Leah Remini has shared a moving tribute to a young King of Queens fan she and fellow sitcom star Kevin James first met through the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Late Wednesday, Remini shared a series of videos and photos on Instagram, highlighting her relationship with the 21-year-old, Maddie, who lived with spinal muscular atrophy before her recent death.
Remini called Maddie a “truly special girl turned young woman,” and said she was “heartbroken” to share the news that her friend had died, years after she said Make-A-Wish reached out and informed her and James that one of the program’s children wanted to meet them.
“I was so touched. This beautiful little girl was a fan of King of Queens? And we of course said yes. Maddie and her family came to visit us on set, and what started as a meet-and-greet turned into a real, almost decade-long, lasting friendship,” Remini recalled.
Robert Voets/CBS Photo Archive/Getty
Remini pointed out that while Maddie had SMA — which the Cleveland Clinic describes as an incurable neuromuscular disorder that causes muscles to “waste away” over time — the young woman “never let it define her” life.
“She was excited to begin advocacy work and had recently told me she was officially going to start speaking publicly about her experiences. She had big dreams, and I was so proud watching her grow into the leader I always knew she was,” Remini continued, noting that Maddie “loved helping people” around her.
One of such people was Remini herself, who said that Maddie “wrote me love notes daily,” adding that her friend’s various gestures “kept me positive in moments of difficulty and darkness.”
The 55-year-old also included a photo of a text from one of Maddie’s friends, who indicated that Maddie wanted Remini to have several of her belongings.
“That she was thinking of me in this way and wanted me to have the things she mentioned, that she cared so much, is also truly touching and heartbreaking,” Remini wrote. “Maddie had so much life ahead of her. She was hopeful, brilliant, and genuinely excited for her future. I will miss her humor and the light she brought into this world every single day.”
JC Olivera/WireImage
She finished her post by urging followers to support a cause that was dear to Maddie: “Finding a cure for spinal muscular atrophy.”
Remini also recently mourned another major death in her life, after her longtime friend and fellow Scientology critic Mike Rinder died in January at age 69.
“On Sunday, we lost a giant, and I lost a man who was more than a friend — he was my family,” Remini wrote alongside a photo of the pair. “It’s impossible to imagine the last 13 years of my life without Mike Rinder. He was my anchor, my trusted partner, and my closest confidant. The thought of moving forward without him feels unbearable. When I left Scientology, Mike was one of the first people I turned to. From that moment, he became my lifeline. Together, we embarked on an incredible journey that included The Aftermath and our podcast, Fair Game. But Mike was so much more than my partner in this fight — he was my brother, my father, my best friend… in every way that mattered.”
After both personalities left the controversial church, they forged ahead on their Emmy-winning docuseries Scientology and the Aftermath, which highlighted scandals involving the religion.
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Rinder, a former high-ranking Scientology official, announced in June 2023 that he’d been diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
See Remini’s post mourning Maddie’s death above.