Leah Remini on Tuesday paid memorial to her 'trusted partner' and 'closest confidant' Mike Rinder following his death at 69 Sunday after a battle with advanced esophageal cancer.

'On Sunday, we lost a giant, and I lost a man who was more than a friend - he was family,' Remini, 54, said in the caption of an Instagram post, accompanied by a carousel of photo's documenting Rinder's holiday celebration.

Remini, who played the role of Carrie Heffernan on The King of Queens from 1998–2007, said Rinder was a 'lifeline' for her before and after her messy 2013 split with the church.

'It’s impossible to imagine the last 13 years of my life without Mike Rinder,' Remini said. When I left Scientology, Mike was one of the first people I turned to.'

Remini and Rinder had joined forces amid their respective defections from the Church of Scientology, as they collaborated on the A&E documentary show Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath; and the podcast Fair Game. (They won the Emmy for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special the A&E show in 2020.)

'Together, we embarked on an incredible journey that included The Aftermath and our podcast, Fair Game,' Remini said. 'But Mike was so much more than my partner in this fight - he was my brother, my father, and my best friend.

Leah Remini, 54, on Tuesday paid memorial to her 'trusted partner' and 'closest confidant' Mike Rinder following his death at 69 Sunday after a battle with advanced esophageal cancer

Remini said Rinder...

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