Leah Remini's Daughter Is All Grown Up And Stunning
Actor and former "The Talk" host Leah Remini has achieved many things in her life, but the accomplishment she may be most proud of is raising her daughter, Sofia Bella Pagán. Remini and her husband, fellow actor Angelo Pagán, welcomed Sofia on June 16, 2004. And with that, Remini entered a new chapter. "It just changes your whole life," she said to People three years later. "It just changes everything about you. It changes the way you think about things, the person you thought you were." And by all accounts, she loves those changes.
"We've raised a wonderful young woman, and I couldn't be prouder of her and us," Remini wrote in an Instagram post to her husband in July 2022. "We've done well, and our daughter is the most special proof of that." Motherhood has changed the "Second Act" actor, who would sacrifice everything for her kid. "You really don't realize, until you have a child, how much you can love another person. I literally can say I would die for this person," she said in a promotional video for "Leah Remini: It's All Relative."
The young woman who calls Leah Remini "mom" is all grown up and stunning. This is the story of Sofia Bella Pagán.
Sofia Bella Pagán wanted to be an only child
Growing up, Sofia Bella Pagán was not on board with her mom's desire to expand their family. "I would love to adopt," Leah Remini told the New York Post in 2011. "As Sofia gets older, I have broached the subject with her a few times. And she keeps saying, 'No, I don't want a brother. I don't want a sister.' I will say, 'But Sofia, it would be really good of you to give a child a home. Mommy and Daddy have enough love for you and the other baby.' And she just says, 'Nope. Don't do it, Mom.'"
While Sofia is technically Remini and Angelo's only child, she is not totally an only child. She has three stepbrothers from Angelo's previous marriage: Nicholas, Alex, and Angelo Pagan Jr. They sure seem to be a happy blended family. On Father's Day 2021, Remini shared a few pics of the brood on Instagram and wrote, "Happy Father's Day honey @therealangelopagan thank you for being the best daddy to our little girl and for blessing me with my amazing bonus sons."
Sofia Bella Pagan loves makeup
Sofia Bella Pagán is a young woman of many interests, and one of them is makeup. "She's a big fan of makeup, she buys tons of makeup, she hoards makeup, she doesn't necessarily wear a lot of makeup," Leah Remini said on a 2021 episode of "The Drew Barrymore Show." It sounds like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree; her mom has long expressed her love of cosmetics.
When asked by TLC to share three things she could not live without, Remini replied, "My daughter, lip gloss, and my makeup." And she not only can't live without makeup, but won't go anywhere without it. As Remini quipped in a 2015 "What's In My Bag?" feature for Us Weekly, "I carry so much makeup because I don't know what I'm going to need on my face."
As for what else Angelo Pagán and Remini's daughter is interested in? While Sofia keeps her Instagram account private, we can, at the very least, see the contents of her bio: "model, actor, singer/songwriter, Olympic athlete, author of many books, and business owner. I've also won every award ever." Clearly, Sofia shares her mom's dry wit, too.
Sofia Bella Pagán's parents are very present
Sofia Bella Pagán's parents are both actors, and that particular line of work can be demanding. From being on sets far away from home to attending various public engagements, it all can cut into personal time. However, Leah Remini found that her involvement with the Church of Scientology was what got in the way of being present in her daughter's life. "In my house, it's family first — but I was spending most of my time at the church," Remini told BuzzFeed in 2014. "So, I was saying 'family first,' but I wasn't showing that. I didn't like the message that sent my daughter."
Remini's own relationship with her parents wasn't easy; her mother was deeply involved with Scientology, and she was estranged from her father for years. Fortunately, Sofia's family dynamic is markedly different. "You have been the daddy to our daughter that I wish I had," Remini wrote of Angelo Pagán on Instagram in 2018. "Thank you for showing her what love is."
As present Remini and Angelo were throughout their daughter's childhood, their careers made it impossible to be around all of the time. So, they enlisted the help of a nanny, Trish. After Trish died in 2022, Remini shared a letter she wrote to her on Instagram. In it, she expressed how grateful she was to Trish for protecting her daughter from Scientology. "Trish was a big part of our lives and continued to be even after our girl grew up," Remini wrote.
She makes her parents proud
Though there have been some ups and downs, Leah Remini feels she has done a great job raising Sofia Bella Pagán — and other people think so, too. "People are always like, 'Oh my God, you should be so proud,'" Remini told People in a 2022 interview about how her daughter was going to college. "Yes, Angelo and I are very proud, but it's like I'm having a job of 17 years that I've loved and cherished ripped away from me overnight. I'm devastated."
This is not the only time the "Leah Remini: It's All Relative" star has spoken about her daughter with great affection and admiration. In an Instagram post from May 2022, she shared a photo of Sofia at her senior prom. And she got sentimental in the caption. "Senior year is filled with exciting milestones, but it doesn't make it any less sad for parents when we wonder how time flew by so fast," Remini wrote. "Angelo and I couldn't be prouder of the young woman Sofia is becoming. But I need this process to slow down."
