Click photo for larger image. Listen In Listen to a longer version of Patricia Sheridan's interview with Leah Remini. To download the file to your computer, right click on the above link and select "Save Target As ..." After the file has finished downloading, double-click on the file to listen to the audio.

Q:You don't seem like someone who suffers fools. No time for the bulltoni.

A:No, I don't [laughing], that's very true. That's very, very true. I get that, I think, from being from Bensonhurst [in Brooklyn]. I find that with a lot of East Coast people in general.

Q: You have come a long way since you decided to drop out of high school. Any regrets?

A: Yeah, I guess I do, and no, because my life has turned out the way it did. But I missed out on a prom. I missed out on an education at the time you are supposed to get it as opposed to being 35 and going back to school. I did get my equivalency, but it's just not the same.

Q: Did you recognize it as a potentially life-changing and risky move at the time?

A: No, at the time you are young and you just don't want to have anything to do with school. You are just looking for an excuse to get out. I probably would have remained in school, but the move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles was very hard for me. And you know, school's really not about an education at that age. You are, like: What are you wearing? Who aren't you talking to? Or who's gonna kick [you in the rear]?

Q: Since then what has been your biggest life-changing decision?

A: I think my decision to have a baby was the biggest life-altering decision that I've ever made. It just changes your whole life. It just changes everything about you. It changes your goals. It changes the way you think about things, the person you thought you were, you know?

Q: Your body gets as much attention as your work -- good and bad. Did you find it annoying?

A: Well, when you have a baby and you are not blessed with a metabolism [such] that you can get back into your jeans the very next day, it becomes something to focus on. I don't even blame the papers. They are making money from it, but the people who are buying it? I just went on Tyra [Banks Show]. She has a great campaign called "So What?" I think it's fabulous. It's about sending that message -- yeah, I'm fat, or yeah, I'm chubby, or yeah, I have stretch marks: so what! I love that message. So frigging what, men! It seems so silly to me. And nobody was really biting on the fact that I lost the weight [after the birth]. I wanted to tell people how I lost the weight. It was, like, no one wanted to talk about how I actually did lose the weight, just that I got fat.

Q: Being 5-foot-3 is a whole different story from being even 5-foot-6 in terms of weight when you're having a baby.

A: Yeah, and also some are a size zero going into it. I was never a size zero. There are women in this town who are, so their fat day is a size 4. I've always been a little thick, but I don't mind. I like being a little meaty.

Q: Who introduced you to Scientology?

A: My mother. She got into it in the '70s, and as I got older I saw changes in Mom. She became a person who was easy to communicate with, and as I got older, I was having lots of ups and downs in this business. I felt like I needed some tools to help me to avoid the pitfalls. It's about the tools. It's not about a blind faith, not that there is anything wrong with having faith.

Q: Why do you think people questioned if Suri, Katie Holmes' and Tom Cruise's baby, actually existed?

A: I don't know. I think people are just sick. They had nothing better to do. That really baffled me. It was the weirdest thing. The press seemed so nuts. I've been there, when you can't step into your own home because there are 500 paparazzi outside.

Q: Tom Cruise went from being the golden boy to the black sheep. I trace it to the couch-jumping on "Oprah." It didn't seem like a big deal to me.

A: Me, neither. I mean, what did the guy do? He jumped on a couch. Don't get me started on what you can do that can be considered a hundred times worse. So I guess it's bad to show your love for the person you are dedicating your life to. To me, the out point is that people can't understand that kind of love. And that's what's sad to me, not that he jumps on the couch. I understand, believe me, I looked at Angelo and the first thing I said was, [you'd] better be jumping on a couch once in a while. Enough with the flowers! I want to see you jump on a couch, man.