Remini and her husband, fellow actor Angelo Pagan, welcomed Sofia on June 16, 2004.
And with that, Remini entered a new chapter.
“It just changes your whole life,” she said toPeoplethree 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 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.
The young woman who calls Leah Remini “mom” is all grown up and stunning.
This is the story of Sofia Bella Pagan.
“I would love to adopt,” Leah Remini told theNew York Postin 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.’
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.
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?”
As for what else Angelo Pagan and Remini’s daughter is interested in?
I’ve also won every award ever."
Clearly, Sofia shares her mom’s dry wit, too.
“So, I was saying ‘family first,’ but I wasn’t showing that.
I didn’t like the message that sent my daughter.”
Fortunately, Sofia’s family dynamic is markedly different.
“Thank you for showing her what love is.”
So, they enlisted the help of a nanny, Trish.
After Trish died in 2022, Remini shared a letter she wrote to her onInstagram.
In it, she expressed how grateful she was to Trish forprotecting her daughter from Scientology.
I’m devastated."
In anInstagrampost from May 2022, she shared a photo of Sofia at her senior prom.
And she got sentimental in the caption.
“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 onInstagram, she wrote, “My heart.
I love you @sofiaapagann, for everything you are.”
And Sofia Bella Pagan played a major role in this move.
“It becomes your mother, your father, your everything.
You are dependent on the church.”
I need less plastics in this house,'" Remini said.
“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.
Faith has played a role in how she and Angelo Pagan raised their daughter.
Sofia Bella Pagan was baptized in the Catholic Church two years after Remini left the Church of Scientology.
Remini shared the moment with fans.
“A very special day for our little girl and her Godparents,” she wrote.
Angelo also commemorated the occasion onInstagram.
He also noted that he and Remini “have always been Catholic.”
That same year, Remini discussed Catholicism in an interview withPeople.
“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 Pagan 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.
And she urged other parents to give her advice on how to cope.
The “King of Queens” actor discussed these feelings again in anotherInstagrampost in September 2022.
Angelo Pagan also commented on his daughter’s educational milestone with anInstagrampost.
“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.
I couldn’t be prouder of the person you are.”
