Scientology Slams 'Self-Absorbed' Leah Remini, Claims She Was About To Be EXPELLED Before Shock Defection

Leah Remini's been gone from the Church of Scientology for nearly a year, but the bad blood continues to flow between the actress and the institution she long supported.

After the King of Queens star ripped the church in an interview this week -- saying, among other things, that she withdrew to set an example for her daughter Sofia -- the church hit back, saying that the "self-absorbed" starlet was "on the verge of being expelled for her ethical lapses" prior to her split from the church last summer.

"It comes as no surprise that someone as self-absorbed as Leah Remini with an insatiable craving for attention would exploit her former faith as a publicity stunt by rewriting her history with it, including omitting that she was participating in a program to remain a Scientologist by her own choice, as she was on the verge of being expelled for her ethical lapses," a church spokesman told US Weekly.

As we previously reported, Remini, 43, railed on the church in a chat with Buzzfeed, saying that her upbringing in it was “horrendous;” and that “everything they had taught me was a lie.”

Remini, who's working on a book documenting her time as a Scientologist (and eventual defection from it) frequently clashed with church leader David Miscavige prior to leaving in July.