scientology ‘did their darndest to make life hell for us’ she said in a video posted two months ago, claiming her marriage fell apart due to distrust sowed by the web of spies she claims the organization inserted into her life after she left.
The church denied all of her allegations in a statement to DailyMail.com.
In 2015 and 2016, Rinder hosted Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath on A&E, alongside the King of Queens star.
Over the course of three seasons the the pair delved into their and other former member’s experiences in the Church, claiming like Miscavige that they were harassed after publicly speaking out and parting way.
Upon the show’s conclusion, Remini and Rinder continued their partnership with a podcast Scientology: Fair Game, which launched in 2020.
The religion currently counts stars like Tom Cruise and John Travolta as members.