In September 2021, the glowing mama praised her daughter again. Posting a throwback on Instagram, she wrote, "My heart. Always. I love you @sofiaapagann, for everything you are."
Sofia Bella Pagán's mom left Scientology for her
Leah Remini is one of the most outspoken former members of the Church of Scientology. From talking about the church in interviews to acting as host and executive producer of the A&E docuseries "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath" to releasing the no-holds-barred memoir "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology," she's continued to use her platform to shed light on her story and other former members' stories.
After spending 30 years in the church, the "King of Queens" star announced her exit in 2013. And Sofia Bella Pagán played a major role in this move. "I decided I didn't want to raise my daughter in the church because from what I've experienced and what I saw. The church becomes your everything," she said in the premiere of "Leah Remini: It's All Relative" (via ET). "It becomes your mother, your father, your everything. You are dependent on the church."
When Sofia was around 9 years old, Remini felt it was time to break away from the church once and for all. "She was getting to the age where the acclimation into the Church would have to start," she told BuzzFeed in a 2014 interview. She also noted how she reflected on her childhood and started "resenting" her mom for not being around.
She's committed to educating others on social injustice
On the aforementioned episode of "The Drew Barrymore Show," Leah Remini shared that she learns a lot from Sofia Bella Pagán. "[Sofia] sends me things that I should be posting on social media about systemic racism, social injustice, constantly saying, 'Mom, you need to be doing this. I need less plastics in this house,'" Remini said. Clearly, Sofia understands that the TV star can use her social media as a platform for change and to spread awareness; after all, she has 4 million followers on Instagram alone. "It makes me so proud to know that she's somebody who cares about what's happening in the world," Remini added. "I wasn't thinking about these things when I was her age." It sure sounds like Sofia's mom has learned a lot from her.
On International Women's Day In 2020, the "Kevin Can Wait" actor took to Instagram to honor the women in her life, including her daughter. "Happy International Women's Day to the strong woman I come from, the strong women I love and admire, and the strong woman I made," she wrote.
Faith played a role in how she was raised
Leah Remini has made no secret that she put the Church of Scientology behind her, but that is not to say she shut the door on all religions. Faith has played a role in how she and Angelo Pagán raised their daughter. Sofia Bella Pagán was baptized in the Catholic Church two years after Remini left the Church of Scientology.
Remini shared the moment with fans. In 2015, the sitcom star shared a picture of herself, Angelo, and Sofia in a white dress on Instagram. "A very special day for our little girl and her Godparents," she wrote. Angelo also commemorated the occasion on Instagram. Alongside a picture of Sofia getting her head dunked in a baptism pool, he wrote, "It was a beautiful experience, and our little angel is on her way to a more spiritual existence." He also noted that he and Remini "have always been Catholic."
That same year, Remini discussed Catholicism in an interview with People. "Nobody is asking me for money. Nobody is demanding that I come," she said. "I light a candle. I sit and I listen."
She's attending college
After high school, Sofia Bella Pagán headed to college. Understandably, this was a big adjustment for her mom, Leah Remini. "It's the last day of high school for our baby girl. It feels like we dropped off our little nugget at kindergarten just yesterday. Her dad and I are a mess, as one could imagine," Remini wrote in an Instagram post in May 2022. She also commented on how she was "scared and sad" to think of the future with her daughter out of the house. And she urged other parents to give her advice on how to cope.
The "King of Queens" actor discussed these feelings again in another Instagram post in September 2022. "Bringing our only child to college for the first time has been the most excruciatingly painful and proudest moment of my life," she wrote. Angelo Pagán also commented on his daughter's educational milestone with an Instagram post. "I can't even say how I'm feeling because I'm really so overwhelmed with emotion," he shared.
Evidently, the first college Sofia picked wasn't the right fit, so she and her family went back to the drawing board and figured out a new school. When she headed to that second school in early 2023, her parents still were struggling with the idea of their daughter being out of the house. "You'd think the second time would be easier, but Angelo and I are even more of a mess now," Remini wrote on Instagram.
Her mom believes she could better the world
Leah Remini and Angelo Pagán raised their daughter, Sofia Bella Pagán, to believe that anything is possible. The way they speak about her indicates how important she is to them, so it should come as little surprise that Remini feels her daughter is capable of great things. In an interview with People in 2022, the actor referred to Sofia as "the strong-minded kid ... who, hopefully, is going to make some positive change in the world."
"I'm always saying to her and her friends, 'I hope you are going to take all this genius and get your a**es into Congress,'" Remini shared. "That's how you're going to change things." Her daughter's life and the opportunities given to her are vastly different from Remini's childhood. As the TV star shared on Instagram in 2022, she'd started working when she was still a kid and dropped out of school around age 13. "I had been living the life of an adult for years even though I was just a kid," she wrote.
Even if Sofia doesn't choose a career in politics or incite change, she has forever changed her mama. "My Bella, you are the one thing I got right," Remini wrote in a September 2021 Instagram post. "Thank you for making me a mom to a strong, smart, loving, compassionate, insightful, funny, beautiful, sassy (heavy on the sass), and outspoken, daughter. I couldn't be prouder of the person you are."