Because Scientologists view children as spiritual beings, you're not treated as a kid, so you're given a lot of responsibility. Your ego becomes extremely inflated.

Scientologists view children as spiritual beings.

There's a lot of things that are good in Scientology, because I wouldn't have been in it. And that's the thing: a lot of people trivialize this thing, like, 'Oh, it's Xenu, and it's a volcano, and it's jumping on couches and acting crazy.' These people are victims. We've been victimized. We believed in something because it starts out very normal.

I always felt like I was kind of an outsider because I didn't have the right things. I didn't have a Cadillac. I didn't have, you know, plastic on my furniture. That was the right way to be if you were Italian.

You have to learn to believe you deserve love. And I'm getting there. I'm starting to believe it.

As a kid, I remember wondering why we lived in an apartment, not in a brownstone, and why we drove an LTD, not a Cadillac. Even now, I'm like that. If I'm on the 5th floor, I will wonder why I'm not on the 6th floor. But that was my drive. I was obsessed with my family having a better life.