Leah Remini

It’s been one year today without Mike Rinder. We only filmed one episode of our podcast in-person — Mikey and I were so excited to be together in the same room. “Because grief teaches you nothing — except how to miss”.

It’s been a hard year. One marked by losses that feel insurmountable. Losses I still can’t seem to get over. I’m surprised by how physical grief is. By how a heart can actually hurt when I instinctively go to call or text the people who used to be there and aren’t anymore. That moment still catches me off guard. And yet, there were moments of joy and achievements this year too. Real ones. Unexpected ones. I hold both truths at the same time. Tonight, although I have options, and I am deeply aware of how blessed I am to have family and friends I could spend New Year’s Eve with, I am choosing something quieter. I am staying in bed and watching the ball drop. I did this last year too. I remember wondering if that meant I was sad. I wasn’t. I see it now as giving myself permission to be a little uncomfortable with change. To let things be different. To spend time with myself without trying to fix, distract, or perform my way through it. And that is okay. For those who have had a hard year in other ways — with work, money, uncertainty, or setbacks that feel personal even when they are not — this is for you too. Whatever your hardships were this year, take tonight to honor yourself. Do not beat yourself up over what you could have done or should have done. If we had known better at the time, we would have. I am trying to learn that some things are simply out of my control, and that learning that does not mean failure. It means being human. I try to practice this too — sometimes I can’t turn off that voice that beats myself up for my failures that I’m trying to redefine so they don’t consume me into shame. If you are alone tonight, by choice or not, let it be okay. Put on your favorite pajamas. Order your comfort meal. Grab the snack you love. Let yourself rest in your own strength. It is okay not to have plans. It is okay not to be celebrating loudly. It is okay if you are still grieving. It is okay if this year challenged you in ways you did not choose or could not control, whether through work, relationships, finances, health, or loss. It is okay to forgive yourself. It is okay if you are healing quietly. Tonight does not have to be about resolutions or reinvention. Sometimes it is enough to simply make it through the year and arrive here, still standing. Here is to honoring what we have lost, appreciating what remains, and allowing ourselves to enter the new year gently, exactly as we are.

My gorgeous bestie @Michelle Visage’s debut fragrance is out now and it’s amazing. It’s called “Wednesday” and it’s available at @arielleshoshana! So proud of her!!! #Perfume #Fragrance #Fragrancetok

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a wonderful day. I’m always so grateful to get to spend this time with my family (including my chosen family). Here’s to a new year!

As we all do last-minute shopping for Christmas, I wanted to encourage all of you, to the extent you can, to remember to support small businesses. I know for some people this is not possible, that online shopping is a necessity, and that they don’t always have the time to go out, but if you can do it, please make the effort. The way our economy and attention economy work now, sometimes all of us need a reminder to take the time to patronize small businesses. As I have done shopping at small businesses, I have found business owners who are genuinely grateful, sometimes almost emotional, that someone has chosen to walk through their door and spend some money. I don’t want anyone to feel obligated to do this. That often leads to people going in the opposite direction. Do it out of care for the people who own these businesses, the people they employ, and the neighborhoods that deserve to feel alive. My mom and step-dad, along with my ex-husband Angelo, are small business owners. They own Vivian's Millennium Cafe in Studio City — they struggled through COVID, and then through what came after: soaring rents in California, rising costs, and constant uncertainty. Their experience is not rare. What they are dealing with is happening to small business owners across the United States. At the same time, I know many people are barely surviving. People can’t afford groceries, rent, and basic necessities. This did not happen by accident. These are the results of policy choices and priorities set by elected officials, and the impact is being felt by all of us. In the entertainment business, people who spent their lives working behind the scenes, camera operators, makeup artists, hair stylists, lighting crews, are being forced to leave Southern California or start new careers at a point when they should be preparing for retirement. Things can feel dystopian here in Southern California: empty storefronts, struggling businesses, and neighborhoods that look like a Walking Dead set. Small business owners are not asking for sympathy. They are asking for a fair chance, a chance to survive in an economy where everything costs more and support feels nonexistent.

In between my busy class and study schedule (working on my bachelor’s degree!), I squeezed in some time on set to film a cameo in a new film starring the legendary Lorraine Branco. The Mother, the Menacer, and Me is out now on Apple TV and Amazon!

Thinking about Mike Rinder today, about Maddie, and about their families experiencing their first Thanksgiving without them. Grief has been hitting me in waves that feel like they take the ground out from under me. Some days I go into a kind of frantic motion: cleaning, organizing, trying to control every inch of space because I can’t control the ache. Other days I swing in the opposite direction: complete isolation, shutting down, and then suddenly not being able to do anything. I didn’t know pain could last like this. I didn’t know it could settle into your bones and rearrange the way you move through the world. So today, I’m thinking of every person who is forced to live their daily life without someone they love: a partner, a father, a mother, a friend, a child. For those who are facing an empty chair at the table today, or a silence where a voice should be, my heart aches for you and with you.

Did that hurt? A little bit? LOL. #KevinJames #KevinCanWait #KingofQueens #Sitcom #WorkHumor

Every course and book in Scientology sounds innocent enough, but they all have a sinister intention. In terms of this course, it’s one of the first steps in Scientology’s process to brainwash and indoctrinate its members. The goal is to make anyone in your life who questions Scientology — out of love — seem like an enemy. So many famlies and friendships have been destroyed thanks to this course. #Scientology #Cult #SanFrancisco #TomCruise

Scientology’s communications course for children is one of the first steps in brainwashing them in order to fully control them. On paper — and in name — it sounds innocent and helpful, but the actual process breaks a child down so that they don’t react to abuse. It is incredibly dangerous. And Grant and Elena Cardone — wealthy and powerful Scientologists — are not only pushing it in private but also selling it publicly. And just a reminder, Scientology and people like Grant and Elena will lie about what is actually in the course. They are required to do that per Scientology policy/law. By the way, every single Scientologist has to go through this course no matter how wealthy or powerful they are. That includes every celebrity Scientologists and their children. #Scientology #Cult #GrantCardone #TomCruise #DavidMiscavige

No thanks, I’m good. #Scientology #SanFrancisco #Cult

I escaped from Scientology while I was a contestant on Dancing With The Stars. By the way, I still have dance lessons/practice twice a week. Thinking about posting more of those videos. #DWTS #DancingWithTheStars #Scientology #Cult

They’ve been trying to break me down me since I was eight years old and they’ve been putting everything they have into destroying me since 2006…it’s not gonna work. #Scientology #DavidMiscavige #ShellyMiscavige #Cult #TomCruise

Blocking it, not even looking at it. #headinthesand #blockingit #EllenShow

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween! #Ellen #QueenLatifah #Halloween #ScaryMovies #Horror